St. Mary's Church
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
The original St. Mary's chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, was located in the area now occupied by the Arizona State University Sun Devil Football Stadium. Mexican American residents constructed the small adobe building in 1881. As the congregation grew, the Catholic Church purchased additional lots at Eighth Street and College Avenue (now University and College) and constructed a larger church.
Images
Mexican American residents constructed the original church at this location in 1881- Mount Carmel quickly became the center of the Hispanic community in Tempe
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
The congregation dedicated the new church in 1903, and women became the center of the religious community, rearing their children and grandchildren within the church structure. Like many other women in Arizona and the United States, they built their families and communities through their religious connections. The Mexican American women also endured discrimination and segregation in the church, with Anglos filling one side of the pews and Mexican Americans the other.
In 1945, Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary arrived from Dubuque, Iowa, to teach school at Our Lady of Mount Carmel. They instructed classes made up primarily of Mexican Americans from Tempe, but there were also Anglo students. Many of the Mexican American youngsters transferred to this school from the Eighth Street School which had originally been a segregated "Mexican School." However, a court case in 1925 resulted in its desegregation. Some Mexican American students still felt the sting of prejudice there and were happy to attend the Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, where they were educated well and treated as equal to the Anglos. The nuns continued to teach in Mount Carmel and the nearby school building, on Sixth and College, until a new school on Rural Road opened in 1960.
In 1962, the parish sold its interest in the church to the Newman Catholic Student Center at ASU. Mexican American families continue to attend that church on the northwest corner of University and College, across from the ASU campus, while many Anglo families moved to the new church at 2121 S. Rural Road.Sources
1. "Our History," All Saints Catholic Newman Center website, accessed August 21, 2016.
http://www.asucatholic.org/mission-statement
2. "St.. Mary's Church," City of Tempe Historic Property Register entry, accessed August 21, 2016.
http://www.tempe.gov/city-hall/community-development/historic-preservation/tempe-historic-property-register/st-mary-s-church