Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
SACRED HEART CHURCH
SACRED HEART CHURCH. Church with the largest Catholic school population in the Midwest during the 1950s and 1960s. Industrial development in northern Dubuque beginning in 1875 attracted many young families with children to the area. Most of the people were Catholics from German-speaking regions of Europe.
In 1879 territory was taken from SAINT MARY'S CHURCH parish by Bishop John HENNESSY to form a new parish in the northern part of Dubuque. The present site of Sacred Heart Church was purchased, and work began in 1880 on a two-story combination church and school. One story was designated for the church. The other was used as the school. The cornerstone was laid on August 15, 1879.
Construction was completed on December 12. To minimize costs, much of the work was furnished by parishioners. The school was not opened on this date because the rooms were not finished. Worship was held on the second floor, while school was held on the main floor. The basement and one of the rooms on the first floor were used as a convent. A house was rented south of the church as a rectory.
An economic boom occurred on the north end of Dubuque with the construction of the MILWAUKEE RAILROAD SHOPS. Soon the church was filled to capacity. The cornerstone for a new church was laid in 1887 on Palm Sunday. The church, with a seating capacity of one thousand one hundred, was dedicated on July 7,1888, and the first church building was remodeled for classrooms. Additional buildings included a parish rectory and Sisters' convent.
The members of the parish continued to feel a great need for more schoolrooms and a place to hold meetings. On Thanksgiving Day 1891, Marquette Hall was formally opened. This served the need for social and school space until the new school was opened in 1915. The continued growth of Sacred Heart led the Most Rev. Archbishop Hennessy in 1896 to create a new parish out of the territory of Sacred Heart. Within a few years, however, the creation of the new Holy Ghost parish was barely noticed in the population growth of Sacred Heart. In 1912 the continued growth of Sacred Heart led to the creation of another parish, Holy Trinity.
The church installed a Wangerin-Werchardt organ and twenty-one stained glass windows in 1922. A convent built to house twenty-two nuns was constructed on Queen Street in 1966.
The church, located at 2215 Windsor, is recognized for its two distinctive spires. The taller, into which clocks were installed in 1982, rises two hundred feet. The shorter tower has a height of 135 feet.
The 1987 Dubuque City Directory listed 619 E. 22nd St.
