The Church of the Sacred Heart is a historic Roman Catholic church building in

Freeport, Minnesota Freeport is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 632 at the 2010 census. Freeport is part of the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office called Freeport has been in operation since 1881 ...

, United States. The church was constructed from 1905 to 1906 as the third and largest building to house a congregation formed by the community's

German American German Americans (german: Deutschamerikaner, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. With an estimated size of approximately 43 million in 2019, German Americans are the largest of the self-reported ancestry groups by the Unite ...

settlers in 1881. With The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1991 as Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic) for its local significance in the theme of social history. It was nominated for demonstrating the central role played by the Catholic church in Freeport and many other

Central Minnesota Central Minnesota is the central part of the state of Minnesota. No definitive boundaries of the region exist, but most definitions would include the land north of Interstate 94, east of U.S. Highway 59, south of U.S. Highway 2, and west of U.S ...

communities settled by German immigrants.

History

The Sacred Heart parish was originally part of a parish in

New Munich, Minnesota New Munich is a city in Stearns County, Minnesota, Stearns County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 320 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the St. Cloud, Minnesota, St. Cloud St. Cloud metropolitan area, Met ...

. The heavily German-American community of Freeport asked the Diocese of St. Cloud for a priest to form their own parish, and Father Simplicius Wimmer arrived in response. Freeport's first church building was a wood-frame structure built in 1882, measuring , with a rectory added in 1890. The parish outgrew this building and constructed a new one in 1896, which was a brick-veneered building measuring and seating 1,000 people. The second building was completed at a cost of $30,000 (). The original wood building was donated to the parish of St. Rose and moved north. The 1896 building was struck by lightning in 1904 and destroyed by fire. The parish immediately organized a rebuilding effort, and even the priest pitched in. The third building was even larger and more ornate than the second building, with a total construction cost of $115,000 () by the time it was finished in 1906. It required 38

boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

loads of brick for its construction. The parish is now part of a cluster with Immaculate Conception in New Munich and St. Rose of Lima in St. Rosa, Minnesota.

References

External links

Sacred Heart Parish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Church Of The Sacred Heart (Freeport, Minnesota) 1905 establishments in Minnesota Churches in Stearns County, Minnesota Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Cloud German-American culture in Minnesota Gothic Revival church buildings in Minnesota National Register of Historic Places in Stearns County, Minnesota Roman Catholic churches completed in 1906 Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota Romanesque Revival church buildings in Minnesota 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

See also

References

External links