The Church of the Immaculate Conception (also Old Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception) is a historic building located in

Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...

, United States. Built as a

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

, it became the

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

of the Diocese of Rapid City when the seat of the diocese was moved to Rapid City. It is now known as the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception.

History

St. Mary's Church was established in 1881. The

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

for its

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

church building, designed in the

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...

style, was laid in 1909. It was dedicated in 1911. The Catholic Diocese of Lead was relocated and became the Diocese of Rapid City in 1930. St. Mary's Church was renamed the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception at that time."Remember when the new cathedral was built?" ''West River Catholic'' (April 2013) Cardinal

Francis Spellman Francis Joseph Spellman (May 4, 1889 – December 2, 1967) was an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Archbishop of New York from 1939 until his death in 1967. F ...

came to the cathedral in 1948 to install William McCarty, C.Ss.R as the new bishop of the diocese. with The parish soon outgrew the church and it was replaced by the Cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 1962. The church was added to the National Register in 1975. In time Immaculate Conception became a chapel and has housed a community where

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

is celebrated in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

since 1992.

Architecture

The church building follows basically a rectangular plan with a cross-

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d section in the center of the structure. Both side gables are flanked by chimneys and are capped with a cross. The stone cladding was quarried locally. A square central tower capped with a pyramid-shaped

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spire ...

covered with

terne Terne plate is a form of tinplate: a thin steel sheet coated with an alloy of lead and tin. The terne alloy was in the ratio of 10-20% tin and the remainder lead. The low tin content made it cheaper than other tinplates. Terne plate was used for ...

plate is located on the main facade. It includes the main entrance with a round-arch

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

window above the three-panel doors. The round-arch openings in the bell chamber feature a

balustrade A baluster () is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its ...

. Round-arch windows filled with stained glass line the side elevations. The three windows in the cross-gabled section are taller than the four windows that flank it. Most of the windows are composed of geometric designs. The two largest windows depict

Biblical The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) biblical languages ...

scenes. All the window openings are capped by radiating

voussoir A voussoir ( UK: ; US: ) is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.“Voussoir, N., Pronunciation.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/7553486115. Acces ...

s. The

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

, constructed of vertical board on the rear elevation, is a later addition. Immaculate Conception is considered significant as the best example of the Romanesque Revival style in Rapid City, and one of only a few of this style that still exists there. It is the last known cut stone building constructed in the city, and one of two buildings with rock-faced facades that remain.

References

{{Rapid City, South Dakota Religious organizations established in 1881 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1911 Churches in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rapid City Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in South Dakota Romanesque Revival church buildings in South Dakota Churches in Pennington County, South Dakota Former cathedrals in the United States Sandstone churches in the United States 1881 establishments in Dakota Territory National Register of Historic Places in Rapid City, South Dakota Roman Catholic cathedrals in South Dakota 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United States

History

Architecture

See also

References