Week 44: St. Mary's Catholic Church

Open

Since its founding in 1912, Chandler has always boasted a diverse religious community.  Town founder Dr. Alexander J. Chandler was a devout Christian Scientist.  Not long after Chandler’s founding a Hindu colony was established in the town.  The largest denominations represented in early Chandler, however, were the Methodist Church, the Church of Latter Day Saints, and the Catholic Church.

The first Catholic mass celebrated in Chandler was held in the home of Ernest Koch on March 30, 1915.  At that time, Chandler was considered a mission, and priests from Phoenix or Tempe held services in town once a month.  For many years those services were held in the Koch home.  By the late 1920s, so many people attended services that the congregation spilled out the front door, onto the porch, and across the lawn.  Clearly, the congregation was growing and it was time to build a church.

Construction started in 1932 on the new St. Mary’s Catholic Church, located on Williams Field Road (today’s Chandler Boulevard) at Colorado Street.  A basement was dug out and foundation laid before building funds ran out.  But it was enough to move the congregation out of Koch’s house and into the basement for weekly services.

By 1935, Father Vincent Mestre had designed the new church building himself and raised the funds to have it built.  Inspired by Mexican missions, the building was to be constructed of adobe bricks, with “an imposing front topped by a cupola for the bell.”  Both interior and exterior would be plastered with stucco.  The interior design was to be fairly traditional, with an altar at the center and a balcony for the choir.  The basement was to be divided into housing quarters, entertainment spaces and classrooms.  In the meantime, services were moved from the basement to the Gibbons Building on Commonwealth Avenue.

Work on crafting the adobe bricks began weeks in advance of the much anticipated construction start date on May 1.  The project was expected to take two months.  Parishioners volunteered their time and expertise to construct the new church, with oversight from Father Mestre.

Construction took longer than expected, in some part due to the heat of the summer.  Daily work commenced at sunrise, but ceased by 9 or 10 in the morning as the temperature climbed.  The original target date for the first service was July 26 of that year.  But an article in the Chandler Arizonan from that day noted that the church would not be ready until August 10.  Work still remained on installing the flooring, finishing the roof, completion of the steps up to the front door, and installing windows.

August 10 came and went with no mention in the local paper about progress towards opening the church.  It was not until November 24 that the church was dedicated and blessed.  On that day, Father Mestre dedicated the new church at a service in the basement before leading the congregation in a procession into the new chapel where mass was celebrated.  Afterwards, the congregation moved back to the basement, now a recreation hall, for a breakfast served by the Altar Society.  Later, in the evening, the Altar Society hosted a fundraiser dinner to help pay for the new floors.  Parishioners Carlos Noriega and Olga Arvizo entertained the diners with their singing.

The new church was finished not a moment too soon.  Within a couple of years, the Catholic Church undertook a census of Catholics living in Chandler and its “suburbs,” which included Higley, Goodyear (Ocotillo), Queen Creek, and Gilbert.  The census showed nearly 750 Catholic living in the area, with St. Mary’s the only church for them to attend.

St. Mary’s has continued to grow.  In the proceeding years it added St. Mary-Basha school and Seton Catholic High School to its growing services.  It didn’t take long to outgrow the little chapel on Williams Field Road.  Today the congregation meets in a large chapel on Galveston Street.