St. Patrick Cathedral: Fort Worth's First Catholic Anchor

Saint Patrick Cathedral has anchored Catholic life in Fort Worth since before the city had a diocese. Construction began in eighteen eighty-eight, and the church was dedicated in eighteen ninety-two, the same year as the Modern Art Museum down the street. When the Diocese of Fort Worth was created in nineteen sixty-nine, Saint Patrick became its cathedral.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Saint Patrick Cathedral Complex, which includes the rectory and the historic Saint Ignatius Academy next door. Both the church and the academy carry Texas Historic Landmark status. The Gothic Revival structure is one of the oldest intact Catholic buildings in North Texas, a survivor of more than a century of urban change around it.