Sacred Heart church is the first suburban church of Los Angeles. The church was established in several temporary buildings in August, 1887. The cornerstone of the present church was laid on February 10, 1889.
In the winter of 1884 – 1885 disastrous floods washed out the bridges leading to downtown Los Angeles keeping many devout Catholic families who lived on the east side of “Rio Porciuncula", the Los Angeles River, from attending Mass. The two to three mile journey to participate in Sunday mass at either the Placita Church or Saint Vibiana’s Cathedral was already a hardship to the pioneer families and rancheros.
Therefore, Reverend Peter Verdaguer, a priest from the “Old Mission Church” at La Placita spearheaded the drive to build a church in Lincoln Heights.
Committee to Restore Historic Sacred Heart Church
The committee was born out of the grass roots struggle of parishioners and community members to keep their 108 year old bell when Cardinal Mahony requested it for the new Los Angeles Cathedral in the summer of 2001.
The Bell had been taken down after the 1979 Northridge earthquake and although the church was repaired and seismically retrofit, funding was not available to return the bell to the tower, repair the steeple or make other needed structural repairs.
The successful “Save the Bell” campaign enabled the community to raise sufficient funds to repair the church tower and raise the bell after over 20 years of inactivity.
However, the committee members realized that this was just the beginning in their efforts to preserve this living heritage. In December of 1989 the Cultural Heritage Commission had declared Sacred Heart Church Historic-Cultural monument number 468.
Plans are underway to develop a ramp for handicap access to the church. The landscaping around the ramp will require a professional design. The Steeple and stained glass windows are in need of repair and replacement and there are several repairs and upgrades that need urgent attention.
Volunteer Opportunities
Historic Sacred Hear Church
For further information on how you can participate in this labor of love for our community, please contact:
Mr. Jose Garcia at (323) 221-6466.
Volunteers skilled in the following urgently needed:
- Fund raising
- Accounting
- Landscape design
- Architecture
- Painting
- Handyman / small repairs
- Electrical
