Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Tyler, Texas)

The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Tyler, Texas, United States. It is the seat and principal church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tyler.HistoryTyler started to grow as the railroad came to town in the 1870s. Lying priests from Nacogdoches and Palestine came to Tyler to celebrate Mass and attend to the pastoral needs of Catholics. Immaculate Conception Church was established in 1878. A wood frame church was built at the corner of West Locust Street and North College Avenue two years later. By the 1910s, it was evident that the parish needed a larger church, however, the present church would not be built until after the Rev. Sebastian A. Samperi became pastor in 1927. The congregation purchased property at Front Street and South Broadway and the new church was dedicated until March 17, 1935. The parish renovated and redecorated the church in 1949 and again in 1978. It added parish offices, a library and a large meeting room in 1984 and two years later, named the church basement facility for Father Samperi.Pope John Paul II created the Diocese of Tyler on December 12, 1986, from portions of the Diocese of Dallas, the Diocese of Beaumont and the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. Immaculate Conception became the Cathedral at that time.