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Photograph of Sacred Heart Catholic Church
Photograph by McGhiever, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.

From the record

“The Sacred Heart Catholic Church is a Roman Catholic church in Heron Lake, Minnesota, United States. It is part of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester.”

Wikipedia article Sacred Heart Catholic Church (Heron Lake, Minnesota), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 5 National Register listings published here for Jackson County · listed in 1989 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. 9th St. and 4th Ave., Heron Lake, 56137
  • When was it listed? March 1989
  • Category. building
  • City. Heron Lake city
  • Architect. Parkinson & Dockendorff
  • National Register reference number. 89000157 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

The ground it stands on

4,570 words

The chapter on Heron Lake City in An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota, published 1910 names Heron Lake. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

While the country along the Des Moines river in Jackson county was settled in a very early day, the prairie country re- ^ mained unsettled until long afterward. In fact, only a few had builded homes in that part of the county surrounding the future village of Heron Lake until a year or two before the town was founded. When, in 1870, there was great activity in railway circles and it was rumored that the 8t. Paul & Sioux City road would extend its line through southwestern Minnesota, passing just to the north of Heron lake, some far sighted people began to locate homesteads in the prairie country about Heron lake. Said the Jackson Republic of April 2, 1870 : '^At Heron lake, in the northwest corner of the county, there is quite a settlement; the prospect of the early completion of the St. Paul & Sioux City railroad and the possibility that it will pass in this vicinity have called here a good number of settlers.'*

Passage source: An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota, published 1910.

The track of the Sioux City & St. Paul railroad was not laid through Jackson county until the fall of 1871, but in the spring of that year the route was selected and sites for stationt? chosen. It was apparently the first intention of the company to locate the principal town on section 9, Alba township, which was to be called Sibley. The first mention the press makes of this site was on June 10. A little later the Heron Lake site was chosen and the intention of establishing the Sibley station was given up.* The Heron Lake site was selected late in June,* but nothing was done toward platting or building a town there until a short time before the tracklaying was completed in the fall.

Passage source: An Illustrated History of Jackson County, Minnesota, published 1910.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Heron Lake City - 4,570 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Storms near this property

29 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Heron Lake, the town this property stands in, in 29 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 3 flood, 2 heavy rain. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 2014FloodHeron Lake$50,000Persistent moderate to heavy rain caused flooding of fields and other lowlands, including several roads, homes, and businesses. This flooding lasted for two days, and was aggravated locally by additional storms during that time. Some roads were damaged or washed out.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake$20,000Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several trees blown down. One tree fell on and damaged a house. A pipe was impaled into the wall of a house. The winds also destroyed a small shed.
September 2020HailHeron Lake-Strong winds were also noted by the spotter, but did not result in damage.
August 2015Heavy RainHeron Lake-Heavy rainfall os 3.50 inches was reported.
April 2011FloodHeron Lake-Flooding of lakes, streams and lowlands, including some farmland, continued in the county through April. The Des Moines River was at its highest level of 2.6 feet above flood stage at Jackson on April 1st. Lake and lowland flooding continued with very slow improvement. Several roads remained flooded. High water and groundwater levels resulting from record precipitation in the previous year was the main reason that the flooding either grew worse or improved so slowly.
March 2011FloodHeron Lake-Melting of a heavy winter snow cover caused flooding of the Des Moines River, as well as flooding of lowlands, lakes, and streams. The Des Moines River crested at 3.59 feet above flood stage at Jackson on March 26th. There was considerable flooding of farmland. Numerous roads in the county were flooded. Some of the roads were closed, and some were washed out in spots. The flooding onset was rapid for a snow melt flood due to high water and groundwater levels from record precipitation in the year 2010.
July 2010Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several limbs blown down. The winds also moved patio furniture.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including one tree blown down.
June 2007Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including up to 5 inch diameter branches blown down.
September 2005Flash FloodHeron Lake-Heavy rain caused widespread flooding of roads and fields, with basement flooding also reported.
April 2004HailHeron Lake-Large hail was reported at Wilder.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-Thunderstorm winds caused widespread tree damage. Damage to power lines from tree debris and directly from the wind resulted in a power outage.
August 2002Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, with several branches down.
April 2001HailHeron Lake-Large hail accumulated at least two inches over a stretch of several miles. The hail accumulation produced shallow but dense fog, which persisted for at least an hour. Damage to vehicles and other property was suspected, but no damage estimates were available.
August 2001Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage. The amount of damage was not known.
July 2025HailHeron Lake-no account filed
October 2013HailHeron Lake-no account filed
July 2009Funnel CloudHeron Lake-no account filed
June 2008HailHeron Lake-no account filed
June 2007HailHeron Lake-no account filed
May 2004HailHeron Lake-no account filed
May 2004HailHeron Lake-no account filed
May 2004HailHeron Lake-no account filed
June 2001Thunderstorm WindHeron Lake-no account filed
April 2000HailHeron Lake-no account filed
August 1998Heavy RainHeron Lake-no account filed
July 1997HailHeron Lake-no account filed
June 1994HailHeron Lake-no account filed
July 1994HailHeron Lake-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jackson County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 89000157 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Jackson CountyAll 5 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.