History of Sacred Heart ChurchThe first Catholic prayer offered in Pemiscot County, Missouri, is attributed to the Spanish explorer De Soto. The exact spot where De Soto planted a cross and led a prayer to God the Father in 1542 is unknown, but it must have been near the present site of Caruthersville. In 1793, Fr. Pierre Gibault assumed his duties as pastor of New Madrid and its dependencies, which included the village of La Petite Prairie (Little Prairie), a settlement a short distance downriver from present-day Caruthersville. By 1799, the French Catholic population had reached 78; however, the village of Little Prairie was completely destroyed in the Great New Madrid Earthquake of 1811. By 1870, the population of Caruthersville had reached 80. In 1876, the first mass was held by priests from New Madrid in the home of a Dr. Palmer. Clement and Sally Nanson, non-Catholics, donated the land for a Catholic church in 1877. The first Catholic church in Pemiscot County, a 24’ x 40’ frame structure with a 48’ belfry tower, was built in 1892 and dedicated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus (the present rectory was constructed on that site); Fr. William Schulte, the first pastor, was appointed in 1897 by the Most Rev. J. J. Kane, Archbishop of St. Louis, when the parishioners assured the archbishop that they could and would support a permanent pastor. The first two decades of the 20th century saw the construction of the first rectory (1900), Sacred Heart Catholic School (1905), the present church (1913), and the present rectory (1925). Ursuline sisters from Crystal City taught at the school until 1937, replaced by sisters of the Most Precious Blood. The present school was built in 1956, the same year the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau was formed out of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and both religious and lay teachers continued to educate children there until 1971, when the school closed. In the years following Vatican II, the church was redecorated, communion was received standing up, a parish council was formed, and the first Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist were appointed. Sacred Heart Church in Caruthersville entered the 21st century after over 100 years of serving Christ, over a century of people proclaiming the Good News in Pemiscot County. With the help of the Holy Spirit, Sacred Heart Church will continue in service to Christ for 100 more. Works Consulted: How Did The Boundary of Missouri Come To Include The "Bootheel"?The inclusion of the "bootheel" in the boundaries of Missouri has been credited to John Hardeman Walker, a landowner and influential citizen of southeast Missouri. Walker was born in Tennessee in 1794 and came to the New Madrid area of the Territory of Missouri at the age of 16. When the New Madrid earthquakes began a year later, in December 1811, many of the area's citizens moved away. Walker, however did not leave the area and his cattle-raising enterprise; instead he acquired more property and soon became known as the "Czar of the Valley." His extensive landholdings were located in Little Prairie, near present-day Caruthersville. This area fell under the jurisdiction of the Missouri Territory as administered from the town of New Madrid. In 1818, the Missouri territorial legislature presented a memorial to the United States Congress requesting permission to organize a state government. At that time, the southern boundary for Missouri was fixed at 36°30'. Walker and the people of Little Prairie realized this line would place their lands some 25 miles south of the Missouri border. Little Prairie would be under the jurisdiction of the Arkansas territorial government, not the state government of Missouri. Walker, who preferred the area, and his holdings, to be under the protection of Missouri state laws, lobbied in Missouri and Washington, D.C. for inclusion of the "bootheel" within the boundaries of the state of Missouri. November 22, 1818, the territorial legislature adopted a memorial to Congress for the admission of Missouri to the Union, proposing boundaries for the state that included the Little Prairie area. The memorial fixed the boundaries as follows: "Beginning at a point in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River at the 36 th degree of north latitude and running in a direct line to the mouth of the Black river, a branch of the White river; thence in the middle of the main channel of the White river to where the parallel of 36 degrees and 30 minutes north latitude crosses the same; thence with that parallel of latitude due west." On March 6, 1820, when the Territory of Missouri requested admission to the Union with the modified boundary in the southeast corner, the request was granted. This acquisition increased the total area of Missouri by some 980 square miles (627,000 acres). Resources: March, David. History of Missouri. Volume I. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1967. Missouri: Day by Day. Volume I. Edited by Floyd C. Shoemaker. Columbia [Mo.]: State Historical Society of Missouri, 1942. Source: Missouri Secretary of State The Origin of Pemiscot CountyPemiscot County was organized February 19, 1851, from New Madrid County and named for the Indian word meaning "liquid mud." Source: Missouri Secretary of State |