St. Joseph's Church

This historic Galveston church is the oldest German Catholic Church in Texas and the oldest wooden church in Galveston. St. Joseph’s was built by German immigrants in 1859 after Bishop John Odin, the first Catholic bishop of Texas, suggested a church should be built for the German-speaking Catholics in the area. The church was dedicated to St. Joseph, the patron saint of laborers. The building is a wooden Gothic Revival structure, rectangular with a square bell tower and a trefoil window. The interior features a coffered ceiling with painted quatrefoils and other Gothic symbols.