In 1890, St. Malachy Church was built at 735 Harrison Avenue in Cleveland (southeast addition of Fruita), Colorado, and was the first Catholic Church in the community.  The property this church was built on was donated by the Kiefer brothers; Val, Ben and Frank.  Father George Morton, who helped build the church, said the first Mass there.



In 1911 Father Cuthbert Poirier built the rectory and was the first resident priest at St. Malachy.

In 1919, Father Edward Muenich pointed out to the bishop that Fruita was growing faster than Cleveland, so he was encouraged to buy a site for a new Saint Malachy's Church.  Lots were purchased on the corner of Maple Street and Aspen Avenue. 

The rectory was moved to the new location by Fred Leach.  According to Father Hickey's book, "Catholics on the Western Front", they had to remove the upper story in order to get the house under the powerlines.

The new Sacred Heart Catholic Church at 503 East Aspen Avenue was designed by Robert Willison and built by Stonemason Nunzio Grasso in 1921 for a cost of about $16,000.  It is constructed of rough-faced sandstone from the Little Book Cliffs Quarry, and has Florentine stained-glass windows.  The windows of the old church were placed in the basement of the new church. The stained glass over the door still bore the name "St. Malachy's".

The dedication ceremony was held August 27, 1922.  It was then that the church's name was changed to Sacred Heart.  The ceremony was conducted by the Bishop of Denver, The Rt. Rev. J. Henry Tihen.

The priests that followed, worked hard to reduce the debt on such an expensive project for the small farming community.  Father Joseph Minot, who was appointed to the church in 1927 and served for five years, turned everything he could get his hands on into cash to pay on the debt.  In 1941, the new Diocese of Pueblo was formed and the Archbishop Vehr of Denver reduced the debt by $5,000, leaving only $1,500.  This was finally paid in full in 1945.

The Parish Hall on Aspen Avenue, across the street from the Church was purchased from the Mormon's by Father Hickey after obtaining permission from Bishop Buswell and overcoming a few obstacles and negotiating issues.  The anouncement of the purchase of "Our New Hall" was made in the Sunday Bulletin on March 30, 1966.

We out-grew the Aspen Street location by 2008 and new property was purchased at 1210 West 17-1/2 Road, approximated 2.8 miles north of the old church.  The new church was dedicated on September 17, 2016 by Bishop Stephen Berg.  Many items were brought from the two previous churches.  For example, the bell cast in 1889, the Tabernacle, the hand-carved wood crucifix above the altar that was donated in 1951, and the Stations of the Cross purchased from a Pueblo Orphanage in 1940.  Also the statues of Mary, Joseph with the Infant Jesus and two smaller statues were restored and brought to the new church.



 

The Stations of the Cross you see in this photo were moved to the Sacred Heart Church building on Aspen Street.  The present Stations were acuired from an orphanage in Pueblo when the orphanage closed in 1941. 













The stained glass windows you see are in the basement of Sacred Heart Church on Aspen Avenue.  The windows were unable to be used in the 2016 building because they would have been damaged if removed.

The Pinochle Club met in the church basement beginning in 1939 and later met in the Parish Hall until 2010.  The club disbanded when John Stein, a long-time parishioner, was no longer able to attend.
 

Workmen repairing the wood floors of the old Sacred Heart Church.  Notice the woodwork and organ where the balcony is located today.  Also you can see the old Stations of the Cross pictures. 

In 1980 Sacred Heart Church was given a new tower roof.  The photo above is of the original roof, that leaked continually for about 60 years before finally being replaced.  It seems the problem was caused by a design flaw.

The complete church history and archives have been compiled into eight 12" x 12" scrapbooks and are available for review, if requested.

Please contact Kathy Hurt at 970-858-7996 or Linda Peck at 970-361-0057 for more information.

Many thanks to Genevieve Keifer, Cindy Fry, Kathy Hurt, Gloria Chavez, and all those who provided information and old photographs.  Your help and thoughtfulness is greatly appreciated.