Church rebuilt in 1901

In order to finish the building in time for the consecration visit from the Bishop, compromises were made in the mixing and curing of the mortar that held the bricks together.

Note that a detail of this stained glass window is used as art on this web page.

The New Cathedral House
Part of Total Plan

The proposed Cathedral House will be designed to harmonize with a new Cathedral which St. James' congregation proposes to build in the not too distant future when the present church becomes inadequate or untenable with age.

It is planned to erect an edifice worthy of the Church and city and the civic center in which it will be located.

This is your opportunity to share with many others in financing these projects.

You will find great satisfaction in future years in looking back upon your share in making St. James' Cathedral equal to its task and responsibility as a great religious institution.

Ground breaking for the new Parish Hall, c. 1950.

More modest than the 1946 plan, this brick building was designed to blend in with the existing Cathedral.

Sanford Hall was named after our Diocese's first Bishop.

Fifteen years ago, St. James' Cathedral had a membership of only four hundred in the city of Fresno, which had a population of about sixty thousand. St. James' has grown with Fresno and today the Cathedral boasts a congregation of two thousand in a city of around ninety-one thousand.

Because of this great growth, the Cathedral is today faced with a serious lack of space. Although the addition of Sanford Hall has alleviated the condition somewhat by supplying more room for Sunday school classes, the actual church building itself is inadequate. The building has a seating capacity of less than five hundred.

If the present site is to be kept, then more land for the new Cathedral building and parking space must be acquired. Another alternative is to move outside the city. Dean Malloch believes that the logical place to move is on the "most rapidly growing edge of the largest, best residential section in Fresno." He feels that "it is possible that the new location of Fresno State College will be a significant factor in this regard."

Less than six years after the dedication of Sanford Hall, this article appeared in the Fresno Bee, April 1, 1957.