Sacred Heart Mission
Laid out in 1923 at the northwest corner of Katella Ave and Gilbert St in Anaheim, La Colonia Independencia is one of Orange County’s few remaining “islands” of unincorporated tracts. The original residents of La Colonia were largely Mexican farmhands and construction workers who built their homes next to citrus groves in the 1920s and ‘30s. When residents sought to build a local church, the administrator of the local parish, Father Patrick Browne, responded wholeheartedly to their petition. Land was purchased and by September of 1928, the colonia had their own Church, Misión del Sagrado Corazón (Sacred Heart Mission). The community and congregation grew and in the 1960s, a building fund led to the dedication of a new church building on July 7, 1968. The original building was repurposed as a community center under the Orange County Community Development Council.
La Colonia Independencia, Anaheim, Orange County
Photographer: Andrew Schmidt
