St. Rose Priory Church

With its majestic octagonal tower and inspiring stained-glass windows, St. Rose Proto-Priory and Church has served Springfield for 200 years. Established in 1806, the proto-priory remains the oldest Dominican religious house in the country. Its Tudor-Gothic church, built the same year, is the oldest standing structure west of the Alleghenies still in use as a church. Named in honor of the Third Order Dominican Saint Rose of Lima, it began as a sister parish of St. Ann. After St. Ann closed several decades later, St. Rose became the area’s only Catholic church.