The Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater

History & Significance

Cathedral · Est. Parish founded 1846; cathedral 1850-51; present brick church completed 1885

The Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater traces to 1846, when the first church was built at Fort Vancouver in the wake of missionaries Francis Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers, who arrived in 1838. It became a cathedral in 1850-51 as seat of the Diocese of Nesqually, and the present Gothic Revival brick church—the first masonry cathedral in Washington—was completed in 1885 under Bishop Aegidius Junger. It reverted to a parish in 1907 when the see moved to Seattle, and was formally designated a proto-cathedral in 2013. It now serves the Archdiocese of Seattle.

Gothic Revival brick church with a 150-foot central bell tower

• •Former seat (1850-1907) of the Diocese of Nesqually, the original name of today's Archdiocese of Seattle
• •Present brick church completed in 1885; first masonry-built cathedral in Washington
• •Reverted to a parish in 1907 when the episcopal see moved to Seattle
• •Formally designated a proto-cathedral (former cathedral) in 2013 by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain
• •Listed on the Washington Heritage Register in 1986