- Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis (MNopedia)
During his Christmas Day sermon in 1903, Archbishop John Ireland announced that Minneapolis was to become home to a large and impressive new Catholic church that would share the seat of the archdiocese with the Cathedral of St. Paul. The church, named the Church of the Immaculate Conception, was popularly known as the Pro-Cathedral of Minneapolis. It cost one million dollars to build and held its first Mass in 1914. In 1926, the Catholic Church designated the pro-cathedral the Basilica of Saint Mary, making it the first basilica in the United States.