The diocese in 1830 sent Reverend Peter Donnelly to minister to the small Catholic population in the city.

[3] Pope Gregory XVI erected the Diocese of Little Rock on November 28, 1843, with St. Andrew Parish designated as the episcopal seat.

[3] As the parish grew, Bishop Edward Fitzgerald decided that it needed a larger cathedral.

He laid the cornerstone for the present St. Andrew Cathedral on July 7, 1878, and dedicated it on November 27, 1881.

A tornado in 1950 toppled the cross on one of the towers and shattered two of the cathedral's stained glass windows.

[1] The Cathedral of St. Andrew was designed by Little Rock architect Thomas Harding and cost $470,000 to build.

it is a Gothic Revival style structure constructed of gray granite stone, quarried at Fourche Mountain near Little Rock.

[3] The cathedral interior is finished in Southern yellow pine and features a marble high altar that is decorated with onyx and other precious stones.

[3] Media related to Cathedral of St. Andrew (Little Rock, Arkansas) at Wikimedia Commons