Gesu Church, a Jesuit parish of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, rises in the neighborhood once called Tory Hill and was named a Milwaukee Landmark in 1975. This community began as St. Gall’s Parish 177 years ago in 1849, serving English-speaking Irish Catholics from the near south and west sides in the neighborhood once called Tory Hill. As the parish grew it built Holy Name Church in 1875, and by 1887 Jesuit officials combined the two parishes into one.
The name Gesu was chosen in 1893 to honor the Church of the Gesu in Rome, where St. Ignatius of Loyola is buried. On May 23, 1893 the cornerstone was laid with over 20,000 people in attendance, and a dedication ceremony on December 17, 1894 marked the church’s formal completion. Though not affiliated with Marquette University, since a 1991 partnership Gesu ministers to the downtown Marquette campus and the surrounding neighborhood.
You might also notice a local connection: actor Pat O’Brien, born in 1899, served here as an altar boy while growing up near 13th and Clybourn and attended Marquette Academy. Notice the church rising above the streets of old Tory Hill.