During the Mexican Revolution, the Sacred Heart Catholic Church was the main parish for the Second Ward and Chihuahuita. When Villa camped on the Rio Grande with the Maderistas, some of his men came to Sacred Heart Church. Father P. Roberto M. Libertini from Italy was priest. A year later, Father Carlos Pinto, the founder of Sacred Heart Church, was kidnapped by Orozquista counterrevolutionaries on March 4, 1912. Colonel Antonio Rojas demanded $3,000, then $2,000, then $500. Failing in all three demands, Rojas asked for $100. Pinto agreed to pay it. He was released and went back to his personal chambers in Sacred Heart Church to write out the $100 check which Mayor Charles Kelly delivered on Pinto’s behalf. The Sacred Heart Church building was first dedicated on June 9, 1893.
