If you drive past Sky Harbor on 16th Street, there’s a small church standing alone in an open field. It’s the last thing left from a neighborhood where thousands of people once lived. Golden Gate Barrio sat near 16th Street and Buckeye Road, directly under the flight paths of Sky Harbor. It grew from former farmland into a full community with homes, businesses and its own institutions. At the center was Sacred Heart Catholic Church, built by residents in the 1950s with help from Father Albert Braun. Then Phoenix began expanding around the airport. In the 1970s and 1980s, the city purchased and cleared much of Golden Gate through the West Approach Land Acquisition Project. According to Phoenix historic preservation records, more than 6,000 people were relocated. The houses disappeared. Sacred Heart held its last regular Mass in 1985, and the city considered demolishing the church too. Former residents fought to save it. The church survived and was later added to the National Re...