Immaculate Conception, Denham Springs

Catholics in the Denham Springs area in the early 1900s were few in number. They depended solely upon the ministry of the traveling priests who arrived once a month by a picturesque railroad chapel car.

Father Drossaerts initiated the construction of the first Catholic Church building in Denham Springs in 1916 with a $500 donation from the Extension Society. The little wooden church, measuring only about 40 x 60 feet, was called Immaculate Conception. Many times the floodwaters of the untamed Amite River revented the priests from reaching the little church to celebrate Mass.

In 1920, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate took on the care of the mission field of Livingston Parish, including  the mother Church of St. Margaret Church in Albany. The little church was expanded, and its congregation grew. In September 1960, Immaculate Conception was made an official parish with Father Joseph Ryan as its first pastor. In November 1964, 17.3 acres were purchased on the corner of Hatchell Lane and Maple Drive.  A rectory, convent and catechetical building were dedicated in February 1967. The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Eucharist Sisters, who had worked in the Denham Springs area since the 1930s, moved into the convent. Although these sisters left Immaculate Conception Parish in the1970s, the legacy of their work helped shape the parish into the spiritual center it is today.

In 1976, Immaculate Conception parishioners celebrated the dedication of their new church with many of their former pastors in attendance. By 1982, the Oblates relinquished the pastoral care of the parish to the Diocese of Baton Rouge. In 1983, the people welcomed their first diocesan pastor. Immaculate Conception has emerged from a sparse gathering behind a railroad car at the turn of the century to the bustling spiritual complex it is today.