St. Joseph, French Settlement

The area around the mission of La Côte Française Mission or “The French Coast,” was first settled in the early 1800s. Missionaries from St. Bernard Church in Galveztown and from St. Gabriel Church in Iberville served the people in individual homes and in a small chapel, built of logs and mud, located near the old community cemetery in French Settlement.

On October 6, 1876, Hubert Haydel donated a piece of land, measuring two arpents by five arpents, situated on what is now LA Highway 16, for the purpose of building a church. This site was located down the road towards the Amite River ferry about a mile from the present old wooden church.  In 1882, the residents of French Settlement petitioned for a church to be built to replace the small log chapel. The church was finished in 1883 and was placed under the invocation of St. Joseph. When a storm destroyed the church a few years later, the members decided to change the location to the center of the community. The new church was built in 1889 and served the missions of Port Vincent and Head of Island. In 1919, the church and its missions were placed under the care of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

The Oblates continued to care for the parish until, in 1986, the first diocesan priest, Father James Kinkead was appointed. He served as pastor of St. Joseph and its missions of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Head of Island and St. William in Port Vincent until his retirement in 2003. The mission chapel in Head of Island closed in 2003, when St Joseph Parish was clustered with the parish of St. Stephen in Whitehall. Father Rubin Reynolds was named pastor of the clustered parishes.

Groundbreaking ceremonies for the construction of the new worship center took place on August 20, 2004. On February 11, 2006, the mission chapel in Port Vincent was closed and the new St. Joseph Church was dedicated.