A New St. Joseph's Church, 1927, Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana Submitted to the USGenWeb Archives by Sandra McLellan, Jan 2007 Special thanks to Jim Perrin for donating it to the archives. ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ A NEW ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH, 1927 BY JIM PERRIN, Local Historian PART ONE The Catholic Church on West Pine Street in Ponchatoula is too small to adequately serve the fast growing population of this area. What could be a current headline in 2006 was a certain fact in 1926. With the completion of the huge Williams, and Rathborne cypress lumber mills at the southern edge of Ponchatoula in 1921, Ponchatoula's population mushroomed from just under a thousand persons to about 5,000 within the space of about two years. The prediction and indeed the hope of a local civic organization was "10,000 by 1930." Among the thousands of new residents of Ponchatoula and the surrounding area were many Catholic families who crowded into the small frame church for Sunday Mass, as well as the other masses and special occasions. Chairs were placed in the aisles, in the sacristy, and around the alter to help seat the growing congregation but clearly a larger structure was needed. The beginnings of an organized Catholic church in Ponchatoula date back to the 1860's during the first decade of the settlement's existence. The St. Helena Catholic Church in Amite had been established in 1868 under the leadership of the Irish born cleric John Scollard (1818-1886). Scollard, who was the pastor of the St. Helena Church, then located in Amite, St. Helena Parish, also ministered to several nearby communities including Ponchatoula. The population of the town of Ponchatoula was then about 300 souls and would officially be counted at 330 when the census was conducted in 1870. Mass was conducted in private homes when Rev. Scollard came to Ponchatoula but a church building was needed for the Catholic families of Ponchatoula and the surrounding rural areas. In November 1872, four area citizens George D. Wells, Daniel T. Settoon, Thomas M. Akers, and John O. Terry, donated Lots 7 & 8 in Square 37 in the town of Ponchatoula to Rev. Napoleon Joseph Perche representing the Diocese of New Orleans. The two lots were on the corner of West Pine Street and North Seventh Street and measured 200 feet on West Pine by 100 feet on Seventh. The lots were donated with the stipulation that a building or church for the Roman Catholic religion be constructed on the site within eighteen months or the land would revert to the donors. Since the two lots never reverted back to the donors, it can be assumed that the first church structure was erected about 1873-1874. The sacramental records from the St. Joseph's Church in Ponchatoula do not begin until 1876 so prior rites may have been recorded in the register of the visiting priest and permanently recorded in another parish. This was the case of Patrick Murray of Ponchatoula who married 28 June 1874 to Bridget McCardle; and John Henry Meyer who married 1 June 1875 in Ponchatoula to Louise Lucille Bruguierre and whose marriage is recorded in the St. Helena Church records in Amite. The small wooden church which was built on the corner lot facing Pine Street in the 1870's served the needs of the Ponchatoula Catholic community for over half a century. Rev. Scollard, who had been so instrumental in creating St. Joseph's Church while assigned to St. Helena, was reassigned and in 1880 was tending his flock in Kennerville {now Kenner, LA}. He died in 1886 and was buried in the small cemetery which had been established next to St. Joseph's Church. Over the following years several more parishioners were also buried in the cemetery. Their names are recorded on a marble table in the sanctuary of the present church. A listing of the families who attended the St. Joseph's Church during the period 1876-1898 would include: Abels, Arnold, Ballam, Biegel, Buckel, Campbell, Corneille, Drude, Duffy, Dufreche, Fannaly, Helg, Isenberg, Kiefer, Kupper, Lange, Meyer, Miller, Morgan, Murray, McCahill, McCullum, Raiford, Rateau, Schaefer, Schafer, Schilling, Schroeder, Shrader, Schum, Spaulding, Spence, Tenent, Torrence, Tucker, Turnage, Walz, Wild, and Yokum. Feeling the need for Catholic education in the parish the church acquired the western half of the block {Square 37} in Nov. 1895; and also purchased an additional 125 feet of frontage on North Seventh Street thereby giving the church ownership of most of the block on which St. Joseph's sits. In 1907, with the town's population now over 1,000 persons the St. Joseph's Church was enlarged with the addition of two small rooms on either side of the sacristies. Father Gabriel, O.S.B., who was serving the parish at this time also oversaw the construction of a three room house which was used as a rectory. With the growth of the area population in the early 1920's causing overcrowding, efforts began to collect money for the construction of a new church. The initial efforts were modest at best with only $679 being collected in 1923. Fund raising continued in 1924 with several events held to benefit the building fund. In the winter of 1924 for example, the ladies of the church presented a benefit show at the new Ideal Theater in Ponchatoula featuring the town's favorite cowboy, Hoot Gibson. To supplement such events the congregation began placing contributions for the building fund into special envelopes at each Sunday mass. The monies were then deposited in the Merchants and Farmers Bank for safe-keeping and to gain the 4% interest the bank was then offering. More money was needed however and in May 1926 at the end of the strawberry season the church parish was divided into nine sections and a committee for each section solicited money from parishioners in their section. This more direct approach produced good results and on August 10, 1926 a contract for a new church was signed with the New Orleans architectural firm of Wogan and Bernard {Victor Wogan and Joseph Bernard, had previously designed some impressive buildings on the new LSU campus, and the eighteen story Monteleone Hotel Building in New Orleans}. The parishioners were excited at the prospect of a new St. Joseph's Church. Next: A new St. Joseph's arises PART TWO Because of a rapid expansion of the population of the Ponchatoula area in the 1920's a larger Catholic Church was needed in the community. The old wooden church had served the faithful parishioners for over fifty years but a newer church with modern facilities was needed. After plans for the new church had been prepared by the New Orleans architectural firm of Wogan and Bernard, advertisements to bid on the construction of the church were issued. The St Joseph's building committee led by Dr. E. J. Kevlin, G. E. Cowen, James W. Fannaly, and Joseph Liebert, reviewed the several bids which were submitted and chose the lowest bidder, Dudley & Wikle to receive the contract. The bid of the Dudley and Wikle Company of New Orleans to build the basic church structure for $30,500 was accepted by the committee on 17 Dec. 1926. Construction was scheduled to be completed by 1 June 1927. The old frame church which had served so well had to be moved before work could begin on the new church. The church was jacked up by local house mover William Steidtmann and moved a bit east into the edge of North Seventh Street. Services continued to be held in the old church over the next few months while the new structure was under construction. Permission had previously been secured from the families who had loved ones buried in the small cemetery next to the old church to use that hallowed site as part of the ground where the new church would be placed. As the bell tolled in the 55 foot steeple of St. Joseph's Church, calling the congregation to mass, the parishioners in January 1927 could see the work beginning on their new church. Years of fund raising efforts were now producing visible results. The new church was to be 48 feet by 125 feet in size with a seating capacity of about 500 persons. The roof would be covered with red ceramic tiles and the 77 foot high bell tower of would be covered with a copper dome. Stonework on the buttresses and bell tower would add to the appearance of the church. The architecture of the church would reflect the influence of Spanish priests who had served the Catholic faithful of Ponchatoula and nearby Rosaryville (Gessen) for so many years. The concrete foundation of the church was poured in January 1927 and the first courses of brick were quickly laid. Many of the construction workers were local men who would look back with pride over the following decades that they had helped construct this fine building. While the construction process was underway the Holy Name Society was holding fund raisers to gather money to buy a larger bell for the new church. Some of these fund raising events were held in the Catholic Hall which was a frame building in the church square facing the present Bootsy's Gas Station & Deli. The brickwork was advancing quickly and on 27 Feb. 1927 Archbishop J. W. Shaw and other church leaders arrived by train from New Orleans to officiate at the laying of the church's cornerstone. A platform for this special occasion was erected between the old church and the construction site. A large wooden cross was erected where the sanctuary of the new church would soon be located. The granite cornerstone was laid and a small copper box containing information about the church, local newspapers, coins of that date, etc, was also enclosed. The ceremony was largely attended by a crowd of many faiths. After the Archbishop had concluded the ceremony the congregation walked down the block to the Catholic Hall and enjoyed a wonderful repast. During this time father Gonzales of the St. Joseph's Church offered his thanks to his congregation and to others who had made this day possible. The local newspaper correctly commented"Š it will be many years before another such event occurs." By late April 1927, the church was nearing completing with the roof and bell tower nearly finished. Work on the interior such as plastering of walls, installation of the wood trim, and installation of the pews was proceeding smoothly. At the beginning of June the new church bell arrived. The new bell weighed about 1,200 pounds without the ringing mechanism and was about four times larger than the old bell. The new bell at St. Joseph's Catholic Church officially rang for the first time at 6:30 on the morning of Sunday June 12, 1927. At another mass later in the day Archbishop Shaw was again in Ponchatoula to dedicate the church and welcome the congregation to their beautiful new church. The price of the new church with additional interior work, bell, and the cost of the interior fixtures was about $60,000. After the completion and acceptance of the new church the old structure was no longer needed. Mr. Steidtmann, the local house mover, had previously purchased the venerable old building. He now sold the building to Mr. E. P. Kinchen and moved the structure to a site Mr. Kinchen had selected at the north end of Seventh Street. In the almost four score years since the completion of the new St. Joseph's Church in 1927, generations of the faithful have worshipped in that structure. A large number of parishioners received all of their sacramental rites at St. Joseph's from baptism, confirmation, marriage, to the last rites. Although a number of significant improvements were made in the church building over the decades, the growth of Ponchatoula's population has again created the need for a much larger church. Today, another St. Joseph's Church rises about 800 feet to the northwest of the present church on the site of the old Marion Fannaly Mansion. With completion of the latest St. Joseph's Church the parishioners can reflect with pride on the beautiful new structure but also on the Catholic heritage of their predecessors who made it possible. Anyone with questions, comments, or suggestions for future articles, may contact Jim Perrin at 386-4476.