St. Francis Chapel entrance Courtesy of the Capital Resource Conservation and Development Council Side view of St. Francis Chapel, designed in the Gothic Revival architectural style Photograph from the National Register collection

St. Francis Chapel is situated near the banks of the Mississippi River on the outskirts of New Roads, Louisiana. The simple rectangular building, designed in the Gothic Revival architectural style, has an open hall church plan of four bays, with a small balcony over the central front entrance. A simple gable roof with a small frontal tower completes the picture of the Church, which has served the local Catholic community since 1895. St. Francis Chapel's history is entwined with that of the Mississippi River, which destroyed its predecessor of the same name, despite attempts by the local community to save it from the encroaching waters. The present St. Francis Chapel, however, is the third church of that name to serve the local Catholic community. The first local church of that name, named in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, was dedicated on March 16, 1738. Due to encroachments from the Mississippi River on the church, a second church was built on a different site in 1760. Samuel Wilson, Jr., in Religious Architecture in French Colonial Louisiana, wrote that this 1760 church "resembled a typical, small, one-story French colonial plantation house surrounded by galleries . . ."

In 1890 the river again threatened St. Francis Chapel. Efforts were made by the local community to move the colonial landmark. From 1891-1895 the Pointe Coupee Banner, a local newspaper in Pointe Coupee Parish, gave a week-by-week account of the disassembling, removal, and the unsuccessful attempt to reconstruct St. Francis Chapel. The Banner called for the preservation and removal of the Church to safer ground, and began subscriptions to save the old church. Two local carpenters, Louis Green and Ephriam Desormes, were awarded the contract for disassembling the old colonial church. However, due to the general decayed condition of the timber, Father F. A. B. Laforest, a pastor and the most important leader in the movement to save the old Church, decided that a new building would have to be constructed. On June 1, 1895, the new Saint Francis Chapel was dedicated. It remained on its new site until the 1930s when, once again, the river forced the building's removal to it's present site.

The St. Francis Chapel is located at Hwy. 420 East and Hwy. 10 in New Roads. It is open by appointment only, please contact St. Mary Church, at 348 W. Main St., or call then at 225-638-9665.

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