Bucktown, or East End as some preferred to call it, was originally that very narrow strip of land along what is today Orpheum Avenue.  It began  settlement in the last 1800's.  By the early 1900's, both sides of the road were lined with tin-roofed houses which served as fishing camps for some and homes for others.  Most of the inhabitants were fishermen who made their living off nearby Lake Pontchartrain in the summer, and who survived the winters by trapping and hunting in the surrounding marshes and bayous.  The early settlers of Bucktown may not have owned much from a material point of view, but what theses people lacked in worldly goods was more than made up for by their staunch courage and tenacity!
                                                                                                                                              
EARLY HISTORY
In the mid-1800's, Catholics who had begun populating the East End-West End area near Lake Pontchartrain had much difficulty finding a nearby church.  The closest place of worship was the House of Refuge on Metairie Ridge, where masses were offered in the 1870's.  But the location was inaccessible because of poor roads and inadequate drainage, and the last mass there was Christmas Day, 1882.

Lakeshore residents could not remember any services  ever being held in their locailty until 1912.  Fr. Thomas Lorente of Mater Dolorosa Church was assigned to minister to the lakefront area.  There was no church, but Fr. Lorente made arrangements to say mass at Mannessier's, an old pavillion at West End.  On Sunday morning, May 12, 1912, he offered the first mass to be said in that part of the city.  Masses continued there for 8 weeks; then the pavillion had to be torn down as part of a renovation of West End Park.  Fr. Lorente wasn't long without a site for Mass.  J.C. Ellis, the superintendent of Jefferson Parish schools, and L.H.  Marrero, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff, allowed him to use the Bonnabel School, were Mass was said regularly from July 1912 until April 1915.

The next priest to serve the area was Fr. Jordan Harpin who started plans for building a church.  Alfred Bonnabel donated two lots for the new East End church.  Fr. Harpin began a nickel-a-week collection.  He brought some of the lumber from the pavillion that was being torn down at West End.  His East End building fund was showing a balance of $130.  The building collection stopped at the sad news of Fr. Harpin being transferred in spring of 1914.  Eight months passed and by November, the community rallied itself together.  A volunteer committee was formed to earn  money for the proposed church.  The new pastor was Fr. Bernard Enis.  Construction began in November, 1914.  The building committee was so successful that additional contributions came in and allowed them to complete the building, buy an altar, pews, candlesticks, chalice and ciborium.  The congregation was so small that in the first two years of the St. Louis Mission, there were only 15 baptisms, 20 first communions, 11 confirmations, 3 marriages, and 3 burials.  "The Morning Star" (the Archdioceasan Catholic newspaper of the time) wrote on April 10, 1915:  "It is, therefore, with a feeling of deep satisfaction that the Building Committee is ready to anounce...that St. Louis Church will be ready April 11, 1915, and that the new St. Louis Church, taking its humble place at the bottom of the long list of Catholic churches in the great Archdiocese of New Orleans, is entirely free from debt."  

The new little East End chapel was barely six months old when a hurricane struck the area.  The Times Picayune on October 1, 1915 reported that every one of the fifty camps in Bucktown was severely damaged.  The article also noted that many of the residents in the area sought shelter in the "handsome little church built by their homefolks recently...called St. Louis Church of East End."  By 1921, the St. Louis Chapel became the mission church of St. Catherine of Siena parish. Fr. J.J. Furlong, pastor, ministered to the 'little congregation then domiciled at Orphium St. just off of what is now the Hammond-Lake Highway.  Here on February 20, 1921, he performed the first baptism and 200 people came to the chapel' he wrote in his report.  

By 1947, the population of East End had grown so much that it was suggested to Archbishop Rummel that a separate parish of St. Louis King of France be established.  The Archbishop agreed.  St. Louis King of France Parish was founded June 21, 1947. 

PIONEER DAYS OF A NEW PARISH
The first pastor was Fr. Patrick Cunningham from Co. Kerry, Ireland.  A pioneer spirit was needed in these early days and that is what Fr. Cunningham had.  This new priest was delegated three priorities:  the development of a suitable rectory (there was none), the eventual enlargement of the church (a total of 14 pews is all that the chapel had), and the acquisition of additional property for school purposes.  Within eight weeks of his arrival, he had received Archdiocesan approval to purchase the land on Lake Avenue where the chapel would be moved.  Next, he called for volunteers to coordinate the parish's first fundraising event.  Everything was going well...then the 1947 hurricane struck!

"No parish in the city of New Orleans suffered more severly during the recent hurricane.  The floodwaters reached a depth from eight to ten feet in many places and are now only beginning to recede (five weeks later).  Of a total population of 300 Catholic families, 60 homes were completely destroyed, and a great number were shaken from their foundations." "Catholic Action of the South" (October 23, 1947)

It was Fr. Cunningham who purchased the land on Lake Avenue where the current school and church stand.  The little chapel was moved from Orpheum Avenue to Lake Avenue in December 1948.  He bought 2 government surplus army barracks from Camp Plauche in Harahan.  One was placed where Marion Hall now stands and served as a rectory.  The other building was placed very near the spot of the present church.  The latter was used as an interim church from 1956-1960.
                                                                                                
THE PARISH COMES TO LIFE
Until the early 1950's, Bucktown was still a relatively secluded and undeveloped area. Except for the people who thronged to the restaurants every weekend, they were pretty much left alone.  The post war baby boom changed all that.  More and more families began leaving their homes in the city to buy a lot and build a home of their own in the newly opened 'subdivisions.' The area from the 17th Street Canal up to Causeway Blvd., and from Lake Pontchartrain to Veterans Highway was one of the first and quickest sections to be develped.  June 18, 1952 Father Marion Reid arrived at St. Louis King of France.  He was young, dynamic, resourceful...able to energize his parishioners toward developing the need for a parochial school.  Exactly one year after his arrival, Fr. Reid received permission to begin a school in September 1953.   A parish fair was held in June, 1953 to make money for the new school.   On September 8, 1953 Fr. Reid opened St. Louis King of France School.  It consisted of nearly 40 students in the first and second grades who were taught in one classroom.  During the years that followed, the parish was bursting at the seams; school age children were everywhere. In 1955, Fr. Reid received permission for construction of a ten classroom building.  In September, 1955, the first nuns arrived.  Two sisters from the Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Sr. Mary James and Sr. Mary Henrietta, came to teach.  Sr. Mary James was named principal.  Over the next two decades, these devoted sisters, and many others, had a profound influence on those entrusted to their care. The new single-story brick building was ready for use in January 1956.  Spring 1956 saw the first May Festival, complete with king, queen, court, pageantry.....a community event!  Blanche Hall opened in September 1958 as the 'new 'brick building.  Having opened in January 1956 SLKF had already owtgrown its capacity.  
                                                                                
THE NEW CHURCH
On December 23, 1959, Fr. Reid broke ground for construction of the new church.  It was the last day of school before the Christmas holidays.  The whole school turned out for the ceremony.  Right after the groundbreaking, joy turned quickly to sorry.  Fr. Reid's mother, Mrs. Cora Reid, who had come for the special occasion, suffered a fatal heart attack in the rectory.  Mrs. Reid died in her son's arms.  The next day, Christmas Eve, a requiem mass was sung in Gregorian chant by the school choir, and Fr. Reid buried his mother.  In her memory, the school children raised $3000 for the large stained glass window which adorns the entrance of the church today.

A PARISH SURVIVES
 In 1964, the parish was divided to form St. Angela Merici parish.  The effects of this division were beginning to be felt.  Since St. Angela had its own school, enrollment at SLKF was decreasing.  The construction debts from the previous decade were quickly mounting.  Fr. Joseph Lorio became pastor in February 1973.  Fr. Lorio was the ideal administrator and spiritual leader to guide the parish through the turbulent 70's, and into the 80's and the 90's.  Within a decade of Fr. Lorio's arrival, the parish's debt was substantially reduced.  So effective was he that by the mid 80's, the school was air-conditioned.  With the debts alleviated, his next goal was to build a parish center.  May 27, 1990, Msgr. Lorio broke ground for the new parish center.  The official opening of 'Lorio Center' was held January 1991.

St. Louis King of France Parish today Is one of the most active in the Archdiocese.  Gone are those days  when one had to explain exactly where the parish was located!     

- Mrs. Mona Lestrade and Mrs. Monica Field