St. John the Baptist Church

St. John the Baptist is the third oldest parish in the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, preceded on by St. Louis Cathedral (1718) & St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan (1723). In the early 1720s, a group of German farmers settled this area to provide food for the new town of New Orleans, which was facing famine. The area became known as the Second German Coast. In 1769, families began to search for a site for a permanent church building. The Spanish government appropriated this site in February 1770 on land donated by Jacque DuBroc. On August 29, 2021, Hurricane Ida made landfall as a category 4 storm, south of Edgard. The eye passed directly over this area, causing major damage to properties & landscape, & resulted in 30 deaths in the state. Roof tiles of St. John the Baptist Church were blown off by the strong winds. In the aftermath of the storm, a temporary roofing membrane was installed, but damage to the interior plaster walls & furnishings continued. St. John the Baptist Church was one of 900 buildings in the New Orleans diocese which were damaged by the hurricane.