The Original St. Joseph's Catholic Church
and later
St. Katherine's Catholic Church
First, St. Joseph's and, later, St. Katherine's Church,
Tulane Avenue and Marais Street


This church was the first St. Joseph's Catholic Church and, later, St. Katherine's Catholic
Church.  The church, built in 1846, for an expanding Irish population in Faubourg St. Marie,
sat on the site of the present-day Tulane University Medical Center.  Only 30+ years after its
construction, the congregation had outgrown the church and plans were started for a new,
larger St. Joseph's, located at Tulane and Derbigny.  In 1895, after the building was vacated,
the church was re-named and re-dedicated, its mission to serve the black and multi-racial
community of the city.  The church was 120 years old in 1966, when it was torn down, mainly
due to serious damage caused by Hurricane Betsy the previous year.
St. Katherine's, dedicated in 1895, was the first Roman Catholic Church
mandated to serve the city's black and multi-racial community.