The church of what is now the second oldest Catholic Parish in Canada, St. Louis Church was built in 1910, replacing a small 1835 building which stood on the grounds of the present Roman Catholic Cemetery.
The style of St. Louis Church tends to betray its age. Around the year 1910 the second Empire style was in vogue in eastern Canada, primarily for civic buildings such as provincial capitols. The Second Empire Style shows up in St. Louis Church in the roof of the steeple over the belfry. Though not classical Second Empire it definitely leans in that direction. Second Empire, like Queen Anne Victorian architecture, often exhibited the asymmetry seen in the façade of St. Louis Church. Notice too the Roman Arched windows, a definite departure from the Gothic windows of the nineteenth century. Suffering a bit of an identity crisis, the building also was given Greek Revival pediments on the second, smaller, tower and a small Greek Revival style portico over the entrance.
Though the roof is now covered with asphalt shingles, the entire exterior, save for the roof and trim, remains clad in the original heavy wooden shingles. The church was not given a lot of adornment, only a row of modillions under the cornice of the smaller tower, the Greek Revival pediments mentioned above, the portico over the front entrance, complete with simple pilasters on each side, and a smaller matching entrance at a door in the side of the bell tower.
This church was built in 1910 as St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church, taking the name of St. Louis when the earlier church was town down.
The local Catholic Church traces its origins to the arrival of priests and Jesuit missionaries at the Port Royal Habitation in the early 1600s. The parish itself was named Saint-Jean Baptiste in 1636. The present structure was first named St. Thomas Church, but later renamed St. Louis when the Catholic Church built on lower Saint George was de-consecrated.
Founded as the Parish of St. Jean-Baptiste in 1636, the Roman Catholic parish in town is the second oldest in Canada after Quebec City. We know of chapels at Bellisle from 1710 and in lower town from 1724. This church building seen here, known as St. Louis Chapel, was raised in 1835 in the lower end of town. Shortly after its construction, the chapel served briefly as the seat of justice in town when the courthouse was being rebuilt in 1837. This building was de-consecrated in 1910 when the new church was built uptown with the building torn down in 1930. The graveyard behind the chapel is still used as the local Roman Catholic cemetery.
From the Virtual Museum