Our Lady of the Lake

312 Lafitte Street. Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic Church, circa 1953.

In 1850, Mandeville Mayor Henry Southwell Drew gave to Monsigneur Antoine Blanc of New Orleans a lot set aside by Mandeville's founder, Bernard de Marigny, for the construction of a Catholic Church.  This lot was located on Jefferson Street between Marigny Avenue and Lamarque Street, facing south.  This became St. Teresa.  The building was destroyed by a storm and by 1891 the move was made to the current location on land that had been purchased many years before.

Until 1953, with the dedication of the current church, the old wooden church faced Jefferson Street.  In 1923, a shrine was dedicated to Our Lady of Victory, adjacent to the old church.  The name changed from St. Teresa to Our Lady of the Lake occurred about 1896 when the Archdiocese of New Orleans gave the church to its congregation stating, "This property has always and in fact belonged to the local congregation....who furnished the rewards to purchase it and constructed the improvements thereon.  It has been held in trust."