​In 1915 Josephite Father Alexis LaPlante, S.S.J. arrived in Texas to serve the African American Catholics of Beaumont and Port Arthur. In October 1915 he began offering Sunday Mass in the Odd Fellows Hall on Irving Street with an attendance of 200 people. In Port Arthur he offered Mass at the Longshoreman’s Hall with an attendance of 100 people. He traveled between Port Arthur and Beaumont on the electric street car.

In the spring of 1917 the men of the parish began building a combination Church and second-story School. St. Katharine Drexel purchased a lot and paid for the construction of a convent. The School opened in September 1917 with four Blessed Sacrament Sisters teaching 176 students. By 1945, the elementary and High School’s enrollment had grown to 502 students with seven Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament on staff.

During these 90 years countless numbers of men, women and children have been nurtured in the Catholic faith through the preaching of God’s Word and celebration of the Sacraments. They were encouraged to “PUT ON CHRIST” and to spread the Good News in the African American community.

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