Port Lavaca, Calhoun County
Our Lady of the Gulf Catholic Church The Rev. Augustine Gardet offered the first mass for Roman Catholics in Port Lavaca in 1857 at the R. D. Blossom home. The first church building, constructed in 1865 and destroyed in an 1886 storm, was rebuilt in 1894 and dedicated as Our Lady of the Gulf. The congregation received its first resident pastor, the Rev. Francis Pallanche, in 1913. A surge in the community's population after World War II led to the construction of a new church building in 1953. For 86 years, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate administered the parish. Over its history, Our Lady of the Gulf has been located within the Galveston, San Antonio and Victoria dioceses. (2002)