Organized in 1871 as Maples Protestant Church at the present location. Records before 1920 are at DePauw University Library, Greencastle, IN. Contact church for information on records after 1920.
St. Louis Church 1848 on page 239 of The Diocese of Fort Wayne by Alerding, Herman Joseph, 1845-1924; Noll, John Francis, Abp., 1875-1956, Publication date 1907, on Archive.org.
Established in 1846 on the banks of the freshly drained Black Swamp by French immigrants who came from Besancon, a town in eastern France and settled in Jefferson Township about 1840. The first church was built the same year. By 1870 the present Gothic Revival-style church was built at the same location. See A faith-filled Catholic community with a strong French heritage by Bonnie Elberson published August 25, 2017 on TodaysCatholic.org. Birth, baptism, marriage and death records since 1865 are available. Confirmation records are available from 1923. Records are in Latin and English. Records have been microfilmed and are available along with a history of the church at the Allen County Public Library. French heritage and St. Louis in Besancon, Indiana published July 10, 2012 on Midwest Guest ... mostly Midwestern meanderings blog. Short video history inside and out including a cemetery shot of the classic sanctuary restored to its nearly original appearance in 2014 with the stained glass windows repaired and sealed, the 1915 pipe organ with original manual bellows, rebuilt. Some information copied fromThe French Faithful by Eric Olson, 21Country Featured Reporter published April 9, 2020 on 21AliveNews.com. Index to the Records of St. Louis Church at Besancon, Indiana, 1865-1907 : containing aditional notes and annotations copied from The Genealogy Center at the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana by Internet Archive.
Last week Saturday, the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association held its Fall meeting in New Haven (Indiana, of course). The...
Last week Saturday, the Indiana Lincoln Highway Association held its Fall meeting in New Haven (Indiana, of course). The day started with a drive on the 1913 alignment from the Ohio/Indiana state line through Townley, Zulu, Besancon (community established in 1846 by the French) and into New Haven. We visited the 1871 St. Louis Catholic Church in Besancon.
Following this, we met the mayor of New Haven, the Honorable Mayor Terry McDonald at the City Hall. From there, the mayor led us to the recently restored 1887 New Haven Railroad Depot. Local historian Alison Adams shared the history of the building and the restoration.
The mayor then led us on a walking tour of Main Street into the downtown area. We saw some historically significant homes along the way, the Old City Hall, an Art Deco-style theater that has been re-purposed as an Army-Navy Club and much more.
After a fantastic lunch at the Rack & Helen's restaurant downtown, we made it back to the city hall for our business meeting.
