In the years before the church was built, Catholics of Lasalle attended Mass at St. Joseph, River Canard, Sacred Heart Lasalle, Blessed Sacrament in Sandwich (West Windsor now) or Christ the King on Grand Marais. As LaSalle was slowly growing, a church in the area was needed.
Originally, it was thought that the new church would be built on Chappus off Matchette Road; St. Paul’s would have then been a mission of Blessed Sacrament Church. At that time, it was expected that lands between Hwy. 18 and the Detroit River would be developed into homes. Even today you can still find a random sidewalk in the middle of a field. But, development started along Malden Road, and so the original plan of building on Chappus was changed.
Fr. Lowry, a Basilian priest from Blessed Sacrament Church was on the school board when the parcel of land for the school and the church was procurred on the corner of Malden and Elliott Road. In 1949 St. Paul’s School was built and it was decided that Mass could be offered in the school on Sundays. There was only one Mass on Sundays in the back classroom. A small portable altar was built and moved into a corner of the room during the week. Fr. Roy was the priest who came from Christ the King every week. Because of the change of location to Malden Road, St. Paul’s was then considered a mission of Christ the King.
In 1951-2, when the church was constructed, the school (3 rooms) was on the north, directly opposite the church was a large open field, to the south was Elliott Road (now Sprucewood) and Morency’s Feed Store, and on the west was a house. In later years land was purchased about a block down on the north side of Sprucewood with the thought that a new church might be constructed there. A decision was made instead to improve the structure at the existing location and sell that property.
On January 25, 1953, Bishop J.C. Cody blessed the new St. Paul’s church.
Fr. Riordon, the first pastor, encouraged knowledge and devotion to St. Paul, and in 1950, had the tryptech that hangs in the vestibule painted by two Sisters. They had been forced to flee Eastern Europe, were now living at St. Mary’s Academy and supporting themselves by painting. Sr. M. Antonio’s signature is still visible on the painting.
For the first ten years or so, Mass was celebrated not only in Latin but in French and English as well. The Scripture Readings were split between English and French and there was a synopsis of the homily in English with a fuller version in French (to be reversed the next Sunday). This was to provide for the number of unilingual francophones (usually elderly) in the area at the time.
Fathers Riordon, Ouellette and Beneteau had resident housekeepers: Mrs. Legassi (who died at the rectory), Miss Genevieve Deneau and one named Aunt Mini.
Over the years, St. Paul’s Church and School was a small, vibrant community. But by the 1990’s, Lasalle’s population had grown considerably and the school was no longer sufficient for the amount of children attending. In 2002, Holy Cross school opened, absorbing all of the students from St. Paul’s and some of the overflow of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel school, and St. Paul’s school closed. Rexall Drugstore now stands on the land where the school stood.
In the early 1990’s, the Diocese began to look at long term solutions to the priest shortage that they anticipated in the future. The solution was for some neighbouring parishes to cluster, where one priest would serve two churches. As part of this clustering process, some churches would be closed and absorbed into a neighbouring church. This plan was implemented in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. St. Paul’s was considered for closure, but by 2008 had been told they would remain open.
Today, it is still a vibrant faith community serving the people of Lasalle.
(Taken from Marguerite Wales’s written memories; edited by Ruth Cushing)