Saint Isidore—the patron of farmers, who is said to have had angels help him in the fields, who loved daily Mass and shared meals with the poor—seems the perfect saint for this church, which was surrounded by farmlands when it began. In 1879, land was donated to Father Pierre De la Croix, pastor of St. Joseph in Baton Rouge, to build a chapel in the rural area of Baker. In 1880, a picnic was held in Kleinpeter Grove to raise money to buy lumber for the new church. This church was served by priests from St. Joseph.
In 1908, St. Isidore Chapel came under the jurisdiction of St. George Parish in south Baton Rouge. Industrialization and the coming of Standard Oil in 1909 made this a time of tremendous population growth in north Baton Rouge. During the next 50 years, St. Isidore continued as a mission of St. George, then St. Anthony, then St. Gerard’s Redemptorist Fathers.
Finally, on June 28, 1958, St. Isidore was established as its own parish, with Father Robert Mylie as the first pastor. In 1961, a new church and school were built. Parishioners struggled to raise funds for their parish, and the Sunday chicken and crawfish bisque dinners, then the annual cochon de lait and Octoberfest, were legendary.
In 1995, the present church was dedicated. Since that time, the parish and surrounding community has undergone many changes and overcome many challenges, including the influx of Hurricane Katrina evacuees in 2005, the closure of the school in 2010, and devastating flooding in 2016 that damaged or destroyed many homes. In 2011, the diocese clustered St. Isidore with St. Pius X, with Fr. Frank Bass as pastor of both parishes. This arrangement ended in 2017, when St. Pius closed and its territory was added to St. Isidore’s. St. Isidore celebrated its 60th anniversary as an independent parish in 2018 with the purchase of a new organ and new hymnals.
By the grace of God, St. Isidore, now over 140 years old, remains a vital faith family imbued with a rich history, resilience cultivated through struggle and strong family ties, and a generous faith that has been tested and proven down through the generations.