The Old Catholic Cemetery is located on the corner of Iris and Common Streets in downtown Lake Charles. The Ramon Catholics in the community established the burial ground around 1859 to 1860. The oldest date of death on a tombstone here is 1865.

The property was donated by William Hutchins from a land grant signed by President Abraham Lincoln. Hutchins donated the acre track to the Rev. Jean Francois Raymond, one of the first Catholic Priest in Lake Charles. (Judge David J. Reid fenced in the cemetery shortly after.) The oldest tombs are those in the center and towards the back.

Eventually the cemetery was deeded by Rev. Raymond to the Rt. Rev. John M. Odin, Archbishop of New Orleans, and then finally transferred from the Roman Catholic Church of New Orleans to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in 1896.

While some of the well-known families of the city used the cemetery for a time, including the Rosteets, Landrys, and Pujos, it is chiefly noted as a burying ground for the immigrant families at the turn of the century. Italian, not French is more likely to be found on some of the older headstones, many state that the person buried was born outside the United States.

The site was closed to burials in 1908. Several tombstones were damaged in the Hurricane of 1918; also many of the grave markers have been lost due to time. Wooden crosses and headboards once marked the final resting place of these early citizens. Due to exposure to the elements, these simple markers deteriorated.

Graves included 1892's elected district Judge Gabriel Fournet; along with Calcasieu Police Juror and Civil War Veteran Joseph Camarsak LeBleu.

The Southwest Louisiana Genealogical Society compiled a list of the remaining grave markers in 1971. At that time close-to 180 tombstones were found. It's believed that some 84 adults, 5 children and 11 infants are buried at the cemetery in unmarked graves.

Did you know? Legend has it, contained in the cemetery are two small graves, side by side, belonging to a brother and sister who died on the same day from eating poisonous berries the children found in the woods near their home.