When the young French missionary, Antoine Blanc, was assigned as pastor of St. Francis of Pointe Coupee in 1820, that church was already nearing its century mark, having been founded in 1738 on the banks of the Mississippi River at the Post de la Pointe Coupee. Records of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and St. Francis from that era tell us that soon after becoming pastor, Father Blanc “saw a need for a new church to be situated for the convenience of his parish,” that is, on the banks of False River, where much of the population had settled.