The Faubourg came to be known as the "American Quarter," as differentiated from the French Quarter. Irish immigration in the early nineteenth century brought English-speaking Catholics to the city, many of whom settled in the new commercial district of Faubourg St. Mary.
The religious and linguistic demographics of the city were changing; Catholicism in New Orleans had been dominated by the Creoles, descendants of the French, Spanish, and African (both enslaved and free) settlers of the previous century. By the 1830s, a church was needed for those who did not speak French.