The community of Bayou Boeuf or Kraemer, once known as Malaguay, was visited by the resident priest from Vacherie who would row through Lake Des Allemands and up Bayou Boeuf to administer to the spiritual needs of the people once a month in the late 1800s.  In 1882 Bayou Boeuf became a mission of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Chackbay and the resident pastor would travel 18 miles east by horse and buggy through fields and dirt roads to the mission to minister on an irregular basis.  The church bought the home of Lawrence Kraemer which was used as the first chapel of the community.

In 1893, this house was dismantled and the lumber was used to build a chapel on land donated to the Archdiocese of New Orleans by another Kraemer, John Howard.

Unfortunately this chapel and the one that followed were not able to with stand the elements .  In 1919, a hurricane roared through the community, splitting the chapel constructed from the lumber of the Kraemer home.  Masses were conducted in the portion of the building that housed the altar, although parishioners remember kneeling outside in the cold of winter.  

A new chapel was constructed two years later.  Its foundation was made of shells that were dug by hand and hauled to the site by men of Kraemer who rowed to Lake Des Allemands to get the shells.  Lumber came from the Bowie, a thriving lumber community that once existed near Raceland. Citizens of Kraemer pitched in to build the chapel.  

Ligh tning struck this chapel in 1927.  It was completely destroyed by fire except for the bell and several statues that were saved by Jean Kraemer, a parishioner.  

From 1928 to 1962, Masses were celebrated in still another chapel, but it soon proved inadequate in size to accommodate the growing population in the peaceful times following World War II.  

In 1962, the present St. Lawrence Church was dedicated on the 1704th anniversary of St. Lawrence the Martyr's death.  It was dedicated as an independent church parish with its own mission, St. James in Choctaw.  This new church was built on the property purchased from three more Kraemers - Rene Kraemer, Althea Kraemer Hotard and Jean Kraemer.

It is not difficult to imagine Kraemer in the 1800s because the town is still picturesque and tranquil with its rural feel and moss-draped cypress.  Thankfully, a sturdy paved highway has long replaced the wagon-rutted dirt roads of old.  

The A-frame brick structure boasts large ceiling beams and a life sized crucifix.  The crucifix was carved in four parts from three tupelo gum trees which Byron Granier selected at random in the near by swamp.  His father, Dave, joined Byron in the massive project.  Two-hundred and fifty pound logs were sawed, scraped and sanded into a replica of Christ.  One of Byron's friends was used as a model.  The finished product was unveiled and blessed during a Sunday Mass in 1981.