In 1910, there were no Mexican Catholic churches in Houston. Some Mexicans were excluded from attending Anglo Catholic churches. Mexicans who did attend found themselves discriminated against. Our Lady of Guadalupe was then opened in 1912. The first mass was held on August 18, 1912, in a two-story frame facility that was a gift from the Catholic Church Extension Society; it had been erected during that year. Father Robert Chatillon, OMI was the first celebrant. The church was located on the upper floor, while
the Catholic school was located on the lower floor. The archdiocese established Our Lady of Guadalupe so that White people accustomed to the segregation of races did not find offense with the presence of Mexican people in their churches. In the 1920s a group of
Louisiana Creole people attended OLG because of OLG was the closest church to the
Frenchtown area of the
Fifth Ward; the closest black church, St. Nicholas, was located in the
Third Ward. Because the OLG church treated the Creole people in a discriminatory manner, by forcing them to confess and take communion after people of other races did so and after forcing them to take the back pews, the Creoles opted to build their own church, opening
Our Mother of Mercy Catholic Church in 1929. As more Mexican Americans settled in Houston, large numbers of people commuted from other Houston neighborhoods to OLG on Sundays to worship. Father Esteban de Anta, a Spanish man, was the first Spanish-speaking priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe. He arrived in 1919. by the prominent San Antonio architect, Leo M.J. Dielmann. The previous church facility was remodeled, and began to be used entirely as a school and for social activities. The Oblate priests served the church for many years, During that year,
Priests of the Sacred Heart began serving the OLG parish in place of the Oblate priests. In the 1980s, OLG became a territorial parish, and it adopted geographic boundaries. Natalie Garza, author of ''The 'Mother Church' of Mexican Catholicism in Houston'', said: "it remains heavily Mexican American and Latino based." On August 18, 2012, the church celebrated 100 years of Masses. ==School==