Our History

Our Lady of the Lake's story began in 1911 when Mother de Bethanie Crowley and five Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady made a historic voyage to America to further their Order's mission of serving the sick and needy.

In 1921, eight years after establishing a hospital in Monroe, La., Mother de Bethanie was invited to Baton Rouge by Monsignor Francis Leon Gassler of St. Joseph's Cathedral and a group of leading local physicians. Her task: tour the downtown area to find a suitable location for a hospital to serve the 22,000 residents of the small river town.

Soon, Mother de Bethanie found inspiration on an unlikely briar patch across University Lake from the original Louisiana State University campus. On Nov. 4, 1923, her vision found reality in a beautiful, four-story brick structure as Our Lady of the Lake Sanitarium opened its doors to the city. For nearly 55 years, Our Lady of the Lake provided comfort and peace of mind to residents of Baton Rouge and the surrounding areas. As the hospital's services grew, so did its reputation as a caring, healing facility marked by medical excellence.

On April 2, 1978, the original hospital was closed and a 460-bed, state-of-the-art facility on Essen Lane opened to better serve a population that had grown to the south and east. Today, Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center is one of the largest private medical centers in Louisiana, with more than 700 licensed beds. In a given year, Our Lady of the Lake treats more than 35,000 patients in the hospital and serves more than 350,000 persons through outpatient locations with the assistance of more than 1,000 physicians and 4,000 team members.

Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center stands as a living, working model of modern healthcare, inspired each day by the mission of Mother de Bethanie and the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady.