Reference

Listed on the National Historic Register, it is open to the public for tours. ... established after the Civil War by freed blacks immediately upriver of the St. Rose community, in the area of First through Fourth Streets. ... attending the old church erected in 1914 at the height of Paradis' prosperity at the corner of Early and Wisner. The

Wisner was founded by Edward Wisner, a native of Athens, Michigan who family came from Switzerland and originally settled in Orange County, New York in the early 1700s. The Holly Grove Colored Baptist Church in Wisner was established in the post-slavery period after the American Civil War through the work of pastor Eldridge King David Swayzer.

The Civil War brought an end to the plans for a church until August 3, 1888, when Duncan Buie donated land for a church. The Wisner congregation was organized in Holly Grove in 1888. The church later bought land from the school board when the Holly Grove School was abandoned. When the railroad came through the area, more people moved into the