The oldest extant Catholic church in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, it was built in 1859 and dedicated in 1860.

[4] The church features simple Gothic Revival design and a New England–style white clapboard exterior along with nicked wooden benches and wide-plank redwood floors.

The families left Ireland before the Great Famine and lived in New York City before joining early wagon trains to the west—including the Donner Party.

Wood for the chapel came from the nearby Oakland hills; the logs were hauled by oxen and milled in Dublin.

[6] Originally a mission church, the local residents were unable to afford a full-time priest so a member of the Oakland clergy would ride to St. Raymond's once a month by mule to offer Mass.