The parish is part of the Archdiocese of Seattle and traces its roots to the initial arrival of missionary priests in the Oregon Country in the 1830s; its first dedicated church building was built in 1846.

In the 1830s, French Canadian Catholic employees of the Hudson's Bay Company petitioned the bishop in their native Quebec to send priests to what was then known as the Oregon Country.

Blanchet and Demers held Masses in various buildings within the fort, and Catholics often had to share worship space with Protestants, an arrangement that did not please either group.

Junger's successor, Edward John O'Dea, realized that Vancouver was no longer the economic and population center it once was.

In 1903, O'Dea transferred the episcopal see of the Diocese of Nisqually to Seattle and immediately set out to build a new cathedral there.

This change was made at the encouragement of Cardinal Robert Sarah, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship.