Catholicism was established in Springfield when Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick of St. Louis sent Father Graham to the area in 1866.

He celebrated the first Mass in the city on March 6 in the home of William Dailey, and then went on to establish Immaculate Conception Parish.

[1] As the Catholic population increased on the south side, Bishop John Joseph Hogan of Kansas City was petitioned to establish a new parish to serve their needs.

Dennis J. O’Driscoll arrived on September 18, and the parish leased the vacant Central Congregational Church for the first year.

The stained glass windows of Our Lady of the Lillies and Saint Agnes were created by Stanley Uthwatt and Bernard Schahuber in 1921.

The Solemn High Mass of Christmas in 1954 from St. Agnes was the first televised religious service from a church on Springfield.