Organizations founded by the church led to the creation of both Villanova University and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

After delays as a result of yellow fever outbreaks among the workers and funding issues, the church was completed in 1801.

[3] In 1820 a musical celebration to raise funds for the church attracted attention and musicians around the United States.

[3] By the 1840s, Philadelphia's Irish Catholic population was growing rapidly due to immigrants settling in the city.

Tensions spread by rumors that Catholics were trying to ban the Bible from public schools led to the Nativist Riots of 1844.

Violence beginning on May 6 in the Kensington District led to a mob gathering in front of St Augustine's Church on May 8.

The city troops had stationed themselves near the church and Mayor John Morin Scott pleaded with the rioters for calm.

Three months after the riot, a new temporary church, the chapel of Our Lady of Consolation, was built and dedicated on October 27, 1844.

The friars of St. Augustine sued the city of Philadelphia for not providing the church enough protection during the riots, claiming US$80,000 in damages.

The city argued that the friars could not claim their civil rights were violated as the Order of St. Augustine was a foreign organization under the authority of the Pope.

The church was consecrated by Bishop Francis Kenrick and Archbishop John Hughes presided over High Mass on November 5, 1848.

[citation needed] St. Augustine's was featured in the 1999 thriller The Sixth Sense,[13] and the 2007 action movie Shooter.

The main arched altar consists of white marble with shafts of Mexican onyx that border the tabernacle.