Initially located on church property at Tenth and Liberty Streets, the high school moved to a new three-story building at 1770 Mt.

The new school building was designed by Earley & Houwen Associates, and its estimated $1 million cost borne by donors, including Catholic-owned businesses which donated materials and labor.

The cornerstone was laid August 8, 1951, and the school formally dedicated November 27, 1952, while the wing containing the cafeteria, auditorium, and gymnasiums was still under construction.

Like the founding church's membership, the co-ed student body was overwhelmingly white, primarily working-class, and heavily Polish Catholic.

While priests from area parishes and lay faculty would make substantial contributions, St. Joseph's was heavily dependent on the Felicians throughout its history.

St. Joseph's was a member of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, and for most of its history competed as a Parochial Class C school.

Shoehorned into an urban residential neighborhood, St. Joseph's had very limited athletic facilities of its own: a combination gymnasium/auditorium, and a second smaller gym (originally planned as a pool, and used for girls' physical education classes).

In 2006, the efforts of alumnus Kathy Slupski ('61) led to the establishment of a St. Joseph's High School Official Alumni Site—a place for all reunion information for all graduation years.