In those days, the spiritual needs of the local Catholic community were met by priests riding circuit out of St. Peter's in Poughkeepsie, which was founded in 1837.

As pastor, Father Brophy divided his labors among St. Mary's Wappingers, the ore beds at Sylvan Lake in Beekman, and Fishkill Landing.

People wishing to receive Communion had to fast from midnight and folks coming in from Sylvan Lake often brought a loaf of bread in their pockets to sustain them on the long way home.

Denis Sheehan succeeded Father Brophy as pastor of Wappingers Falls, Fishkill Village, Sylvan Lake and the Beekman area in 1853.

Denis Sheehan was a great temperance man and organized St. Mary's Total Abstinence and Benefit Society which had a membership of 175 by the time of his death.

On the day of his funeral, all the factories in Wappinger closed down and everyone turned out to honor him, including officials of the Garner Print Works.

In July 1876, Father Charles M. O'Keeffe took charge of the parish and began construction of a new church to replace the original structure, which despite repeated additions, had become too small for the growing congregation.

He built a church at Quarryville, where it was not uncommon to find one hundred men led by their foreman, marching eight to ten miles to attend Mass.

This land, known as Power's Park, was enclosed by a board fence and contained a grandstand from which spectators could watch bicycle races which were run on a 1/4 mile track.

Monsignor John J. Loughlin became pastor in 1928 and served for thirty-six years, through the Great Depression and the growth and prosperity that followed World War II.

As pastor of Our Lady of Loretto on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, he became well known for his work on behalf of homeless men at the Holy Name Center on Bleecker Street.

Monsignor Francis Bellew saw the church move into the 21st century and raised funds to for a further extensive renovation in 2001 shortly after the parish celebrated its 150th anniversary.

James Cruz, the school was incorporated in the Archdiocesan Regional System and the growing Spanish-speaking community of Wappingers Falls was integrated into parish life with liturgies and catechetical programs.

The church is English Gothic in design with finely worked North River blue stone trim and was built at a cost of approximately $30,000.

[7] The parish cemetery is the resting place for the mortal remains of many parishioners including baseball slugger, Dan Brouthers,[8] and Christopher Lynch, a Union soldier who died October 31, 1861, due to wounds incurred at the Battle of Antietam.

Father Joseph Gilmore, once a parishioner of St. Mary's, is also buried, there, having become the first priest from New York to die in World War II (at Anzio).