St. Patrick's Catholic Church was founded in 1794 to serve the Irish immigrants to the United States who worked as stonemasons during the construction of the White House and the U.S.

[1][3] Dominican priest Anthony Caffry O.P., recently arrived from County Mayo, Ireland, was charged by Bishop John Carroll with establishing the first Roman Catholic parish in the City of Washington.

Caffrey first began celebrating Mass in rented spaces in the beginning of the year,[4] but later built a modest, one-and-a-half story wood-frame church with the meager funds the parish had.

[6] This new St. Patrick's was consecrated by Archbishop John Carroll, and the Mass was concelebrated by coadjutor Bishop Leonard Neale, Matthews' maternal uncle.

During his tenure, he founded the Father Mathew Total Abstinence society, the parochial school, and St. Joseph's Orphan Asylum for Boys.

Radical renovations to the sanctuary in 1994 witnessed the removal and subsequent destruction of the church's original high altar, communion rail, consecration stones, and some artwork.

The National Park Service, which oversees the NRHP, considered taking formal, perhaps legal, action over the unprecedented violation of regulation.