As a result, plans for the construction of a second Catholic church in the City of Washington date to as early as 1801, when John Carroll, Bishop of Baltimore, requested President Thomas Jefferson's permission to construct a church on South Capitol Street between N and O Streets.

The territory of the parish, which was intended to primarily serve residents of the Navy Yard, Washington Arsenal, and Capitol Hill, originally comprised the area between Tiber Creek and the Navy Yard, and the Washington City Canal and the eastern border of the District of Columbia.

In order to facilitate contributions, Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal appointed a pastor for the church and canonically established the parish in 1820.

Daniel Carroll donated three lots of land on Capitol Hill, which were complemented by an additional three, on which the original church building was built in 1821.

[5] Eventually, once the debt on the church was paid off, its deed was conveyed to the archbishop, laying to rest the trustee issue.

Horsign was succeeded in 1851 by Edward A. Knight, who converted to Catholicism, and had previously been a member of the Sulpicians and the president of St. Mary's College in Baltimore.

By the end of 1889, the building made of granite and marble quarried in Maryland was complete, with its spire rising to 140 feet and the nave seating 950 people.

[3] On the morning of March 17, 1940, the church building was destroyed by a five-alarm fire, which was caused by a spark from a blowtorch being used to remove paint from the windows of the clerestory.

Assistant priests Charles W. Nelson and Frances E. Sullivan rushed to remove the Eucharistic vessels from the building.

In July, 1826, Daniel Carroll, a prominent Washington landowner, imparted to Archbishop Ambrose Maréchal of Baltimore about his hope for a school on Capitol Hill.

However, despite the rejection, St. Peter's School was built in 1868 when land was donated by a convert to Catholicism named Thomas Bayne.