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St. Vincent de Paul Church is the oldest Catholic parish church in Baltimore. The church opened in Jonestown, east of the Jones Falls in 1841. In the 1880s St. Vincent was the leading parish in Baltimore. The parish buildings included a rectory, 2 schools, an orphanage and a Lyceum. In 1921 Fr. Philip McGuire started St. Vincent’s printer’s masses at 12:15 and 2:15 am to meet the needs of workers finishing the Sunday additions of the Sun and News American.
From 1841 until the present, St Vincent de Paul Church has been a major visual landmark in Baltimore. Its white tower loomed prominently in the 19th century skyline of that part of the city east of the Jones Falls known as “Old Town.” It was the sole survivor of the razing by the Urban Renewal Programs in the late 1950s, making it at the time even more visible in the middle of cleared land.
While renovated inside several times, the exterior has remained unchanged throughout its nearly 200 year history.
