In 1860, St. Joseph had the third-largest Irish-born population in Missouri, behind Kansas City and St. Louis. Even today, Census Bureau numbers show nearly 14,000 residents of Buchanan County identify themselves as of Irish or Scotch-Irish ancestry. In1868 the Diocese of St. Joseph was created. St. Patrick’s was built in 1869 and established by Fr. Eugene Kenny as the third Catholic parish in St. Joseph. In 1874 the addition of the school was added. At this time the parish was predominantly Irish. The original parish boundaries were large, extending from Olive Street to Atchison, Kansas; and from the Missouri River to the Platte River. Father John Joseph Hogan of Bruff (Limerick), Ireland, the founder of the Irish Wilderness Settlements, was the first bishop of St. Joseph at the time the parish was erected (consecrated on Sept. 13, 1868). After the creation of the Diocese of St. Joseph in 1868 and Kansas City in 1880, the ecclesiastical division of Missouri, save for the assignment of 11 northeastern Missouri counties to St. Joseph in 1911, remained the same for 76 years. In 1956 the territory completely realigned. The dioceses of Kansas City and St. Joseph were joined and re-designated as the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. In 1960, as the result of the construction of 36 Highway, Holy Rosary Parish, a predominantly Mexican parish, and St. Patrick parish merged. The merged parish continued to grow and expand. Today St. Patrick consists of approximately 300 families.
Fr. Eugene Kenney, Pastor 1869-1879
