The Irish Catholics living in Norwalk organized St. Mary's Catholic Church in 1856.
They had previously attended Mass at St. Peter's Church on West Main St. along with the German Catholics in Norwalk. Before that time the Catholics of Norwalk attended Mass at St. Alphonsus Church. Fr. Narcissus Ponchell was appointed as the first pastor.
A brick church was built at the corner of Milan Avenue and St. Mary's Street in the year 1860. The cost of the church was $8,000. Fr. Ponchell died before the completion of the church and he was buried under the church he had worked so hard to build. A brick school was built at the rear of the church on St. Mary's Street in 1865. There were 80 students at the beginning of school.
Five acres of land was purchased on East Main Street in the year 1862 to be used as a cemetery for the new parish. A priest house was built on the southeast corner of Milan Avenue and St. Mary�s street. This brick home still stands.
The parish was growing rapidly and so in 1878 a two-story brick school was built on League Street. The Sisters of St. Joseph from Cleveland were in charge of the school.
The laying of the cornerstone of the present church took place in 1889 under the pastorate of Fr. C. V. Chevraux. The church was not completed until 1894 and cost $35,000. The cruciform gothic style church measures 120 ft. long and 55 ft. wide. The statues of Mary and Joseph came from Paris, France. The church was filled to overflowing at the dedication on September 2, 1894.
A new priest house was built on State Street to the north of the church about 1907 for $15,000. (This is now the Pre School.)
A two-room wooden school replaced the previous school building in 1919. The cost was $10,000. The Sisters of St. Dominic had charge of the school until 1935 when the Sisters of Notre Dame took charge.
The church was remodeled in 1954. It was at this time that the five sanctuary windows were bricked up. The National Art Studios of Kewaunee, Wisconsin painted the church.
The old two-room schoolhouse was becoming too small for the growing parish. Classes had to be held in the church sacristy and in the old Sister's house. A pledge program was started by the parish to raise funds for a new school. Money was also borrowed from members of the parish and from friends of St. Mary's parish at low or no interest rates. The school was built in 1958 during the pastorate of Father Thomas Reynolds. The cost of the new school was $240,000. A gymnasium was added in 1963 followed by a new rectory in 1964. A four-room addition was added to the north end of the school in 1970.
Extensive remodeling was done to the church in 1995. This included reopening of the sanctuary windows and restoring all of the stained glass windows in the church. The interior of the church was repainted and new flooring installed. The Sanctuary area was remodeled and the pews were refinished. The church organ was moved to the downstairs area. Air conditioning was added to the church in the year 2001.
St. Mary's parish has a rich tradition of people caring about each other and working together making our parish and school as vibrant today as it was over 140 years ago