As early as 1835, Catholics who had gone to Rondout to work on the D&H Canal met to establish
a church. They were assisted by the Irish Dominican Philip O'Reilly, who had been assigned by Bishop of New York John Dubois to develop parishes along the Hudson. Rondout was little more than a hamlet at this time and a priest would visit in any month that had five Sundays when Mass would be celebrated at a blind and sash factory on the corner of Mill and Division St. In 1837, Roundout was made a mission of the recently established St. Peter's in Poughkeepsie under Rev. John McGinnis. Most of the congregation were Irish immigrants who had come to Rondout to dig the D&H Canal.
In 1839 Rev. John N. Smith became pastor at Poughkeepsie, also serving Saugerties and Rondout, where a small frame church was erected in 1840 on land purchased from Abraham Hasbrouck. Irish Catholic families in Rosendale and Stony Hollow were known to walk the eight or ten miles every Sunday to hear Mass at St. Mary's. Smith was succeeded in 1842 by the first resident pastor, Father Myles Maxwell. In 1848 the cornerstone was laid for a new brick church. The frame building was left standing in the new church until shortly before it's dedication in July 1849. Father Maxwell died on August 31, 1849; he was succeeded by the Irish Dominican Thomas Martin, who was pastor from November 1849 to January 1852. Father Martin attended mission churches in Rosendale, Stony Hollow, Port Ewen, Eddyville, Whiteport, and Saugerties.
Martin was succeeded by Rev. John Madden, who built a rectory. Father Maxwell was succeeded by Rev. Francis McNierny, and Rev. D.G. Durning. Felix Farrelly arrived as pastor in 1859. At the time of the Civil War. Father Farrelly did much to calm the violent protests that arose against the draft. He established St. Mary's Academy, staffed by the Sisters of Charity and purchased the land for St.
Mary's Cemetery. Farrelly Street is named after him. During his tenure, Stony Hollow was established as a mission, with Jockey Hill a station.
Father James Coyle succeeded Rev. Edward Briody as pastor in 1867. Coyle built a large parochial school on the corner of McEntee and Union (Broadway) Streets. This is now Kingston Catholic.
The following year he founded St. Joseph's parish in Kingston. In 1874 Rev. M.C. O'Farrell built St. Colman's in East Kingston. St. Colman later merged with St. Catherine Laboure in Lake Katrine. By 1907 St. Mary's had the distinction of having supplied more priests and sisters than any place in the
archdiocese outside New York City. In 1913 the parish opened a new school building, designed by Arthur C Longyear, at 159 Broadway.
In 2013 St Mary's underwent a restoration of the stained glass windows. A Celtic cross, commemorating the Irish Potato Famine and the great emigration from Ireland to the U.S. from 1845 to 1852, dominates the courtyard between the church and the rectory.
Downstream of the village of Eddyville was the hamlet of Wilbur which had thriving industry in trimming
and shipping of bluestone. In 1884 Rev. James Dougherty, pastor of St. Joseph's, built a brick church at Wilbur. The people of Wilbur donated their labor in digging the foundation. Carpenters, masons, and painters also contributed. Material was close at hand in the brickyards. The church was dedicated on November 1, 1885. The parish church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Wilbur was founded as an independent parish in 1887, with the appointment of Father William J. Boddy as its first resident pastor. The Catholic population of Holy Name of Jesus parish in 1914 was 350. The parish also had a mission, the
Church of the Sacred Heart, in Eddyville with a congregation of about 150. The parish of the Holy Name
of Jesus on Fitch Street in Wilbur later merged with St. Mary's in Rondout.
German immigrants first arrived in Rondout to work on the D&H Canal. St. Peter's parish was founded by Catholics of German origin when the first Mass was said by Rev. A. Hechinger in the basement of an unfinished church on Adams Street. Rev. Oswald Moosmüller O.S.B succeeded as pastor in 1859 and the completed church was dedicated by Archbishop John Hughes on April 20, 1860. Some years later the site of the old District School #7 on Wurts Street was purchased and a new Romanesque church was dedicated on May 26, 1872 by Archbishop John McCloskey. Father John Raufeisen built a rectory on the adjoining lot. St. Peter's Cemetery was opened in 1860.
The old church building was taken down to make way for the parish school. St. Peter's parochial school was established in 1858 and managed by laity until the arrival of the Sisters of Charity in 1877. They were replaced by the Sisters of Christian Charity in 1888. A new school was completed in 1912. In 1970 St. Peter's school combined with St. Mary's to form Kingston Catholic School. St. Peter's School building was subsequently purchased by Catholic Charities of Ulster County.
Father Raufeisen's successors were: Fathers Emil Stenzel (September 1876 to July 1877), Francis Siegelack (July 1877 to February 1878), Matthias Kuhnen (1888 to 1907), and Joseph F. Rummel. The church underwent a complete renovation for its Golden Jubilee in 1908. Up until the early 1900s sermons continued to be preached in German. Reflecting the city's changing demographics, in 2002 St. Peter's instituted a Hispanic ministry. In 2015 the St. Peter's parish and the parish of St. Mary/Holy Name merged.