History

With the westward expansion of the District of Columbia at the end of the Civil War, St. Paul's Parish was founded in 1866 with the building of its first church at 917 23rd Street (Washington Circle), where the congregation worshipped until the end of World War II.  In order to construct a new hospital for the George Washington University, the government took the property by eminent domain (with recompense), and the old building was closed at the end of 1944.  On new property on K Street, purchased by the church, the architect Philip H. Frohman was engaged to design a new building.  During a prolonged period of construction, the parish worshiped at Saint Thomas' Church near Dupont Circle. The first service was held in the partly completed edifice in June 1948. Numerous additions of stained glass windows and appropriate religious adornments had been added in the intervening years. In 1966, St. Paul's celebrated its centenary with a splendid liturgy of consecration.

From its founding, St. Paul's has been noted for its witness to and celebration of the Catholic tradition of Anglicanism.  The first vested choir in Washington and the first "choral service" were led by the first processional cross in the old church.  Its "midnight mass" of 1870 was perhaps the first in the United States in an Anglican church.  The Eucharist has been celebrated daily since before 1900, with the use of vestments before that.  St. Paul's has never had rented pews.  The Parish was a pioneer in the use of envelopes for offerings.