Old St. Mary's was established, as a mission, by
Paulist Father Henry Ignatius Stark,
C.S.P. The cornerstone was placed on Sunday, July 17, 1853, at the corner of California and Dupont Streets by the Bishop of Monterrey
Joseph S. Alemany, built by Chinese laborers, with brick brought around Cape Horn, and granite cut in China. St. Mary's is the first cathedral in California to be built for the express purpose of serving as a cathedral, although other churches in the state served as cathedrals before it was built. When it opened, it was the tallest building in San Francisco and all of California. It was used from 1854 to 1891 as a cathedral and was replaced by the first
Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Assumption, as the archdiocese was in need of a larger space for the growing number of Catholics in the area. In 1891, Old Saint Mary's became a parish church, still using the same name that it bore as a cathedral. The new St. Mary's Cathedral was located at Van Ness Avenue and O'Farrell Street. Under the clock face of Old St. Mary's appear the words: "Son, Observe the Time and Fly from Evil" (). This sentiment was aimed at the men who frequented the surrounding
brothels in the 1850s. It was across the street from Old St. Mary's, at the southeast corner of California and Dupont streets (the latter being the current Grant Avenue), that
Emperor Norton collapsed in 1880, on his way to a lecture at the
California Academy of Sciences. Old St. Mary's survived the
1906 San Francisco earthquake, only to be gutted a day later by the fires started by the earthquake. The fires were so hot that they melted the church bells and marble altar. The
Paulist Fathers have served Old Saint Mary's since 1901, and continue serving there today. The church was made a
Designated San Francisco Landmark on April 11, 1968. From 2011 to 2012, the church went through further renovations, during which time all the crosses on the roof were removed as it was restored. While the four crosses along the sides were put back up, as of September 2012 the cross in the middle has not returned. ==Rectors==