St. Joseph's Seminary was founded in
Baltimore, Maryland by
John R. Slattery in 1888 as a major seminary for the
Mill Hill Missionaries, an
English Catholic religious community that came to the United States to minister to newly emancipated former slaves following the
American Civil War. The seminary became independent of Mill Hill along with the
Josephites in 1893, and moved to Washington, DC in 1930. For several decades in the early to late 20th century, however, racial politics led to the seminary being closed to most African Americans. For several decades, the seminary operated as an academic institution, possessing its own faculty as a degree-granting institution for men studying to become Josephites. The seminary closed for studies in the early 1970s, following conflicts related to the
Black power movement and the resultant exodus of most of the society's seminarians, Black and White. The building also houses several retired Josephites, the
Paulist formation community, and a community of
Franciscan religious sisters from Mexico who perform domestic duties. Due to the society's financial difficulties, the property's significant backyard green space was sold in 2017, later developed into a set of townhouses opened in 2022. An adjoining park was also built along with the new development, near the existing
Josephite Seminary Park. The building was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in September 2022. == Notable alumni ==