From 1844 to 1846, immigrants, mostly Irish, built Saints Mary and Martha Church on this corner as the first Catholic church in Lafayette. Many parishioners had come to the area to dig the Wabash and Erie Canal. The $10,000 brick building measured 40 by 100 feet and featured a Greek Revival facade fronting Fifth Street. With its cupola and Gothic Revival windows, it was an imposing and handsome church. In 1850, Lafayette's first Catholic school was built at the rear of the church. In 1853, German-speaking families left to establish St. Boniface Church. The remaining congregation outgrew the Fifth Street building, and in 1866 moved to a new building on Columbia Street, the Church of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception. The former Saints Mary and Martha building was then used as a parish hall. In the 1880s, it became a public assembly hall, first called St. Joseph's Hall, then Columbian Hall. The structure was later used for automotive repair, welding, and as a machine shop. It was razed in 1953. In 2015, a Centennial Townhome was built atop the church foundation.