In 1872, Catholics of German ancestry settled on the former Wilson Plantation and established the town of St. Florian. St. Michael's Church was built south of the road, moved to the present site in 1878, and replaced with the present building in 1916. The stained-glass windows, ordered from Munich, Bavaria, were not installed until the 1920s. The rectory was built in 1872, burned, and was rebuilt in 1934. The first pastor, Fr. Michael Merz, a German priest, died in 1876. He was replaced by Fr. Gabriel Guester, O.S.B. from Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Benedictine priests have served the parish since that time.