A Catholic presence in Plantersville began with the first recorded visit of a priest in the summer of 1860, and infrequent services were then held at the home of James Kelly Markey until the first church building was constructed in 1873. Growth in the congregation, driven by an influx of Polish and German-Russian immigrants in the last quarter of the 19th century, led Bishop Nicholas Gallagher of the Diocese of Galveston to send the Rev. Joseph Klein as resident pastor in 1894. During his pastorate, Cordelia Baker gave 10 acres of land to the diocese for the benefit of a German Catholic church in Plantersville, and a small building was completed and dedicated in 1894 as Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. After the Rev. George Wilhelm became pastor in 1907, St. Mary's divided into Polish and German congregations, and the Polish families founded St. Joseph's Church in Stoneham. In 1917, the church building burned after lightning struck it, and under the leadership of the Rev. George Apel it was replaced the same year by this Gothic Revival structure, whose stained glass windows reflect the congregation's German heritage and whose lancet windows, buttresses, and crenellated bell tower show Gothic Revival influences.