St Joseph's Parish is one of the oldest Catholic communities on the North Shore-but the church and school, as you see them today, did not exist at first.

In 1846, Bishop Pompallier bought 23 acres of land from Governor Sir George Gray and used it as the grounds for the North Shore's first school, St Mary's College, which opened in 1849. Fr Forest S.M. was its first Rector, and Bishop Pompallier himself made frequent visits to the College, each time crossing the harbour by rowboat. Later, the College was used as a seminary, and then in 1893, it became an orphanage and was renamed St Joseph's by the Sisters of Mercy, who had been entrusted as its stewards. The orphanage's 30-inch walls were strong enough to survive the fire of 1923, but sadly, its adjacent church was not as sturdy-in that same year, people attempted to move it away from the orphanage and next to Taharoto Road, but it collapsed overnight.