When O'Neill was founded in 1874, the only Catholic priest between West Point, Nebraska and Butte, Montana was Father Bedard in Frenchtown (Neligh). He occasionally journeyed to O'Neill to celebrate Mass in the sod homes of the early settlers. A parish was established in O'Neill in 1877. Since then, there have been three Catholic church buildings erected on the southeast corner of Black 4 of the Original Town of O'Neill.

The first: 1877-1882

The Second: 1882-1910

The Third: 1910 to the present.

The first pastor was Father John T. Smith and he called the newly founded parish: St. Joseph. The first church was built in July 1877, It was a small frame building, eighteen by thirty-six feet. It had no pews or seats of any kind and had no bell or steeple. It served the people until 1882 when a new church was build. The old church was moved across the street east and was bought by School District Seven and served as O'Neill's first public school building.

The second Church of 1882 was also a frame building but much larger. It was forty by one hundred feet. It had a seating capacity of four hundred, but it too had neither a tower nor a bell. In 1886 Father Michael Francis Cassidy was assigned as pastor to the O'Neill parish. As his parish was almost entirely Irish, he dedicated the parish to St. Patrick. He served as its pastor for 47years. Upon assuming charge of the parish he at once began plans to erect a bell tower. The tower was completed in the fall of 1886. It was in the front center of the church and was ninety feet high, surmounted by a large gilded cross. The new bell, with the iron frame in which it was set, weighted four thousand pounds. The bell tolled for the first time for early Mass on Christmas Day, 1886. On the east side is engraved: McShane Bell Foundry, Henry McShane and Company, Baltimore, Md. 1886.

The third Church building is the present Church of St. Patrick in O'Neill. The cornerstone was laid on August 4, 1905 and the building was completed by October, 1910. It was a brick Romanesque style building. The new church was fifty-two feet wide and one hundred and thirty-five feet long with towers for belfry and gallery entrance on either side of the front. The total cost including construction, plumbing, furniture, furnishings and windows was $45, 177.85.