St. Paul Roman Catholic Church, Historic Catholic church in St. Paul, Oregon

St. Paul Roman Catholic Church is a brick church in St. Paul, Oregon, built in 1846 from bricks fired on site. It is the first brick church in Oregon and the oldest brick building in the Pacific Northwest. Father François Norbert Blanchet dedicated it on November 1, 1846, and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

French Canadian fur trappers on French Prairie, raising families without a priest, sent a petition in 1836 asking the Bishop of Red River to send one; twenty men signed and listed their children. François Norbert Blanchet and Modeste Demers arrived, and Blanchet gave the first Mass in the Willamette Valley on January 6, 1839. A log chapel served the community until the brick church, fired on site, was dedicated on November 1, 1846. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

The parish registers, transcribed and held by the St. Paul Mission Historical Society, record baptisms, marriages and burials from 1839 to 1898; the earliest sacraments were entered in the Vancouver register. The 1836 petition of twenty French Prairie men, each noting his children, is the surviving request for a priest.

St. Paul lies on French Prairie in the Willamette Valley, and the brick church stands in the town itself, reachable on foot from the surrounding streets. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, so it is a documented landmark rather than an active parish alone. Visitors should check locally for current visiting arrangements.

The bricks for the 1846 church were fired on site, making it the oldest brick building in the Pacific Northwest; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The parish registers, transcribed by the St. Paul Mission Historical Society, record baptisms and marriages from 1839 onward.