St. Stanislaus, the fourth parish in St. Paul, was founded by Czech immigrants in 1872. The parish experienced many growing pains during the early years, as different cultural groups—German, Polish, Czech—struggled to worship together. In 1886, Fr. John Rynda, newly arrived from Moravia, was assigned to the parish. He would remain for nearly 40 years. Under his leadership, the community built a new brick church, so beautifully decorated that it was described as “Czech heaven” by Archbishop Ireland. In 1893, the famous Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak, stayed overnight at the parish rectory during a visit to St. Paul! On April 15, 1934, the entire church was destroyed by fire. In the middle of the Great Depression, the parishioners did not have enough money to build a new church, so Mass was held in the parish hall until the third and present church, designed in the English Gothic style, was built
in 1940. Today, St. Stanislaus continues to treasure its Czech heritage, but welcomes people of many cultural backgrounds.