The Catholic Mission in Dalton began before the Civil War. Irish railroad workers built a church in 1852 on “two fine lots, each sixty by ninety feet.” The Reverend Jeremiah O’Neill Jr. served the mission, followed by the Reverend Patrick Kirby. In March 1864, Dalton was visited by Bishop Augustin Verot of Savannah. Only a few months later, Federal troops marched towards Atlanta and came through Dalton. General Sherman is said to have used the Catholic Church in Dalton as a smallpox hospital, then burned it while enroute to Atlanta. In a 1902 report on the North Georgia missions, there is mention of the Catholic Church in Dalton being “used during the war as a pest house” In 1869, the Reverend Thomas O’Reilly had the church rebuilt; it remained under the care of Immaculate Conception in Atlanta until 1874, when the Reverend Samuel Mattingly was named resident pastor.

Sisters of Mercy established a small school on April 6, 1874 which lasted until 1876. After a year of service by Jesuits from Selma, Alabama, in 1883 the missions of North Georgia were placed under the care of the resident pastor of Saint Mary in Rome. In 1901 the Dalton mission consisted of thirty Catholics and was attended to once a month by the Marist Fathers.

The Dalton mission was closed by the Marists in 1902. In 1930, the mission was reinstated when more Catholics began to again settle in the area.

The Redemptorists established Saint Joseph’s as a parish in 1941. A new building was erected in 1957. Dalton in north Georgia, carpet capital of the world, attracted Catholic workers who attended Mass in private homes to form a mission church for twenty-five families. Its rectory, where the Redemptorists resided until 1967, had been built by Civil War veterans. It served variously as a meeting hall, catechetical center, supper club and dance hall. After the Redemptorists left, the church was torn down and rebuilt in 1977.

At the turn of the millennium, 125 of St. Joseph’s households were Hispanic. A new church, dedicated by Archbishop John F. Donoghue and seating 600, replaced the first church which had been sold. The new church complex, seated on seventeen beautiful acres, includes an education building, conference room, parish hall, fourteen classrooms, four offices and a kitchen.

From: “The Archdiocese of Atlanta. A History” by John Hanley