In 1811, a core group of Catholics in Louisville helped form Saint Louis Church at 10th and Main Streets. Until then, their needs had been served by Father Stephen Theodore Badin, the “circuit rider priest,” so named because of the wide area traveled during his ministry to the people of the American frontier. Father Badin was the first priest ordained in the United States.

Father Philip Hosten became the first pastor in residence at Saint Louis Church in September of 1821, but he died about a year later of yellow fever during an outbreak of the disease in the city. By 1830, the congregation had grown in size and a bigger church, also named Saint Louis Church, was built on Fifth Street, five blocks south of the Ohio River on the site of the present Cathedral of the Assumption.

When the seat of the diocese was moved from Bardstown to Louisville in 1841, Saint Louis Church then became Saint Louis Cathedral. In 1849, after a decision that a new cathedral should be built, it was begun by Bishop Flaget and completed by Bishop Martin John Spalding. The structure was dedicated as the Cathedral of the Assumption on October 3, 1852.

Bishop Flaget died on February 11, 1850, a few months after the laying of the cornerstone for the new church building. His remains rest today in a crypt in the Cathedral Undercroft.

In its early years, following the European tradition, the Cathedral of the Assumption was a center for responding to the needs of others and challenging the growth of individuals. It served as a hospice for the sick, the orphaned and the poor. Later, Presentation Academy, Saint Joseph Infirmary and Saint Vincent’s Orphanage all had their beginnings in the Cathedral basement. These early years became known as the golden age of the Cathedral of the Assumption.