The History of Holy Rosary begins in 1821, when a Franciscan friar by the name of
Father Fray Blas Ordiz baptized a Native American in the region around Knights
Landing thus becoming the first known Catholic service performed in Yolo County. The
first Mass in Yolo County was offered in the Knights Landing home of John O’Keefe in
the year 1858 and the first sacrifice of the Mass offered in the City of Woodland was
held in the house of Peter Fitzgerald in 1869. On the first Sunday of October in 1870,
the newly constructed church was dedicated by the Very Reverend Jacob Croke in
memory of the Holy Rosary. In 1883, Reverend John McGinty bought land for a Catholic
cemetery and dedicated it to St. Joseph, the following year in 1884 he built Holy Rosary
Academy (Holy Rosary Catholic School) which he staffed with the Holy Cross Sisters
from Notre Dame, Indiana.

In 1956, Holy Rosary Catholic School was officially opened on California Street where it
still stands to this day. It will continue to educate the Catholic youth of Woodland with a
strong academic foundation and make evident the love of God through stewardship and
community service. Reverend John Boll who served as Pastor of Holy Rosary Parish
from 1994 to 2005, took on the task of building a much-needed parish community
center. With the help of God and the parish community, construction began in 2001 and
was completed in 2003.

Today, our Holy Rosary Parish is under the pastoral care and leadership of Reverend
Jonathan Molina who has been serving the community for the last nine years. He is
tasked with completing the final phase of consolidating all Holy Rosary Parish facilities
on California Street, this includes building a new church. With his leadership and by the
intercession of St. Joseph and Our Blessed Mother, the parish community surpassed
the Capital Campaign goal and is moving forward with construction in mid-summer
2024. 

For more information on our new church, please click here and see how you can
join us in writing a new chapter in Holy Rosary’s 200+ year history.

For a more in-depth look at the complete history of Holy Rosary Parish, please see the
archives linked below.