The Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul is the mother church of the Diocese of Providence. Pope Pius IX created the diocese in 1872, and its first bishop, Thomas Francis Hendricken, decided to build a new cathedral because the first one was too small.
In 1873 Hendricken chose church architect Patrick Keely to draw the plans. The cornerstone was laid in 1878. Hendricken refused to borrow money for the project, so he set aside $10,000 each year and ran fundraising campaigns to keep construction going.
By 1882 the contractors had finished the roof and began the interior. Hendricken died in 1886. The Neo-Romanesque church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.