The beginning of the story of the Basilica of St. Paul may be dated from the arrival on June 1, 1881, of the first Catholic family to live in Daytona Beach — immigrants from Germany. The first Mass was a nuptial for the Achstetter family, taking place in a log cabin home located in what is now the 600 block of South Ridgewood Avenue.  Father (later Bishop) William J. Kenny was celebrant.  The date was March 16, 1862.

Until 1886, Mass was offered twice a year by Father Bernard O’Reilly and Father Maurice F. Foley from Deland.  The congregation gathered in private homes, at the old Palmetto House, at the William Jackson Hall, at the depot on the corner of Beach Street and Orange Avenue, and at the City Opera House.  In 1886, Daytona Beach became a mission of St. Teresa Church in Titusville where Father John F. O’Boyle was administrator.  He celebrated Mass every Sunday in the opera house or in the armory.  Father O’Boyle was transferred to Daytona Beach and took up permanent residence in 1895.  Three years later he purchased property on South Palmetto and Myrtle Avenues and built there a wood-frame church seating approximately 400 people.

In April, 1923 the Rev. William J. Mullally, the new pastor of St. Paul Church (now the Basilica), arrived in Daytona Beach.  He had been given instructions from the Bishop to purchase additional property to build a Catholic school and build a new church.  Much to the credit and ingenuity of Fr. Mullally, St. Paul Catholic School (now the Basilica School of St. Paul), the only Catholic school at the time between St. Augustine and West Palm Beach on Florida’s East Coast, was opened in 1925.  Fr. Mullally, who was later appointed Right Reverend Monsignor by Pope Pius XI, led the effort to acquire and construct the Basilica of St. Paul at its present location, 360 North Ridgewood Avenue, Daytona Beach.  The first Mass in what was St. Paul Church was celebrated in 1927.  Monsignor Mullally later celebrated his Golden Jubilee as a priest, and he remained pastor at St. Paul Church until retirement in 1967.