About 1853, Farther Patrick O'Dwyer became the first resident pastor of St. Patrick Parish, St. Charles. Shortly after this he built the first church in what is now known as Maple Park. This wooden structure was built on the northeast corner of the current Watson and Keslinger Roads, and was then know as “Barney Hill.” This site is about four miles east and south of Maple Park. In these days Maple Park was officially known as Lodi.
  
Father O’Dwyer said Mass here occasionally for Catholics, many of whom left Ireland in the 1840s during the potato famine. Sometimes priests came from DeKalb – Father John McMullen, later the first Bishop of Davenport, Iowa, and Father John B. Murray, who was pastor at DeKalb in 1861.
  
This early church was eventually moved to DeKalb. In 1861, Lodi was attached to DeKalb as a mission. Reverend John McMullen erected a new and larger church in Lodi. Lodi became known as Maple Part in 1863.
 
Father Richard J. McGuire came to Maple Park as the first resident pastor in 1871. In 1899, the Hook and Hastings Organ Company in Boston built a pipe organ for a church in Joliet. When the Joliet parish constructed a new church in 1923 the organ was purchased by St. Mary Parish and moved to the Maple Park Church.
   
Father John H. Whelan (1913-1918) became pastor in 1913. On September 1, 1913, construction was begun on the present church and rectory. Mass was celebrated in the chapel attached to the church on February 15, 1914, and in the church itself the following Sunday. Bishop Peter J. Muldoon dedicated the church on June 25, 1914, under the title of St. Mary of the Assumption.
  
When was declared, Father Whelan enlisted in the army as chaplain and left the parish on June, 1918. The following July, Father Francis S. Porcella (1918-1939) came to Maple Park as its pastor. He was the resident pastor there for twenty years.
  
In 1967, under the pastorate of Father James C. Novak, OSB (1961-1994), an Education Center was built. This center, now known as the Novak Center in honor of Father Novak, is still used for CCD classes, as well as many parish activities. In 1994, under the pastorate of Father Patrick D. Corbally (1985-1994), the old St. Mary Cemetery south of town was rededicated. Also that year, the Madonna della Strada Shrine was erected in front of the church.
 
Msgr. William Clausen (1994-2006), Rev. Joachim Tyrtania (2006- 2010), Rev. Godwin Asuquo (2010-2011), and Rev. Dennis Morrissy (2011-2014) also served as pastors and parochial admnistrators. Rev. Perfecto Vasquez is currently serving as pastor of the parish. There are approximately 250 families currently registered at the Church of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish and our faith community continues to grow.