When the original 1918 church burned in 1934, Philip Frohman, architect of the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., designed the new church which was completed in 1938. St. Peter Claver is the only predominantly African-American parish in the county. St. Peter Claver Catholic School was begun in 1916, and was the first Catholic school to provide education opportunities to African- American children in St. Mary's County. The school burned in 1928, was rebuilt, and remained open until 1965. The building, renamed McKenna Hall, serves a s a museum.