In 1889, members of the Italian community in Wooster Square, led by Paulo Russo, decided to establish their own parish instead of continuing to have to attend mass at St. Patrick's Church on Grand Avenue. They dedicated it to St. Michael the Archangel.

The church occupied several sites before the edifice on Wooster Place, which had served as a Baptist church and suffered significant damage in a fire in 1904, was purchased. The rebuilt edifice was designed to reflect the style of the traditional churches of southern Italy, with paintings adorning the sanctuary, elaborately carved stations of the cross,  and an ornate central altar topped with a life-size statue of St. Michael.