During the reign of William and Mary, Snow Hill Parish was established by an act of the Colonial Assembly called "An Act for the Service of Almighty God and the Establishment of Protestant Religion within this Province." The province was the colony of Maryland with Somerset County being the southern section of Maryland's Eastern Shore until 1742 when the eastern portion was designated as Worcester County with Snow Hill as the county seat. The early church records were destroyed in a Court House fire in 1834. It is known, however,  that the first church building stood near the bank of the Pocomoke River in 1734 according to the original plat of Snow Hill.

   In 1748, an Act of the Colonial Assembly was passed for a levy of 80,000 pounds of tobacco for the building of "a parish church of brick to be erected at the east corner of Market and Church Streets, opposite the town market lot." Eight years later an additional levy of 45,000 pounds was necessary to complete the structure. Some of the bricks used to construct the church came over as ballast from England. However,  most of the bricks were locally made. The ivy covering the outside came from Kenilworth Castle in England.