The church building began with the acquisition of the property on Piedmont Avenue in Glenarden.  For reasons of economy, no professional contracting firm was employed.  Rather, under professional guidance of both architects and builders, volunteers of the area achieved construction of the church.

The church consisted of a main body to seat two hundred persons and a choir loft in the rear surmounted by the church bell tower.  Two altars dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and St Joseph flanked the sanctuary in the front of the church.  The storage sacristy was on the right side of the sanctuary.  The priest’s sacristy was on the left.  An additional room in the rear of the church housed the visiting priests.  It was years before there was an assigned permanent resident pastor.  A large, spacious basement hall provided a venue for parish events.

The first Mass in the church was offered on Christmas Day, 1922.  This new church, the result of the efforts of the pioneers of the parish, was destined to serve the parishioners of St. Joseph’s for over forty years.