Beginning in August 1915, Father J. J. O’Riordan of Sanford made regular trips to Fruitland Park to hold Mass in the summer cottage of Mr. and Mrs. Martell of St. Joseph, Michigan. A church in Fruitland Park was completed in 1921 and the first Mass celebrated on Thanksgiving Day. The Fruitland Park church held the official status of mission and was never dedicated due to the inability of the Bishop of St. Augustine to travel to the far-flung points of his diocese.