The large majority of Greek Catholic immigrants who settled in the Barnesboro local area were Carpatho-Rusins. They came to Patton, Hastings, and Barnesboro in the 1890's to work in the bituminous coal mines and other industries that were growing. There was no Byzantine Catholic Church established in the area at that time. They had to attend church in Ramey, Clearfield County (founded in 1893) or Ss. Peter & Paul in Punxsutawney, Jefferson County (founded 1894). They traveled to these churches for baptisms and weddings. At other times of worship they met in people's homes and sang the Vespers and Matins, whose melodies and text they knew by heart.

Father Cyril Gulovich, OSBM, who came to Barnesboro from Ramey, became the pastor of the new St. John the Baptist Greek Catholic Church. He is recognized as the first spiritual father of the parish.

In the fall of 1897 a small frame church and rectory stood on a parcel of land donated by the Barnes Coal Company. Father Gulovich blessed the Holy Altar and icon screen on July 4, 1902. The church was decorated in the traditional Rusin style of the immigrants' Carpathian Mountain homeland. The icon screen spanned from the floor to the ceiling, and the icons were painted by Father Stephen Zacharias.

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