St. Matthew began in 1951 as a mission of Christ Episcopal Church in Tacoma. A small group of Christ Church members living in Brown's Point, joined together with other neighbors to form a new congregation. The first service was held in a local storefront on St. Matthew's Day, September 21, 1951. When the storefront was no longer available, members met in the basement of a home until they had a permanent church building.

Ground was broken for the new structure in the spring of 1952. The first service in the new church was held on Christmas Day of that year. St. Mark's Cathedral donated pews, and St. Luke's, Tacoma, loaned the church bell that hung in the tower. Lacking a rope to ring the bell, two young parishioners climbed the tower and rang it by hand.

The church was dedicated on Easter Sunday, 1953. Many longtime parishioners say that the church was built on blackberry pie. This homemade dessert was frequently served at work parties and festivals and is still served at our annual St. Matthew Day celebration in honor of our founders! In 1979, St. Matthew became a full-fledged parish in the Diocese of Olympia. St. Matthew was the first church to be built in the Brown's Point community.

In 1980 the parish sponsored a Cambodian refugee family. Many others followed that family to Tacoma. As the number of newcomers grew, so did St. Matthew’s ministry and outreach. Retired Bishop David Cochran and his wife, Mary, led the church’s efforts to bring the Word and love of God, as well as needed housing and services, to our "Cambodian cousins." By 1986 the small group of immigrants had grown into Holy Family congregation centered in East Tacoma and became a separate church - the first Cambodian Episcopal parish in the United States.

The mid-1990's found St. Matthew’s congregation back in a storefront again while the original building underwent extensive renovation. A new larger sanctuary was built and the floor plan was rearranged and remodeled. Our beautiful new church home was completed in 1996 in time for Palm Sunday worship. Since 1996 the congregation has evolved along with the Browns Point community. In 2003 the church called the Rev. Susan Tyree-Cuevas to be our Rector and lead us, spirit-filled, into the twenty-first century.

For more information about early Brown's Point - Dash Point history, please visit the Points NorthEast Historical Society web page. Note: St. Matthew is not responsible for the information on the historical society's webpage.