The first people in the Blackwood area were the Lenape Indians, called by many of the early settlers the Delaware Indians.

Blackwoodtown, as it was then called, was settled in 1750 by John Blackwood, a gentleman who owed much of the area's rich farm land. Mr. Blackwood, anxious to have a church built on his land in the hopes of attracting settlers, established a town and sold the land upon which now stands the First United Presbyterian Church in the center of Blackwood.

The first Catholic settlers in the Blackwood area belonged to St. Patrick's Parish, Woodbury. In 1914 a priest from Woodbury, Fr. Michael Dolan, began celebrating Mass in the home of Hugh Boyle in Blackwood Terrace, across the road from the future St. Agnes Church. The mission church of St. Agnes, attached to St. Patrick's, was built in 1924. Unfortunately, tragedy struck when fire destroyed the church in 1936. Rebuilt at a cost of $9,000 on November 15, 1938, much of the interior design of the new mission church (now St. John Vianney Church) was based on suggestions made by the Diocese of Camden's first bishop, the Most Reverend Bishop Bartholomew Eustace. Under the new bishop's directive, the mission church was transferred to St. Teresa's, Runnemede. St. Agnes became a parish in 1946.

In 1958, Father Charles D. Keiser, pastor of St. Agnes, was given the assignment of finding and purchasing land for a mission church in the area of the many of the new housing developments in Blackwood. An ideal location was found on the Black Horse Pike at the end of Crestmont Avenue. Five acres were purchased from Solomon M. and Yetta Cohen of Philadelphia for $25,000 on July 15, 1958. The book of deeds shows this land had been previously deeded in 1910 to Mary Dilks.

A loan of $40,000 was approved for St. Agnes Parish on September 11, 1958 by the Diocese of Camden. On March 11, 1959, an agreement was signed with Thomas H. Moran, an architect from Princeton, NJ to design a building which could serve as a combination church and social hall, at a cost of $57,000.

Ground breaking took place on March 26, 1959, with the first shovel of earth being turned by Bishop Justin J. McCarthy. On April 24, 1959, Rolan Aristone, the general contractor began construction on the new building. It was dedicated by Archbishop Celestine J. Damiano on July 28, 1961, and Father Keiser was named the first pastor of a newly split off parish on October 11, 1961. The boundaries of the new parish would be the south side of Church Street to Greentree Road and Little Gloucester Road to Lakeland. A home on Crestmont Avenue was purchased as a rectory.

Doctor Edward J. Sarama was one of the devoted people who came from St. Agnes. He was responsible for naming the new parish. He was devoted to St. Jude, who had answered many of his prayers. When asked for a suggestion of a name for the parish, he replied -- St. Jude.

From the first day, the parishioners were united and filled with enthusiasm. There were dreams of a new school, convent, church and rectory. Father Keiser began a search for an order of sisters to teach in the proposed school. In May, 1963, his prayers were answered when the first three sisters arrived from Europe -- members of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Immaculate Heart of Mary -- with Mother M. Cherubina as first superior-principal. Eventually, a school and convent were added to the social hall at a cost of $342,832 and were dedicated by Archbishop Damiano on June 13, 1964.

Housing developments continued to expand in Whitman Square and the Bells Lake area. St. Jude's priests began celebrating Masses on Sundays in the Whitman Square Community building and later at the Grenloch Fire Hall. The parish was divided and St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Sicklerville, was established in August, 1965. One account records that a deep sadness befell the parish because many of the people who were a moving force behind St. Jude's family were leaving.

Father (later Monsignor) William Poyatt succeeded Father Keiser and became the second pastor of St. Jude's on September 30, 1967. In August, 1973, another shock wave hit the parish when 475 families were transferred to another newly-formed parish, Sts. Peter and Paul. At this point, the morale and spirit of St. Jude's wavered.

But Father Paul Onufer arrived as pastor on October 7, 1975 and immediately generated renewed life. In May, 1977 parishioners pledged $230,000 in just four weeks to build a new 355-seat church, a dream that was realized on October 28, 1978 -- the feast of St. Jude -- when Bishop James L. Schad presided at its blessing and dedication. A rectory was built and blessed on August 15, 1979.