St. Paul's boys' school was founded in February 1849 at Old St. Paul's Parish in Baltimore City by the Reverend William Edward Wyatt, rector. Throughout its history, St. Paul's has moved its campus five times, finally residing at the current grounds in 1952. The focal point building on the Brooklandville campus is "Brooklandwood," a mansion built in 1793 by Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832), one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence for Maryland, the wealthiest man in America at the time, and a devout Roman Catholic. The building was later listed on the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1972.