Situated on the east bank of the Haihe River near the Shizhilin Bridge, Wanghailou Church was built by the French Catholic Church in 1869.

On June 2, 1870, several children died in the church because of an infectious disease, and were hastily buried by the church. A few days later people saw the dead bodies, and, in addition to the abhorrence to the foreign religion, the church was burnt, and a French missionary was killed by Tianjin people. This was the famous 'Tianjin Religion Case'. Under the armed deterrence of seven western countries, the Qing Government executed 16 Tianjin citizens, rebuilt the church in 1897, and amended 500,000 Liang (a unit of weight) of silver cash to the French government.

In 1900 the Boxer Rebellers (Yi He Tuan) burnt the church and attacked the diplomatic missions of foreign countries. The Allied Forces of Eight Countries then seized Tianjin and killed in the city for seven days and seven nights, and the Haihe River was turned red by the blood of Tianjin people. After that the foreign army occupied Beijing and burnt the famous Yuan Ming Yuan. The church was rebuilt again in 1904. The last serious destruction took place in 1976 during Tangshan earthquake and it was reconstructed in 1983. The church has been under state protection as a major national relic since 1988.