Historic Catholic Churches of Detroit

Guest post by Sarah Wagner.

Sarah has lived in the Grand Rapids metro area her entire life, and was raised Catholic. She has a passion for local history, and after learning about her ancestral ties to the Basilica of Saint Adalbert she became interested in researching historic Catholic churches. She recently landed her dream job in the Local History department of the Grand Rapids Public Library, where she gets paid to work in the archives and assist patrons researching local history. She often travels to Detroit to hang out with her friends from her online home at Icrontic.com, where she serves as Official Sexy Librarian.

The Basilica of St. Adalbert, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Here is a picture of my church, the Basilica of St. Adalbert, courtesy of their website.A year and a half ago I did a research project covering the history of my church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, The Basilica of Saint Adalbert.

My great-grandparents were married in that church when they came to the United States from Poland. They traveled to Grand Rapids to stay with friends and were married in 1910 in the first Polish church in Grand Rapids.

My mother and I did the research to discover which church they were married in; we fell in love with St. Adalbert's and have been members ever since.

The architecture is breathtaking, the Basilica is full of a rich history, and the parishioners are very welcoming. Listening to the beautiful choir sing from the loft sounds like angels singing on Sunday mornings.

The Basilica of St. Adalbert was built in 1913 and named a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1980, making it the only basilica in Michigan, and of only a few in the United States.

Detroit Catholic Churches

My research paper also discussed how our Basilica was different from a couple of specific Catholic churches in Detroit. I recently made a special trip to certain areas of Detroit to see and take pictures of some historic churches I had read about and was told about by my Michigan History professor. What an adventure it was!

Sweetest Heart of Mary

Sweetest Heart of Mary. This church has been kept in good condition. This side faces a beautiful courtyard.The first church we went to visit was the Sweetest Heart of Mary Catholic Church, located at 4440 Russell Street. It is an important church to the Polish community of Detroit, built in 1892, and is still used extensively for masses, weddings, and events.

It was in much better condition than many of the other churches I visited, although some restoration was still needed. This church is also a Michigan Historic Site, and the windows of the church won prizes at the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exposition and contains one of the oldest Austin organs in existence.

One of the bell towers of Sweetest Heart of Mary.

St. Albertus

St. Albertus, Detroit's first Polish Catholic church. This church and neighborhood have seen much better days.The second church we visited was St. Albertus, at 4231 St. Aubin Street. St. Albertus was founded in 1872, with the present Gothic Revival church built in 1885, as the first Polish Catholic church in Detroit. The church was closed by the Archdiocese in 1990, although it is named a Michigan Historic Site as well.

The church was in one of the worst neighborhoods I have ever been in, as there were vacant and condemned buildings all around. The St. Albertus School looked like it has been vacant for several years. They still hold monthly mass at the church and hold tours and other events, as the church has such a rich history.

Ste. Anne de Detroit

Ste. Anne de Detroit, Detroit's first Church, established the same year as Detroit. It is a beautiful church with a gorgeous courtyard area.The front doors to Ste. Anne de Detroit. This structure was built in 1886, and one of the priests is buried under the main altar.The third church we visited was Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church, at 1000 Ste Anne, which was the first church founded in Detroit in 1701, only two days after Detroit founder Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac came to Detroit and began to build Fort Ponchartrain.

This church is amazing and has a rich history. It is near the Ambassador Bridge to Canada, and the church continues to thrive in the lively Hispanic community. They hold regular mass, in both English and Spanish.

St. Stanislaus

The façade of St. Stanislaus, with a partial Promise Land Baptist church sign. This was the fifth Polish Catholic church in the city of Detroit.The last stop was another Polish Catholic church, St. Stanislaus. It is located just south of Hamtramck, near the intersection of I-94 and I-75. St. Stanislaus was formed in 1898 to relieve overcrowding at St. Albertus.

The baroque structure was built in 1911. During the years after World War II, the demographics drastically changed in the neighborhood surrounding St. Stanislaus, with the flight of young couples and wealthy families—as well as  the tragedy of I-94 bisecting the neighborhood, which displaced families and businesses.

Another view of St. Stanislaus, showing missing windows. A heartbreaking sight to see.The parish closed in 1989 and the church of St. Stanislaus now houses The Promise Land Missionary Baptist Church.

When visiting the church, we noticed that the Baptist Church is only using the basement, as heating the sanctuary would be expensive, and many of the stained glass windows are missing, broken or damaged. Seeing this church was very disheartening to me. This church used to be thriving along with the Detroit Polish Catholic population.

As with much of Detroit, devastating occurrences led to many people leaving for the suburbs, leaving behind cherished memories without looking back.

An image of the old deteriorating St. Stanislaus Rectory, with broken windows, missing trim, damaged roof, and damaged bricks. There was a photo uploaded to Flickr two years prior to this photo, and it was in pristine condition. Things sure change quickly.The St. Stanislaus church structure has very few stained glass windows remaining, and the roof is damaged. The church rectory is abandoned with the trim around the windows and along the roof being missing, all of the windows are broken, and there is graffiti  covering the rear of the building.

There are few funds to maintain this church, as the Baptist church has a much smaller community than the original Catholic community this church was built and intended for. It would be interesting to see how it would look like today if the history of Detroit had been different.

Grand Rapids and Detroit

It is difficult to come up with a fair comparison between Catholic churches in Grand Rapids to those in the city of Detroit. Detroit's history is complex and very different from that of Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids did not have flight of young and wealthy families on the scale that Detroit had. Many families in Grand Rapids have still moved out of the inner city, yet parishioners of the Basilica of St. Adalbert continue to drive downtown to attend the church of their ancestors. The parishioners of the Basilica of St. Adalbert haven't all fled from their memories and family history, and the neighborhood surrounding the church isn't frightening. As long as the neighborhood continues to be safe, parishioners will still attend mass at the lovely Basilica of St. Adalbert. I hope to continue attending for years to come.

Windsor: Detroit's Best Friend

Detroit and Canada don’t just share a border; we also share a love of hockey that runs deep. Detroit and Windsor are connected at the hip, so to speak.

The USA beat Canada in men’s hockey last night at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. My allegiances were torn before the game began. Do I root for my country, that I love, or do I support Mike Babcock and Steve Yzerman of the Detroit Red Wings?

As soon as the game began I found my answer and it wasn’t just because Team USA scored in the first 41 seconds of the game. My heart belongs to the United States and my immense love of the Detroit Red Wings wasn’t going to change which country I was rooting for.

North Americans Need to Stick Together

I might be a true-blooded American but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Canada is the best neighbor you can have. They’re the ones who’ll shovel the snow off your drive just because they’re doing their own.

While in Dublin, on my very first trip across the pond, I became friends with a Canadian guy named Jamie. We lost contact shortly after my trip but something he said while we were in Dublin has always stuck with me. “Us fellow North Americans need to stick together,” he said.

I don’t know why but I never thought of myself as a “North American” before that point. I never saw it from a continental point of view.

South (of) Detroit

Detroit is an international city and our shared border with Windsor, Ontario not only connects us but it makes both cities stronger. 

And I’m sure the Windsorites share our frustration with the lyrics from ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ by Journey. If you are born and raised in south Detroit you are Canadian and from Windsor!

Last November I took my husband to Windsor for the first time. We both marveled at the fact that we were standing in another country looking at the Detroit skyline. It hovers over Windsor in the most beautiful way.

After returning from Windsor I found out about the Cross-Border Communication project from Broken City Lab. From their website:

Broken City Lab is an artist-led interdisciplinary creative research group that tactically disrupts and engages the city, its communities, and its infrastructures to reimagine the potential for action in the collapsing post-industrial city of Windsor, Ontario.

In November of 2009 they reached out to us Detroiters, lending their support and hoping to open up a dialogue between the two cities. They did this by projecting images in Windsor that could be seen from across the river in Detroit.

Hello!

It's better than being alone.

OK, what's up?

I hope so.

I always have hope.

Yes!

I saw the images and my heart leaped. Yes, I want to be friends! Yes, I want to engage and start a dialogue between our citizens. We are lucky to have each other to lean on in difficult times. Detroit and Windsor need to be best friends forever!

So, what do you think Detroit? Can we come together with our friends across the river to make a positive impact in both communities?

All photos courtesy of Broken City Lab.

Detroiters miss CBC Coverage of the Olympics

Standing in Windsor with my beloved Detroit over my shoulder.Yesterday, in my preamble before the Weekend Roundup, I mentioned that people have been grumbling about NBC’s coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

I’ve heard people in Seattle, who are in the same time zone as Vancouver, bemoan the fact that they are on a tape delay. People all around the country have been complaining about which events are being shown, finding out the results ahead of time, the announcers, and missing crucial moments.

Here in Detroit we’ve been a bit spoiled over the years. One of the perks of sharing a border with Canada is that when we don’t like the coverage on the American TV stations we can flip over to CBET, the CBC station out of Windsor.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for these Olympics. The CBC lost the contract to broadcast the Olympics to CTV. So, us Detroiters are stuck with NBC just like the rest of the country.

All of this reminded me of the 2004 Summer Olympics. I had just moved to the UK and was a bit confused as to why certain events were covered over others. I didn’t expect them to pay special attention to the American athletes but I wasn’t prepared to watch endless coverage of what some might call minor events.

This is an email I sent my friends and family back in 2004:

Watching the Olympics here in England is an odd thing. Great Britain won their first medal of the games (silver) in the ‘Jump Into The Water At The Same Time’ event. Synchronized diving? Who knew? Worse, it's MENS synchronized diving!

Other events Great Britain has won medals in thus far: equestrian, badminton, archery, and canoe. Is this the Summer Olympics or summer camp? I'm not making this up.

They did win a medal in swimming; I’ll give them that. Their next major chances for medals, and probably even gold ones, are sailing and rowing. Ah... it's a very posh summer camp!

But not to worry, track and field is coming up. The husband says their best events are the egg and spoon, the sack race, and the three-legged race. God Save the Queen!

So, I guess we could be subjected to hours of curling coverage. Oh wait, we are.

(To the curling lovers throughout the world, please don't hate on me, it was just a good analogy. And I don't like sweeping. It's a lot like housework.)

Detroit Moxie's Weekend Roundup

The Winter Olympics have dominated water cooler conversations this week. Yesterday, Shaun White absolutely killed it on the halfpipe and Lindsey Vonn overcame her injury to grab the gold.

There has also been a lot of grumbling about NBC’s coverage but I’m not going to get into that right now.

So, let’s get on to the good stuff.

Photo from mybulldog on Flickr.

Weekend Roundup

1. Cinematic Titanic - The creator and original cast of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) invade the Royal Oak Music Theatre for a feature-length movie riffing show. February 19th.

2. August: Osage County - Steppenwolf Theatre of Chicago brings their hit show about a large dysfunctional family to the Fisher Theatre. I worked for Steppenwolf for many years and they do exceptional work. February 19-21.

3. What Can You Hemi®? - This exhibit at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum features a snow-blower, merry-go-round, barbecue grill, and an ice resurfacer built with Chrysler's 5.7-liter Hemi V8 engine. Now through May 2nd.

4. The Ark's 23 Annual Storytelling Festival - "Liars and other storytellers" is this years installment from The Ark in Ann Arbor. February 20-21.

5. Owls in Winter - Head to Metro Beach for a talk on Great Horned Owls and then go outside and search for them. February 21.

Do you know of a great event going in on Metro Detroit this weekend? Add it to the comments and share it with us!

Belle Isle: Fish, Flowers, Photos & a Friend

A week or so ago we went down to Belle Isle for “Shiver on the River.” We’ve spent a lot of time on Belle Isle in the last year but haven’t had the pleasure of actually going into any of the buildings until now.

Belle Isle Aquarium

The Belle Isle Aquarium

First up was the Belle Isle Aquarium. The now closed aquarium, which was designed by Albert Kahn, opened to the public in 1904. It was the oldest continuously run aquarium in North America.

Only one tank was filled with fish.

Unfortunately, the Belle Isle Aquarium closed in 2005 and was only open to the public on the day we visited to raise awareness and funds to reopen.

The green Pewabic tiles that adorn the walls and ceiling are striking. I was also delighted that one of the tanks had fish in it. The Belle Isle Aquarium may be small but it’s a perfect little jewel.

They had candles lined up on the dividing wall in the aquarium.

Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory

Next, we walked into the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory.

Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory

I snapped my first photo.

Ooops! Although, I am kind of liking this 'mistake' now.

Whoa! I knew something was wrong immediately. I looked at my lens and saw that it was all steamed up. I’m pretty new at this photography stuff and didn’t really know what to do.

My husband handed me his hanky (yes, he carries a hanky) but I wasn’t sure that was the best answer.

Meet Ralph Jones

I saw a man a few feet in front of us who had a better camera than mine and more gear. He also looked, even all bundled up, like he knew what he was doing.

“Excuse me, sir,” I said. He turned around and I explained my situation to him, “what should I do?”

He pulled out a dust cloth, very similar to my husband’s hanky, and I wiped the steam from my lens. I felt a bit stupid for my amateur freak out moment but I got talking with this man.

Ah, much better without the steam!

They grow oranges, bananas, and pineapples in the Conservatory.

I asked him if he was a part of the photography group that was doing a photowalk on that day. He said, “No, I’m just Joe Blogger.”

My ears perked up a bit, “I’m a blogger too,” I blurted out. He kind of looked at me in disbelief as my husband explained Detroit Moxie to him. Ralph told me he also blogs about Detroit.

Ralph and I exchanged business cards and said we’d check out each other’s blogs. Ralph was headed over to Ice House Detroit after Belle Isle, I told him that we just came from there and showed him some pictures on my camera.

I checked out Ralph’s blog as soon as I got home. His photo blog of Detroit is amazing. Ralph also checked out Detroit Moxie and I got an email from him the next day. I do hope our paths cross again.

I made a new friend. And of all the people who were walking around with cameras that day, I’m sure glad it was Ralph that I stopped to ask for help.

Lastly, I had to check on my Ice Tree. I’ll only share one shot with you today. I loved that you could see crystals and the water spray at the top.

The Belle Isle Ice Tree, 2/6/10.

The husband acting like a child.

All in all, what a fabulous Detroit day!

Check out Ralph Jones' photo blog 'Detroit Highlights & Shadows'.