The Academy of the Sacred Heart

Responding to a request from the Antoine Beaubien family, five religious of the French order of the Sacred Heart came from New York to Detroit in 1851. The religious opened a school on Jefferson Avenue in June of that year with ten day-students and three orphans. From 1851 to 1861 the school occupied three different locations on Jefferson Avenue. In 1861 the religious erected a new school there. It operated for fifty-seven years. From 1918 to 1958 the school was located on Lawrence Avenue. In addition to their Detroit endeavors, the religious operated a boarding school in Grosse Pointe Farms from 1885 to 1969. In 1958 the Detroit school was moved to Bloomfield Hills. It is the oldest continuing school among the members of the Independent Schools of Michigan.