St. Albertus Church

Polish immigrants arrived in Detroit as early as the 1850s, but not until the Reverend Simon Wieczorek founded St. Albertus Roman Catholic Parish in 1872 did their community have a center. A neighborhood, called Wojciechowo, grew around the parish’s first church. In 1885 the present Gothic Revival building replaced the original wooden frame structure. Inspired by the Reverend Dominic Kolasinski’s concern for Polish traditions, it incorporates twelve lunette panels over the nave arcades, brick detailing, and an octagonal tower common to churches in Poland. Although the community eventually dispersed, St. Albertus Church still stands as a symbol of the first Polish community in Detroit.