St. Mary´s Church

St. Mary´s Parish was founded by Father Martin Kundig in 1835 for the German-speaking Catholics in Detroit and is the third oldest Catholic parish in the city. The cornerstone for the original church was laid on the feast of Corpus Christi, June 19, 1841, and the church was consecrated in honor of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on June 29, 1843. This High Victorian Romanesque-style structure was designed by German parishioner Peter Dederichs. The cornerstone was laid in 1884, and the edifice completed in 1885. St. Mary´s founded the city´s first black and Hispanic Catholic missions. Since 1893 this parish has been guided by the Fathers of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, C.S.Sp.