History of the Parish

Much has been written about the history of this parish. What follows below is a brief summary of the founding of the parish in 1843 through the building of the church and the school in the 1920's and 30's. Those who are interested in a more in depth study can see the following:

History of St. Mary of Redford (through the 1970's) by Robert Godzak

St. Mary of Redford: 1843-1949

The Founding of the Parish
Fr. Edmund Dumont (1857-1861)

St. Mary of Redford began as a pioneer parish. The territory it covered (of what was then Redford and beyond) was mostly farmland at the time of its founding. In the mid 1830's, French and Irish settlers began to move further out into the country and establish farms in this area. In 1843, land was purchased on the current site of St. Mary's and a small wooden church was built. This marks the official beginning of the parish.

For the first sixteen years, St. Mary of Redford functioned as a mission church, served by visiting priests making the circuit through a lot of little mission churches out in the country. It wasn't until 1857 when St. Mary of Redford received her first resident pastor. Fr. Edmund Dumont, a missionary from Belgium, was appointed pastor by Bishop Lefevre and soon set to building a new church, dedicated to St. Mary of the Annunciation for the 120 families that then belonged to the parish.

On November, 15th, 1857, the new St. Mary's Church was dedicated. Soon, a rectory was built, and an Altar Society was formed to begin acquiring all the vestments and appurtenances necessary for the liturgical life of the parish.

It was not to last. The mid 19th century was an era of persecution for Catholics. The nativist movement and later the Know Nothing party opposed the large waves of Catholic immigrants coming to the United States. The Catholic faith was un-American, hierarchical, and a threat to the Protestant establishment. There are stories from this era of convents being burned by mobs, priests being tarred and feathered, and churches guarded day and night by faithful Catholics lest in the quiet of the night, the house of God goes up in flames.

Such was to be the fate of Fr. Dumont's church. On January 5th, 1859, the rectory was set on fire and burned to the ground. Without a rectory to live in, Fr. Dumont took up residence with Bishop Lefevre in the cathedral downtown (what is now Ss. Peter and Paul.) Only a few months later, on the night of April 30th, 1859, the church went up in flames. Those responsible promised that if ever another church were built, they would destroy that one too.

Recovering from the Fire
(1861-1898)

Needless to say, this was a serious blow to a parish in its infancy. The parishioners had invested a lot in their new church and only two years later it was gone. The vestments and linens the Altar Society had worked so hard to procure were replaced by the few odds and ends they were able to cobble together in the wake of the fire. Fr. Dumont was quick to rebuild, but the parish was less forthcoming with funds than it had been at first; they simply didn't have more money to spare. On August 15th, 1859, the cornerstone of a new church (built entirely out of brick lest someone try to set it on fire again) was laid. By February 6th, 1860, the church was under roof and useable, although far from finished. The rectory, meanwhile, never came together and Fr. Dumont took up residence in a "provisional habitation." This habitation would cause problems for the parish down the road.

From 1859-1898, there are scanty records of the parish. Fr. Dumont moved on from being pastor of St. Mary of Redford and was eventually appointed a bishop in Belgium. Meanwhile, Fr. Dumont's provisional habitation proved to be insufficient for his successors. From 1861-1866 there was no resident missionary at St. Mary of Redford. Fr. Celestine Frain was appointed pastor in December, 1865 and began fundraising in order to build a suitable rectory before the following winter. The rectory wasn't finished in time and the parishioners' suggestion that their pastor instead live in the sacristy of the church were not well received. Taking this as a lack of goodwill on the part of the parish, Bishop Lefevere closed the church from November 1866 until September 1868.

The church was reopened and a pastor appointed in September, 1868 but the pattern of the St. Mary of Redford priests living on a shoestring budget would continue through the end of the century. Fr. Maurice Hens was able to finish enough of the rectory to live in in 1868 but was still working on it through 1874. A later successor, Fr. DeBever, reported to chancery that he wasn't receiving his salary from the parish and was known for doing all the maintenance work around the parish himself.

Fr. Andrew Dooling (1898-1919)

It wasn't until the appointment of Fr. Andrew Dooling in 1898 that the parish turned a corner. When Fr. Dooling began, there were 120 families in St. Mary of Redford but only 80 of those families were practicing their faith. The instability of the previous forty years had taken its toll on the parish and many had fallen away. Fr. Dooling set to rebuilding. He held regular socials and began to build a rapport with the parishioners. He built a shed and an ice house, had stained glass and new pews installed in the church, along with steam heating and electric lighting. To keep within budget, Fr. Dooling acted as his own sexton and housekeeper. It was under Fr. Dooling that Will Salley's barn behind the church became Rosary Hall, the site of the meeting for the Holy Name Society and the future school. It was also under Fr. Dooling that a portion of the parish's property was sold to the city and became St. Mary's Avenue. When Fr. Dooling died suddenly of influenza in 1919, the parish was finally on a stable foundation.

Msgr. John Cook (1919-1951)

Then came the boom. Msgr. John Gilmary Cook was appointed pastor of St. Mary of Redford in 1919. When he began as pastor, there were two Masses on a Sunday at this old brick mission parish. By 1924, there were six Masses on a Sunday and Msgr. Cook was in need of a curate. Another indication of growth are the enrollment numbers at St. Mary's School. The school was founded by Msgr. Cook and the IHM Sisters in September 1919. They began with two classrooms in the old parish hall with 117 students enrolled. In 1922, the new school building was completed and 289 students enrolled in the school. By 1926, there were 747 students enrolled at St. Mary's. When the school its first decade in 1930, there were 1100 students enrolled in grades K-12.

The parish was soon bursting at the seams. The population of Detroit was moving further out towards the suburbs and the area surrounding St. Mary of Redford was transformed from rural farmland to a residential neighborhood. Meanwhile, the quality of St. Mary of Redford School was attracting many families to the parish. Msgr. Cook was reluctant to turn families away and classes were full to overflowing. Msgr. Cook was known to feign ignorance to Sr. Irmina the principal when he had a student he wanted admitted to the school. "Any room in grade nine? No? Surely there must be room for another desk? No? Then, put a peg on the wall. The boy will be satisfied just to hang inside the door. We'll be building soon anyway." (St. Mary of Redford: 1843-1949, pg. 84)

St. Mary of Redford in Detroit (1923)

Many have wondered why St. Mary of Redford is located in Detroit. When the church was originally built on Grand River Avenue, the area belonged to the township of Redford. In time, the church was designated as St. Mary of Redford to distinguish it from what we now call "Old St. Mary's" in Greektown. In 1923, during the great expansion of the parish, the city of Detroit expanded and came to encompass what was once part of Redford. Thus St. Mary of Redford became part of the city of Detroit.

The Present Church (1927)

The parish was growing rapidly. Msgr. Cook bought out the rest of the block so that the school could expand. The brick church could no longer accommodate all the families who were coming to St. Mary of Redford. It was time to build a new church.

Msgr. Cook contracted with Ralph Adams Cram to draw up plans for St. Mary of Redford. Mr. Cram was a renowned architect and worked on the design of such buildings as St. John the Divine in New York City, the Princeton University Graduate College and Chapel, West Point, and the University of Notre Dame. Since St. Mary of Redford was originally a predominantly French parish, Mr. Cram designed a French Romanesque church. The church was dedicated on October 9th, 1927. The Mansfield St. side of the school was completed in 1939 and in 1947 a convent for the IHM Sisters (the present day Emmanuel House) was added to the left of the church.

We had a Cemetery?

One little known fact is that St. Mary of Redford originally had a cemetery. When the property was purchased in 1843, the deed reads that the property was to be for a church and a cemetery. The original cemetery was located on Grand River and Greenfield. During Fr. Dooling's tenure as pastor in the early 1900's, the parish outgrew the old cemetery and purchased property on Six Mile (McNichols) and Grand River Avenue. The new cemetery was near then Redford High School (now a Meijer) and lasted only a few years. The final burial there was in 1922 and eventually the property was sold and the bodies reinterred at Holy Selpuchre Cemetery on 10 Mile. Meanwhile, the original cemetery was condemned by the city of Detroit in 1926 and the bodies reinterred in Section X of Holy Selpuchre Cemetery. Thus the two parish of cemeteries of St. Mary of Redford have both been incorporated into Holy Selpuchre Cemetery.