St. Mary's Church Complex Historic District | |
 St. Mary Church from across theRiver Raisin | |
  Location within the state of Michigan Show map of Michigan St. Mary's Church Complex Historic District (Monroe, Michigan) (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Location | East Elm Avenue andNorth Monroe Street Monroe, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 41°55′08″N83°23′48″W / 41.91889°N 83.39667°W /41.91889; -83.39667 |
| Area | 60 acres (24 ha) |
| Built | 1834; 191 years ago (1834) |
| NRHP reference No. | 82002855[1] |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1982 |
TheSt. Mary's Church Complex Historic District is ahistoric district located at the junction of Elm Avenue and North Monroe Street (M-125) in the city ofMonroe, Michigan. It was listed as aMichigan Historic Site[2] and added to theNational Register of Historic Places on May 6, 1982.[1]
The complex consists of four buildings. The centerpiece of the district is St. Mary Church at 117 North Monroe Street. The church traces its origins to St. Antoine aux Rivière Raisin, which was founded by ethnic French Canadians on October 15, 1788. It is the oldest church inMonroe County. The current site was constructed in 1834,consecrated in 1839, and renamed in 1845. That year, the church fell under the leadership of theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit.
TheSisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) was founded in Monroe the same year.[3] Its first Mother Superior was Theresa Maxis Duchemine, an African-American woman of Haitian descent who was born in Baltimore. She was a founding member there of theOblate Sisters of Providence, the first African-American religious order in the United States. Catholic churches had been founded in the 18th century by French Canadians in the Detroit area and across the Detroit River in Canada.
In 1846, St. Mary Academy, an all-girls educational facility, was built down the road from the church. Monroe Catholic Central was an all-boys school built next to the main church. These two schools merged in 1986 to form the coeducationalSt. Mary Catholic Central (SMCC) high school. It was based in the Monroe Catholic Central building, which had been expanded next to the church at 108 West Elm Avenue. The school continues to operate at that site. It is the largest building in the historic district and the largest private school in the county.[2]
The original church building was not changed from its completion in 1839 until it was expanded in 1903. he Brothers of the Holy Cross residential building was constructed in 1870. The St. Mary Parochial Elementary School was completed in 1903. The currentrectory was added to the north side of the church in the 1920s. Each of these buildings has its own unique architecture.[2] Except for some additions to the SMCC building, the remaining buildings in the complex have remained largely unchanged since the 1920s.
The St. Mary's Church Complex Historic District is bordered to the west by Borgess Avenue, to the north by West Willow Street, to the south by Elm Avenue, and to the east by North Monroe Street (M-125). It occupies an area of about 60 acres (24 hectares). The district is located across Elm Avenue from theGeorge Armstrong Custer Equestrian Monument and across North Monroe Street from theEast Elm-North Macomb Street Historic District. The church complex is also located just across theRiver Raisin from theOld Village Historic District.
Media related toSaint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church (Monroe, Michigan) at Wikimedia Commons
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| Footnotes | ‡This historic property also has portions in an adjacent county. | |
Religious landmarks inmetropolitanDetroit | ||
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This includes houses of worship, but does not include schools. | ||
| Religious landmarks along Woodward Ave. (address #) |
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| City (alsoHamtramck) |
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| Suburban |
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See also:Architecture of metropolitan Detroit | ||
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