Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church - Detroit

A couple weeks ago, I took pictures of St. Josaphat in Detroit.  When I did that I noticed a couple of other churches in the area, so I wanted to take pictures of those some day.  I was heading up to Troy today, so I had my chance since I had a little time to kill.

I saw the first church as I first turned down Mack Avenue.  It didn't look like a Catholic Church and I thougth maybe it was a Lutheran Church.
 It turns out that the church is called Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church.  And probably the reason it looks like a Lutheran Church is that it was built by German Catholics.
 This church was the third German Catholic Church and was built in 1875.  It would served the German community until shortly after World War I as the Germans started to move out and the African Americans moved in.
 It was officially considered an African-American Catholic Church in 1938.  At this time the Congregation numbered around 1500 and they even had a school.
 After World War II, I-75 was constructed in this area which displaced many of the parishioners.  In 1957, the schools were closed.
In 1975, it was registered as a State Historic site and in 1980, it was designated as a National Historic Place.  It still serves weekly masses.

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