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Ste. Anne de Detroit Catholic Church

Ste. Anne Roman Catholic Church Complex
Ste Anne de Detroit.jpg
Location 1000 Ste. Anne Street
Detroit, Michigan
Coordinates 42°19′14.83″N 83°4′36.16″W / 42.3207861°N 83.0767111°W / 42.3207861; -83.0767111Coordinates: 42°19′14.83″N 83°4′36.16″W / 42.3207861°N 83.0767111°W / 42.3207861; -83.0767111
Built 1886-1887
Architect Albert E. French
Architectural style Classical Revival, Late Gothic Revival
NRHP Reference # 76001040
Added to NRHP June 03, 1976

Ste. Anne de Détroit (Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit), founded July 26, 1701, is the second oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States, established when the area was part of the French colony. The current Gothic Revival cathedral styled church, built in 1886, is located at 1000 Ste. Anne Street in Detroit, Michigan, in the Richard-Hubbard neighborhood, near the Ambassador Bridge, and the Michigan Central Station. Historically, the parish community has occupied eight different buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The main entry to the Church faces a grand tree-lined, brick paved plaza. The present parish is largely Hispanic in population.

Ste. Anne's church was the first building constructed in Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, which later developed as the city of Detroit. Cadillac and a party of French colonists arrived at the bank of the Detroit River on July 24, 1701. They began construction of a church on July 26, 1701, the feast day of Saint Anne (sainte Anne). The parish was founded and named by the settlers in honor of the patron of France, Saint Anne, mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. Nicholas Constantine del Halle, a Franciscan, and François Vaillant, a Jesuit, were the two priests who accompanied the group. Vaillant returned east to Quebec in the fall.

Native Americans set the church on fire in 1703, which destroyed part of the fort including the church, the rectory, and the baptismal records. A new church building was built in 1704. The oldest surviving church records date to this time, with the first record on February 2, 1704 being the baptism of a child born to Cadillac. Father del Halle was kidnapped by local Native Americans, likely the historic Ojibwe of the area. After his release, as he walked back to the fort, he was shot and killed by an Indian. His remains were buried under the altar of Ste. Anne's and have been moved four times since to the succeeding new church buildings.


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