St. Albertus Roman Catholic Church

About this property

St. Albertus Roman Catholic Church is in the Forest Park neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The rise of Detroit brought a number of Polish immigrants into the city in the 19th century; by the mid-1850s, the number of Polish families who had settled in the city was significant. These Polish immigrants were primarily from the Prussian-controlled sections of the partitioned Poland, and naturally settled in and near the German-speaking sections of Detroit. They were joined, after the American Civil War, by Kashubian immigrants from what is now northwestern Poland. Many of these Poles and Kashubians first attended St. Joseph's, which was at the time a German-speaking church. However, the Polish congregants were dissatisfied, and agitated for a Polish church. In 1870, aided by Father Simon Wieczorek, the Poles took steps to organize their own parish. They organized the St. Stanislaus Kostka Society and, with the blessing then-administrator Bishop Caspar Borgess, began to collect funds to build a church. In 1871, St. Albertus Parish was organized with three hundred or so Polish families. That same year, the parish purchased a plot of land, 100 feet wide and 270 feet deep, on the western side of St. Aubin Avenue and what is now East Canfield Street. They hired architect John Wiesenhoffèr, and construction of a frame church began in 1872. The church was dedicated to St. Wojciech; early pastors borrowed the erroneous Latin equivalent Adalbertus, which is St. Albertus or St. Albert in English. The establishment of St. Albertus led to an influx of Poles into the immediate neighborhood in order to be close to the church. This influx resulted in Detroit's first Polish neighborhood, known among Detroiters as "Poletown". St. Albertus went through four pastors until, in 1882, the charismatic Father Dominic Hippolytus Kolasinski was appointed to the post. Appealing to his parishioners' national pride, he urged the construction of a larger church. The parish contracted architect Henry Engelbert to design a church to seat 2500 people, and the Spitzely Brothers of Detroit to build it for a cost of $61,000. Construction began in 1883, and the church was dedicated on July 4, 1885. At the time, St. Albertus was the largest Catholic church in Michigan, and was the first in the City of Detroit to feature steam heat and electrical lighting. Unfortunately, Kolasinski was a very controversial priest, and in November 1885 the parish became factionalized which resulted in his suspension. Kolasinski initially refused to leave his post, appealing his suspension to the bishop. However, pressure was brought to bear, and Kolasinski eventually left Detroit for a pastorate in the Dakota Territory.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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