Historic Detroit

St. Anthony Cathedral is a shining beacon surrounded by darkness.

All around the proud 1902 Romanesque landmark, burned-out homes and vacant lots dot the landscape. The notorious Packard Plant — which could be the biggest, most infamous case of urban blight in the country - has killed the nearby neighborhoods like a cancer spreading from street to street.

Yet St. Anthony endures.

The beginning

In the 1850s, it became clear that there was a need for a new Catholic parish to serve Detroit’s growing number of German families on the east side.

The congregation began as the St. Anthony mission church and was started by the St. Joseph parish. The first St. Anthony building was finished July 5, 1857, at Gratiot and Centerline Road (today known as Field Street), just a few blocks south of the current church. Father Leopold Pawlowski was its first pastor.

As Detroit’s population continued to explode — growing from 21,019 people in 1850 to 285,704 by 1900 — it became clear that St. Anthony’s parish was going to need a bigger church. A large lot was bought a few blocks away, and on July 18, 1901, Bishop John Samuel Foley laid the cornerstone for the church.

Like many Catholic churches in Detroit, St. Anthony was designed by Donaldson & Meier.

The stately, red-bricked exterior shelters a beautiful sanctuary that features frescoed ceilings and beautiful carved marble altar.

The Archdiocese of Detroit closed St. Anthony in 2006 in a cost-cutting move as the city continued to lose Catholic families, especially on the east side.

Stain Glass Windows - Imported from Insbruck, Austria 1902 The McShane Bell Foundry church bells (from Baltimore, MD 1902 Stations of the Cross - Imported from Munich, Germany 1902

Bishop John Foley laid the cornerstones for both a new church and a rectory in July 1901. The Romanesque-style church by the architectural firm Donaldson & Meier was dedicated on Oct. 12, 1902.