St. Mary's of Redford

St. Mary's of Redford was established in 1843 as a mission parish to serve what was, at the time, a rural area. For the first decade, the parish was led by visiting priests and it was not until 1857 that the parish had a full-time pastor. The original church and rectory were destroyed by fire, on separate occasions, in 1857 and both cases were believed to be arson. A second church was built in 1860.

The second church. source

A parish school was finished in 1920 and staffed by IHM Sisters. The parish grew rapidly during the 1920s and they sought to build a larger church. The pastor reached out to architect Albert Kahn but Kahn declined and referred the pastor to Ralph Adams Cram. Cram accepted the offer and he later went on to design St. Florian Church.

Groundbreaking took place on May 1, 1925 with construction done by the firm of Talbot-Meier. The granite church was dedicated by Bishops Plagens on October 12, 1927.

St. Mary's continued to grow to the point that the parish started additional chapels in the 1950s. These two chapels eventually became separate parishes and later closed in 1989: Mother of Our Savior (1959 - 1989) and Our Lady Queen of Hope (1965 - 1989), respectively.

Madonna with Child stands in the ambulatory. The altar table appears to be repurposed from the original communion rail since it matches size, shape, and style of those remaining at the side altars.

Elaborate, gothic-inspired side altars dedicated to Mary and Joseph. This gilded, gothic-inspired style is similar to the high altar at St. Florian.

The tabernacle is located in the east transept at the Sacred Heart altar.

Elaborate windows, depicting Jesus and the Blessed Mother, are found on the east side of the nave and above the choir loft.

Bright, pastel windows are found in the clerestory.

In the west side of the nave, depictions of saints are found along alcoves.

Symbols of the four evangelists are found in the vestibule.

Daily Mass is held in a side chapel on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 8:30am.

Saturday Vigil Mass is 4:00pm preceded by confession at 3:15pm. Sunday Mass is at 8:30am  (no choir) and 11:00am (with choir). Fr. Tyrone Robinson is the current pastor as well as Vicar for the Trinity Vicariate.

Parish website (including detailed history): St. Mary's of Redford
History of the school: IHM Sisters
For more photos: Flickr & AOD Film Services