page_title: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church side elevation
context_page_description: The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church is a church located at 13770 Gratiot Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It is commonly known as the Assumption Grotto Church. The church was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1990 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
context_section_description: When German immigrants first came to Detroit in 1830, they arrived in the middle of a cholera epidemic. Avoiding the city, they traveled north along Gratiot, settling in an area where a handful of French Roman Catholics already lived. The Germans established a small settlement named Connor's Creek and built a log church at the site where this church now stands. They called the building Kirchen Wald (Church in the Woods), and Redemptionist missionaries offered Roman Catholic services in the structure. The name was later changed to "Chapel of the Assumption" and later "St. Mary's in the Woods" before being designated the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church."
  In 1847, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church was designated a parish—only the second in what is now Detroit. In 1852, the first full-time pastor, Father Amandus Van Den Driessche from Flanders, Belgium , was assigned to the church. He began building a permanent brick structure, which was completed by the end of 1852 and sat 500. In 1876, Vandendriessche visited France, and was so impressed by the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes that he had a replica of the grotto, designed by Peter Dederichs, created at the church. The grotto was completed in 1881. On April 30, 1882, Pope Leo XIII signed a proclamation granting partial and plenary indulgences for anyone who visited the Grotto and prayed for the propagation of the faith.
  As Detroit grew in the early 20th century, so did the parish. When the 1852 church burned, construction began on a third church in 1907. However, the population continued to grow.  To meet the needs of the larger congregation, the Detroit architect Aloys Frank Herman (in a solo work apart from his longterm partnership Herman and Simons) designed the current church that was built in 1928-1929. and dedicated on September 22, 1929.
caption: Side elevation of church
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