1955 Seventy years ago, Detroit demonstrated that achieving both urban renewal and historic preservation was possible.
To make way for a new civic center development while the since-demolished Ford Auditorium (left) was being constructed, over a four-month period, the 6 million-ton (center) was moved 800 feet eastward on a complex arrangement of steel rollers to the current location next to the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel entrance. Its original location was near the Vernors bottling plant on Woodward Avenue south of Jefferson Avenue.
The Gothic revival limestone church was dedicated in 1849 as a free nondenominational place of worship for transient sailors pursuant to the will of Julia Ann Anderson, the widow of Fort Detroit commander Col. John Anderson. For years, its doors were kept open by renting out the bottom floor to retail tenants.
Originally, plans were to raze the church to build the civic center; however, a fundraising campaign led by Detroit News writer and church trustee George W. Stark saved the historic structure. During the excavation, a bricked-up tunnel used by runaway slaves as part of the Underground Railroad was discovered in the basement. With money left over from the relocation fundraising effort, stained-glass windows and a bell tower were added and dedicated in 1957.
In 1976, Canadian troubadour Gordon Lightfoot released the ballad “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” about the ship’s 1975 sinking, whose lyrics include: “In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed / In the Maritime Sailors’ Cathedral / The church bell chimed till it rang 29 times / For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Every year in November, to mark the anniversary of the tragedy, a special service is held there.
Today, Mariners’ Church continues to offer services following the Anglican tradition without requiring membership.
This story originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of Detroit magazine. To read more, pick up a copy of Detroit at a local retail outlet. Our will be available on March 10. Plus, find even more The Way It Was articles at hourdetroit.com.
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