Basilica of Sainte Anne de Détroit (Sainte-Anne-de-Détroit) was founded July 26, 1701 by French colonists in New France, and is the second-oldest continuously operating Roman Catholic parish in the United States. The current Gothic Revival cathedral-styled church, built in 1886, is located at 1000 St. Anne Street in Detroit, Michigan, in the Hubbard-Richard neighborhood, near the Ambassador Bridge, and the Michigan Central Station. At one time it was the seat of a diocese that included French (and later British) territory in Ontario, Canada south of the Detroit River.
Historically, the parish congregation has occupied eight different buildings. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
History
Ste. Anne's church was the first building constructed in Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit. The vicinity developed as the city of Detroit. Cadillac and a party of French colonists arrived at the bank of the Detroit River on July 24, 1701. They began construction of a church on July 26, 1701, the feast day of Saint Anne (sainte Anne). The parish was founded and named by the settlers in honor of the patron of France, Saint Anne, mother of Mary and grandmother of Jesus. Nicholas Constantine del Halle, a Franciscan, and François Vaillant, a Jesuit, were the two priests who accompanied the group. Vaillant returned east to Quebec in the fall. – 1 November 1927), and whose success led to further ecclesiastical commissions in the French Gothic style. Parish records, Detroit building permit number 23, and the final report for the Ste. Anne historic district list Albert E. French as the architect of ultimate responsibility for Ste. Anne de Détroit Catholic Church (1886–1887). Ste. Anne's is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.