Mariner's Church - Detroit, MI
N 42° 19.749 W 083° 02.535
17T E 331736 N 4688342
The Church Bell Chimed 'Til It Rang Twenty-nine Times...
Waymark Code: WM7E04
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 10/11/2009
Views: 16
Text taken from the Michigan Historic Marker:
In 1842, according to the will of Julia Ann Anderson, Mariner's Church was organized to serve the spiritual needs of Great Lakes seamen. Anderson had come to Detroit in 1818 with her husband, John, a brevet lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Topographical Engineers.
Designed by Calvin Otis of Buffalo, NY, the Gothic Revival church was built in 1849 on the northwest corner of Woodward Ave and Woodbridge St. In 1955 the church was moved to make room for the Civic Center Plaza. Hauled 880 feet along steel rails to this site, the 3000 ton limestone structure blocked traffic on Woodward for 21 days.
This church was immortalized in the 1975 ballad "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald" by Gordon Lightfoot as the "cathedral" where "the church bell chimed 'til rang 29 times."
The Mariner's Church is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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