It was located at the intersection of Hurd St. and Moore St., now part of the West Side Market parking lot, in the Ohio City neighborhood.

The location where the church once stood can be found, in an 1881 atlas, at the south-west corner of Hurd St. and Moore St., on the west bank of the Cuyahoga river above part of the Flats historically known as Ox Bow Bend.

[3] George Francis Houck, Chancellor of the Diocese of Cleveland, wrote that, the Catholic French population, unlike the Catholics of other nationalities in Cleveland, was neither large enough nor closely grouped, to form an exclusively French language parish, but lived scattered throughout the city and attended a church nearest to them.

Bishop Louis Amadeus Rappe, full of zeal for the spiritual welfare of all his flock, resolved to organize a French national parish and bring them together as best he could.

Two years after the purchase of the lot Father Andrew Sauvadet was appointed pastor of all the French people of Cleveland, and under his direction a plain but commodious frame church was built, which was opened for divine service for the first time on the third Sunday of October, 1870, and placed under the patronage of St. Mary of the Annunciation.

This was by no means an easy task, as with the financial depression, then still existing, and the poverty of many of his people, he had hard work to meet even the current expenses of the parish.

Gerardin succeeded in putting aside from the annual parish income a fair sum to serve as the nucleus for a building fund.