[2][5] The German Catholic citizens of Detroit began moving to the west side in the 1860s, particularly along the Michigan Avenue corridor.

[3] In 1867, Bishop Casper Borgess created St. Boniface parish to serve the German population on the west side.

In 1873, a two-story, red brick Italianate rectory building was built for the parish at a cost of $6,000.

[3] A stone church building was planned by the prominent local architect William M. Scott, and construction was completed in 1883 at a cost of $30,000.

It had a modified hip-roof with cross-gabled dormers and a bracketed corniceline, an open gabled portico, and rectangular and round arch window enframements.