[1] Designed by German-born Peter Dederichs and built for the formerly ethnic German parish of the 19th century, it is located at 646 Monroe Street in what is now considered the heart of the Greektown Historic District in downtown Detroit.

[2] The convent was demolished in the early 2000s and replaced with a community center designed to resemble the 1841 church building.

The parish was founded in 1834 by Father Martin Kundig to serve the German-speaking Catholic immigrants who settled in this part of the city.

The first church was constructed in 1841 at this site on land sold to Bishop Peter Paul LeFevere for one dollar by Antoine and Monica Beaubien, two of the area's early ethnic French settlers.

[4] In the early twentieth century, Father Joseph Wuest, Pastor of Old St. Mary's, had three grottos constructed at the rear of the church.

Older members of the church say that Father Wuest collected the rocks he used in the construction during a trip to Lourdes, France.

On the opposite side of the church is the third grotto, which depicts the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before the crucifixion of Jesus.

A striking feature of the church interior are the ten polished granite columns that divide the main and side aisles.