The Fort Street Presbyterian Church is located at 631 West Fort Street in

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. It was constructed in 1855, and completely rebuilt in 1877. The church was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1971. Its steeple stands , making it one of the tallest churches in the United States.

Early history

The lot for the church was purchased from Mr. Shadrack and Mary (Stead) Gillett, whose home was located there prior to the construction of the church. The population of Detroit grew rapidly in the 1830s and 1840s, in particular bringing an influx of English Protestants to the city. In 1849, Reverend Robert Kellogg organized the Second Presbyterian Church, with 26 charter members. The congregation met for worship in the old Capitol building until it constructed a church on the corner of Lafayette and Wayne Street the next year.

Construction and reconstruction

In 1852, Albert Jordan and his brother Octavius arrived in Detroit from

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...

, and soon established a place among the leading architects of the city. In the mid-1850s, despite a membership of only 167 people, the Second Presbyterian congregation hired the Jordans to design a new, larger church. The location the congregation picked was on Fort Street just west of downtown; at that time, the area was a popular residential district and home to many prominent citizens who were also members of the congregation, such as Russell A. Alger, James F. Joy ( Henry B. Joy's father), Theodore S. Buhl, Henry D. Shelden, and

Zachariah Chandler Zachariah Chandler (December 10, 1813 – November 1, 1879) was an American businessman, politician, and one of the founders of the Republican Party, whose radical wing he dominated as a lifelong abolitionist. He was mayor of Detroit, a four-ter ...

. After the move, the congregation changed its name to the ''Fort Street Presbyterian Church''. The original church was completed in 1855 at a cost of $70,000. The construction cost prevented the congregation from fully finishing the interior until 15 years later, when it installed the gallery and pews conforming to the original design. However, the building was destroyed by fire in 1876, completely demolishing the interior, destroying the roof, and sending the spire crashing onto Fort Street. The church was rebuilt according to the original

architectural plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

s the following year being completed on June 10, 1877. Another major fire in 1914 again destroyed the roof, but the church was again rebuilt, and it remains as it had been designed by the Jordan brothers in the mid-1850s. Upon completion, the current church with its steeple at ranked as the tallest building in the city and state from 1877 to 1909, and is among the tallest churches in the United States.

Architecture

The Fort Street Presbyterian Church is an ornately detailed

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

structure built of limestone ashlar from Malden, Ontario. The facade features a tall square tower with spire on one side with a shorter octagonal turret (modeled after

King's College Chapel King's College Chapel is the chapel of King's College in the University of Cambridge. It is considered one of the finest examples of late Perpendicular Gothic English architecture and features the world's largest fan vault. The Chapel was bu ...

in Cambridge) on the other. A central stained glass window illuminates the sanctuary. There are seven bays along the side of the church with flying buttresses, crocketed finials, lacy stonework and tall windows, designed to give the impression of lightness. The interior of the sanctuary features a three-aisle nave and a horseshoe balcony capable of seating almost 1,000 people. The pews are of hand-carved black walnut and the baptismal font is constructed of

Caen stone Caen stone () is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ...

, supported by

onyx Onyx is a typically black-and-white banded variety of agate, a silicate mineral. The bands can also be monochromatic with alternating light and dark bands. ''Sardonyx'' is a variety with red to brown bands alternated with black or white bands. ...

columns imported from Mexico. Tiles dotting the stone floor are early works of

Mary Chase Perry Stratton Mary Chase Perry Stratton (March 15, 1867 – April 15, 1961) was an American ceramic artist. She was a co-founder, along with Horace James Caulkins, of Pewabic Pottery, a form of ceramic art used to make architectural tiles. Biography Stra ...

, founder of

Pewabic Pottery Pewabic Pottery is a ceramic studio and school in Detroit, Michigan. Founded in 1903, the studio is known for its iridescent glazes, some of which grace notable buildings such as the Shedd Aquarium and Basilica of the National Shrine of the I ...

. The solid brass lectern, in the shape of an eagle, was exhibited at the 1893

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The church organ was built in 1914 by Wangerian-Weickhardt, and contains 3,253 pipes ranging in length from 1/4 inch to 16 feet. It incorporates a small portion of the original 1855 organ.

Significance

The Fort Street Presbyterian Church exemplifies an important step in the rise of "revivalist" architecture in 19th-century America. American architects of the mid-19th century imported and re-interpreted the English

style, based on the visually lush details of Medieval cathedrals. The American architects copied the "Gothic" elements and combined them with simple building plans to create an American architectural style known as "

Victorian Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

". The Jordan brothers subscribed to this ethic, and their Fort Street Presbyterian Church, as well as being one of Michigan's oldest churches, is a premier example of Victorian Gothic architecture. The church has remained essentially unchanged despite fires there in 1877 and 1914.

Later history

In the early 20th century, the church began focusing more on social service programs, as people of more modest incomes moved into the surrounding, formerly aristocratic, area.War and Turmoil
from Fort Street Presbyterian Church In 1908, James Joy donated property adjoining the church, and Mrs. Oren Scotten gave $50,000 to pay for the construction of the Church House. This enabled the church to minister to the newer congregants, and the church used the gymnasium in the Church House as a kind of "health club," enrolling men, women, and children in gym classes. The church also sponsored one of the first

Boy Scout A Scout, Boy Scout, Girl Scout or, in some countries, a Pathfinder is a participant in the Scout Movement, usually aged 10–18 years, who engage in learning scoutcraft and outdoor and other special interest activities. Some Scout organizatio ...

troops west of the Alleghenies.Tribulations
from Fort Street Presbyterian Church Membership grew steadily up through the middle of the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

; however, membership, revenue, and attendance fell off afterward. In the early 1940s, plans were afoot to close the expensive church and perhaps pool with other congregations to open a combined church elsewhere in the city. However,

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

intervened. During the war, the church converted the gymnasium of the Church House into a dormitory for servicemen who were arriving at Fort Street Union Depot located across Third Street. By the war's end, the church had provided transient accommodations for 60,000 men.

References

External links

*
Fort Street Presbyterian Church
home page
“Miracle on Fort Street”

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, The Walter J. Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia,

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{{Religious landmarks in metropolitan Detroit Churches completed in 1877 Towers completed in 1877 Churches in Detroit Bell towers in the United States English-American history Towers in Michigan Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan 19th-century Presbyterian church buildings in the United States Religious organizations established in 1849 Presbyterian organizations established in the 19th century Presbyterian churches in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites 1849 establishments in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Detroit