On June 1, 1861, the Reverend Amandus Van Den Driessche, from the Detroit Diocese, helped establish a Catholic mission at Utica Junction (now Roseville). The Sacred Heart mission, composed of Irish, German, Belgian and French families, completed its first permanent church, a moderate log structure with seating for 300, in 1864. The mission became a parish in 1872. The next year, the parish purchased land for a cemetery. In 1915 expansion of the Detroit to Port Huron interurban railway necessitated moving the church building to the east. The basement of the current church was constructed in 1930, but the Great Depression and World War II delayed construction of the upper church until 1950.
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