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Redeemer Presbyterian Church

Church of the Redeemer was an Episcopalian church founded in 1887 at the corner of Holden and Fifth Streets. As the the church grew, the congregation built a new sanctuary on West Grand Boulevard and Sterling Streets, across from where Henry Ford Hospital is located today.

In 1920, Church of the Redeemer switched denominations from Episcopalian to Presbyterian due to financial problems. After months of negotiations, Redeemer and Forest Avenue Presbyterian merged and decided to build new church next to the existing West Grand Boulevard location. Both churches were dissolved and reformed as Redeemer Presbyterian. Ground was broken on the new sanctuary in 1922; in March of 1924 the cornerstone was laid, and by December the church was completed. The old church building was converted into offices.

In later years Redeemer Presbyterian became involved in the civil rights movement, protesting the displacement of families due to the construction of the John C. Lodge freeway. Over the objections of parishioners, the church was closed and vacated sometime in 1968. Members of the National Black Economic Development Conference seized the building in June of 1969, demanding that it be renovated and reopened as part of a $500 million dollar reparations package. The occupation lasted less than a week, as the Detroit Presbytery announced that it would look into investing in community groups.

By 1971 the vacant church had been sold to Sweet Home Baptist, who used the newer building for services and the older was converted into a community day care center. The church was vacated again in 2012, as the neighborhood around it was bought by Henry Ford Hospital and demolished to make way for an expansion. Workers began removing the exterior stone work in December of 2016, which is to either be sold or incorporated into the planned cancer center that will be built on the property.