St. Francis Xavier School

St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church was founded in the city of Ecorse in 1848. A wood frame church was built along the river and served the downriver community until a new one was built in 1882 facing High Street. In 1924 an elementary school was built on West Outer Drive, which opened with an enrollment of 200. An addition in 1932 added capacity for a high school program.

Ground was broken on a new church sanctuary in July of 1951. The $360,000 sanctuary could seat up to 1,100. The new St. Francis Church opened in the fall of 1953.

St. Francis Xavier High School closed at the end of the 1969 school year. The grade school continued to operate but later closed as well. In later years the school was used as a training facility for U.S. Steel and a day care center before being abandoned.

St. Francis merged with Our Lady of Lourdes in 2011 to become Saint André Bessette Church.