On May 25, 1924, when Kościół Świętego Jacka (now better known as St. Hyacinth Church) was blessed by Bishop Michael J. Gallagher, the area of McDougall and Farnsworth, where the church is located, was thriving. The evidence of it is clear: to replace a much smaller church constructed in 1908, “Jackowianie” were able to build a new, impressive Byzantine style church in only two years, at the cost of $300,000.
Almost 101 years later Polish Americans feel fortunate that the beautiful, historic church is still standing and serving people, despite how drastically the surrounding neighborhood has changed.
The downfall of the neighborhood happened gradually. As we read in the church’s history, already in the 1940s “(…) Bishop Woznicki appealed to Poles to retain their family name, rather than changing it; a practice which was becoming more prevalent. He also cautioned the parishioners not to flee to the suburbs, but to stay in the parish neighborhood.” (from: https://www.historicdetroit.org/buildings/st-hyacinth-roman-catholic-church#:~:text=Hyacinth%20Church%20and%20School%20building,new%20structures%20in%20the%20area.)
There are many well-known causes that contributed to the blight that for a long time was synonymous with this Detroit neighborhood. The white flight that followed the riots of 1967 and the construction of the General Motors Poletown plant, which in 1981 destroyed a large part of the already struggling area, are just two such major causes.
But the blight is a thing of the past.
During recent years almost all of the burned-out houses were removed, many lots were cleaned up, and some – not many yet – new inhabitants moved in. A few of them bought abandoned houses for just a few hundred, or few thousand dollars. Then urban gardening and farming appeared, followed by the creation of many green public spaces.
Three of these new public green urban spaces are right there, in the St. Hyacinth Church’s “back yard”. Two small parks – Treetroit One and Treetroit Two – are located along Elmwood Street, while Field Temple, described as “A beautiful patch of forest to spark joy and increase local biodiversity, offering a place of enjoyment, wildlife habitat, and a naturalized neighborhood amenity”, is at Frederick and Elmwood. The green spaces offer acres of land cleared of debris, made into parks with trees, shrubs, paths and benches. Arboretum Detroit created Treetroit One and Treetroit Two, and Detroit Future City, with the Bank of America and the Kresge Foundation, established Field Temple in 2019.
What encourages us to reflect on the past, is a small column in Treetroit One made of wire fencing and filled with old bricks from the houses that once stood there.
(To see the location of the parks, click on: https://www.arbdetroit.org/parks)
Gentrification stabilized the neighborhood and hopefully will continue to make it more attractive to people who want to live near downtown Detroit.
It also made the area more welcoming and safer for St. Hyacinth’s parishioners and visitors.
Last September WalletHub compared 100 of the most populated US cities using 28 indicators to determine which are the greenest. In the ranking that considered such factors as reliance on renewable sources of energy, greenhouse gas emissions, air quality, conserving water and gas (public transportation, biking to work, carpooling), green spaces, growing food and buying locally grown produce, availability of farmers’ markets, and others, Detroit placed 92.
Although Detroit still has a long way to go before it becomes a desirable place to live, what is happening in the vicinity of St. Hyacinth Church (and in many other places around Detroit) makes one optimistic about Detroit’s future. The commendable work of St. Hyacinth’s parishioners to keep the parish going and save the church (which has been threatened by the Archdiocese of Detroit with closure) also constitutes a very important part of the efforts to stabilize and preserve the neighborhood and contributes to Detroit’s future.
