Grosse Pointe Memorial Church

The Grosse Pointe Memorial Church is a church located at 16 Lake Shore Dr. in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. it is a member of the Presbyterian Church, USA . It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1990 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.HistoryDuring the 18th and early 19th centuries, the area that is now the Grosse Pointes was largely Roman Catholic. By the mid-19th century, though, the area was being used more heavily as a summer resort for residents of Detroit, and enough Protestants had moved into the area to warrant their own church. In 1865, a group of Grosse Pointe residents founded the nondenominational Grosse Pointe Protestant Evangelical Church; two years later, the group built a church at the corner of Lake Shore Drive and Kerby on land donated by Rufus Kerby. In 1894, Joseph H. Berry donated land near his home, which encompassed the site of the present church. A second building, known as the "ivy covered church," was built on the site.In 1920, the congregation reorganized as a Presbyterian church. Truman Handy Newberry and his brother John donated nearly $300,000 to the congregation for a new church building, as a memorial to their parents John and Helen. The congregation hired architect W. E. N. Hunter to design the current building, which consists of the church itself and four additional units, constructed between 1923 and 1927. In 1925, the church changed its name to "The Grosse Pointe Memorial Church," reflecting the Newberry's gift. The new sanctutary, built on the site of the ivy-covered church, was dedicated to the original founders of the congregation on May 15, 1927.