Sacred Heart Major Seminary - History

History

On Sept. 11th, 1919, Bishop Michael James Gallagher established the Sacred Heart Seminary at Martin Place in Detroit. This first incarnation of the seminary offered the first two years of high school. Junior and senior classes were added the next two years, and the first class graduated in 1922; college-level classes were added in the fall. Enrollment outstripped the capacity of Martin Place, and in February 1923 construction was begun on a new facility at the corner of Chicago Boulevard and Linwood. The new building opened on September 22, 1924. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The seminary building is built in the English Tudor Gothic architectural style, with stained glass windows designed by Margaret Bouchez Cavanaugh. The Seminary and chapel contains the largest collection of Pewabic tile in Michigan. Major donors to the construction of the seminary included prominent Detroit families such as the Fishers, Crowleys and Van Antwerps.

The first college class graduated in 1926; these graduates were ordained in 1930. The seminary continued to grow, and by 1959, it became apparent that housing both high school and college programs in one building was infeasible. Construction was begun on another building, the Cardinal Mooney Latin School, on the southeast corner of the seminary grounds. This building was completed in 1963. However, in 1970, the seminary high school was closed, leaving only the college-level program. In 1980, the Seminary charter was expanded to offer associate, bachelor and graduate level degrees. In 1989, Sacred Heart Major Seminary was refounded under Cardinal Edmund Szoka. The first graduate degrees were granted in 1993.