On July 26th, 2009 St. John's Episcopal Church of Detroit is going to be having a Founders Day Celebration in honor of the 150th Anniversary of this parish.
The Dodworth Saxhorn Band will be with us, and we are trying to round up as many reenactors as possible to join us on that Sunday to give a sense of what the Church may have looked like in 1859/1860's.

St. John's was founded by Henry Porter Baldwin, a prosperous merchant and a founder of The Republican Party. He was an active campaigner for President Lincoln, and was later the Governor of Michigan and US Senator. The parish was founded December 27th, 1858 and the chapel opened November 1859. The large Church was completed in 1861. Both buildings are still in use.
Built when this part of Detroit was farmlands and orchards, the neighborhood has undergone numerous changes, and by the 1980's became quite dilapidated. In the last 10 years the neighborhood has undergone a great revival with renovation of the Fox Theatre and the opening of Comerica Park next door to the Church. The parish itself has undergone a great revival, with attendance going from 45 to 200+ on Sundays in the last 8 years.

I hope that you will join us on Sunday, July 26th for the 10am Service (with the original Episcopal Liturgy and period hymns) and an Ice Cream Social in the garden as the crowds pass by to go to the Tiger Baseball Game. The Media will be present at both the service and social afterwards.

Please pass the word to your friends and fellow reenactors!