Henry Baldwin became a prosperous merchant
shortly after Michigan became a state and long before Detroit developed
into an industrial metropolis.
He served as state governor and as one of the state's senators in Washington.
St. John's parish was founded in 1858. 
Baldwin
was secure enough to purchase this land that was then farmland just northwest
of the city that Judge Woodward laid out.
Albert Jordan was selected as the architect. He and his brother, Octavius, were architects in Hartford, but migrated to the growing city of Detroit in the early 1850s. Albert Jordan quickly became the city leading architect for churches. For St. John's, Jordan designed a Victorian Gothic style church entirely consistent with the Episcopalian expectations of that time; that is, a magnificent Episcopalian church should resemble some of the great churches of England. Jordan built the church with Kelly Island limestone with sandstone trim and then augmented his building with flamboyant stone tracery. This church was completed in 1861, but was moved 60 feet to the east when Woodward was widened 74 years later. The steeple was disassembled and then rebuilt.
If you walk around this church, please observe the architectural detail. Then think about the different stages of the city's long history: this church was completed at the time the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter to defend slavery, the Fox Theater across Woodward representing the greatness and prosperity of Detroit in the 1920s, the Fisher Freeway from the 1960s, and then Comerica Park opened in the fourth month of the 21st century.
Architect and Builder: Albert Jordan
Completed: 1861
State Historical Register: Number P 25228, Listed June 10, 1987
State Historical Marker Registered: October 3, 1988
National Historical Register: Listed August 3, 1982
This is a pre-Civil War building.
Photo: Andrew Chandler, July, 2004