DETROIT'S WEST SIDE (WXYZ) — A fire raced through a century-old church on Detroit's side overnight. Detroit firefighters moved fast to save as much history at St. Agnes Church as they could.
7 News Drone footage shows damage at historic Detroit church after fire
A witness sent us a video in the report below, showing huge flames shooting into the air. This happened at the now-closed church, along Rosa Parks and West Bethune Street, near Henry Ford Hospital and the Motown Museum.
Watch Sarah Michals' video report:
St. Agnes Church and Rectory burned for over an hour. The rectory building is a complete loss, and residents came outside around 1 a.m. to see both of these historic buildings on fire.
"It was just some big flames. Very hot ... big flames," said Victoria Braxton, who lives nearby. "We seen it spread from one building to the next building. It was sad...it’s horrible, it has a lot of history."
"You see the grass is still being cut, to walk outside like this, this is really devastating, for real," said Ashlie Cummings. "Come now, they're trying to build Detroit back up."
About 40 firefighters took an hour to get the two-alarm fire under control.
Crews sprayed the church's roof to keep the fire from spreading. Some of the inside did get damaged, but Senior Chief Craig Binder with the Detroit Fire Department is hoping the quick and aggressive response helped save the historic structure.
"Looks like some of the rafters and some of the beams have some char, and it did burn through the roof in some spots, but as you see in comparison to the rectory, it turned out pretty well," Senior Chief Binder told us.
Photo courtesy: Photog: Detroiturbex.com, Site: historicdetroit.org
Patricia Montemurri is a retired Catholic church journalist who has covered all aspects of the church from the pews here in Detroit, all the way to the Vatican.
She met us to reflect on St. Agnes' history, sharing that the church opened its doors in 1923.
"It also had a school for many, many years, St. Agnes School and St. Agnes High School," she said.
Montemurri tells us that in the 1970s, Mother Teresa visited the church and announced that she would establish a covenant right here in Detroit. She then visited a second time in the 1980s.
Watch: Hear more about the history of St. Agnes Church in Detroit
"That mass drew more than 1,000 people, Rosa Parks sat right behind Mother Teresa in the sanctuary, and we are on a street that's renamed in Rosa Parks' honor," said Montemurri.
She said over the years, several different property owners have bought the church, with a variety of plans to rehabilitate it. At this time, the future is a mystery, but there's no doubting the past was remarkable.
"In many ways, it represents the city's past and the city's continued attempts at revival and resurgence," she said.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
