Michigan Stained Glass Census

Michigan Stained Glass Census The Michigan Stained Glass Census, which began in 1992 as part of the Michigan Traditional Arts Program, is a statewide survey of architectural stained glass.

Statewide, community-engaged research project documenting Michigan architectural stained glass coordinated by the Michigan Traditional Arts Program at Michigan State University Outreach and Engagement. With the help of Volunteer Census Takers, the Census is locating, recording, and photographing stained glass windows throughout Michigan. The information collected by Census Takers is maintained in

a computerized archive at Michigan State University. Matrix: Center for Digital Humanities and Social Sciences. The Michigan State University Museum holds a small collection of objects related to Michigan's stained glass history. The Michigan Stained Glass Census is an ongoing project that focuses attention on a long-neglected portion of Michigan's cultural heritage. By researching and recording information about the origins, styles, and subject matter of architectural stained glass, the Census is creating an invaluable resource of visual and documentary material related to Michigan's social, religious, and art history. The Census is also encouraging individuals and groups to better appreciate and preserve the stained glass treasures in their own communities.

The John Monteith Branch of the Detroit Public Library is located at 14100 Kercheval Ave. It was built 1925-1926 and des...
08/30/2026

The John Monteith Branch of the Detroit Public Library is located at 14100 Kercheval Ave. It was built 1925-1926 and designed by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls. Find inside a group of unique stained glass windows of undetermined origin, depicting Mother Goose, the seals of the State of Michigan, the University of Michigan and the City of Detroit, and the coat of arms that Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac created for himself. Its exterior is embellished with sculpture modeled by Corrado Parducci.

Farmington First United Methodist Church at 33112 Grand River Ave was built in 1921 and originally known as First Method...
08/27/2026

Farmington First United Methodist Church at 33112 Grand River Ave was built in 1921 and originally known as First Methodist Episcopal. Wells & Emily Butterfield designed the edifice and the windows were designed by the Beaux Art Studios of Detroit. The Beaux Art Studios were founded by Francois J. Grenier, who worked as an architect in Detroit during the late 1800s and moved to Columbus in 1900s to work for the Von Gerichten Art Glass Co.

Clipping #1: Detroit Free Press, September 4, 1921
Clipping #2: Detroit Free Press, February 18, 1900

Learn more about the stained glass at this site inthe online pages of the Michigan Stained Glass Census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/collections/building.php/id=208-792-440/

Grosse Pointe Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 16 Lake Shore Drive in the city of Grosse Pointe Park. It was b...
08/20/2026

Grosse Pointe Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 16 Lake Shore Drive in the city of Grosse Pointe Park. It was built 1925-1927 and its architect was William E.N. Hunter, a prolific Detroit-based designer of primarily Methodist Episcopal churches. Its construction was largely financed by John Stoughton Newberry and his brother Truman H. Newberry, a past U.S. Senator and Secretary of the United States Navy. Find inside a massive collection of windows designed and fabricated by Willet Studios of Philadelphia, installed between 1927 and 1948. Among these windows are five inscribed with the names and lifespans of a handful of significant historical figures of Detroit and Michigan's past, including...

George Hendrie (1834-1913) and his wife, Sarah Trowbridge Sibley Hendrie (1843-1914), whose name contains the name of three Detroit streets because she was a member of each family for whom those streets were named, including that of her father, Detroit mayor of 1834, Charles C. Trowbridge.

Elizabeth Cass Brush (1825-1913) and her husband, Edmund Askin Brush (1802-1877), for whom Edmund Street is named, and whose father, Colonel Elijah Brush (1773-1813), was the second mayor of Detroit.

Henry Brockholst Ledyard II (1844-1921), a grandson of Michigan's first Territorial Governor, Lewis Cass, who was also a past President and Chairman of the Michigan Central Railroad, and whose father of the same name was Detroit's mayor in 1855.

Almira Strong Lothrop (1823-1894) and her husband, George Van Ness Lothrop (1817-1897), who was Michigan's Attorney General from 1848 to 1851, a Michigan Constitutional Convention delegate in 1867, and the U.S. Minister to Russia from 1885 to 1888.

Louise Chapin Hinchman (1824-1907) and her husband, Theodore Henry Hinchman (1818-1895), who was a Detroit Sewer Commissioner from 1855 to 1860 and a Detroit Fire Commissioner from 1867-1876, and whose grandson, Theodore Henry Hinchman III (1869-1936), was a founding partner of the widely influential Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls, now known as SmithGroup.

Clipping: Detroit Free Press, December 22, 1924

Learn more about the windows at this site in the online pages of the Michigan Stained Glass Census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/.../buil.../id=208-792-276/.

Grosse Pointe Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 16 Lake Shore Drive in the city of Grosse Pointe Park. It was b...
08/18/2026

Grosse Pointe Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 16 Lake Shore Drive in the city of Grosse Pointe Park. It was built 1925-1927 and its architect was William E.N. Hunter, a prolific Detroit-based designer of primarily Methodist Episcopal churches. Its construction was largely financed by John Stoughton Newberry and his brother Truman H. Newberry, a past U.S. Senator and Secretary of the United States Navy. Find inside a massive collection of windows designed and fabricated by Willet Studios of Philadelphia, including two super-unique double doors with 20 panes each, all installed in 1948, telling the story of the Quest for the Holy Grail.

Clipping: Detroit Free Press, December 22, 1924

Learn more about the "Quest for the Holy Grail" doors at this specific address in the online pages of the Michigan Stained Glass Census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/month/month.php/month=01&year=2004/.

Stayed tuned for one more post about this location's stained glass, coming up two days from now.

Grosse Pointe Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 16 Lake Shore Drive in the city of Grosse Pointe Park. It was b...
08/16/2026

Grosse Pointe Memorial Presbyterian Church is located at 16 Lake Shore Drive in the city of Grosse Pointe Park. It was built 1925-1927 and its architect was William E.N. Hunter, a prolific Detroit-based designer of primarily Methodist Episcopal churches. Its construction was largely financed by John Stoughton Newberry and his brother Truman H. Newberry, a past U.S. Senator and Secretary of the United States Navy. Find inside a massive collection of windows designed and fabricated by Willet Studios of Philadelphia, installed between 1927 and 1948.

Clipping: Detroit Free Press, December 22, 1924

Learn more about the windows at this site in the online pages of the Michigan Stained Glass Census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/collections/building.php/id=208-792-276/.

Stayed tuned in the coming days for more about this location's stained glass. One post just won't do.

The First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, formerly known as First Methodist Episcopal, is located at 120 S. State ...
08/14/2026

The First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, formerly known as First Methodist Episcopal, is located at 120 S. State Street and was constructed 1938-1940. It was designed by the Ann Arbor based firm of Fry & Kasurin, with both Detroit's Smith, Hinchman & Grylls and the Board of Church Architecture of New York serving as consulting architects. Its rose window and State Street-facing quadruple lancet window are attributed to the Detroit Stained Glass Works in a comprehensive church history authored by Fay Allen Kincaid and Reba Robinson and published in 1990. A framed, original Fry & Kasurin architectural drawing hangs in the landing of a two-flight stairway inside.

Clipping: Ann Arbor News, November 18, 1938

Learn more about the windows at this site in the pages of the Michigan Stained Glass Census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/collections/building.php/id=208-792-110/.

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is located at 411 Florence Street in the city of Ypsilanti. Its foundation and base...
08/12/2026

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church is located at 411 Florence Street in the city of Ypsilanti. Its foundation and basement were constructed 1923-1924 and its above grade space c.1932-1933. Its architects were McGrath & Dohmen. Numerous windows of undetermined origin beautify its interior, while its exterior is adorned with sculpture modeled by Corrado Parducci of Detroit.

Clipping: Ann Arbor News, September 10, 1932

Learn more about the windows at this site in the online pages of the Michigan Stained Glass census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/collections/building.php/id=208-792-136/.

Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church is located at 14175 Farmington Road in the city of Livonia. According to Michigan Stai...
08/11/2026

Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church is located at 14175 Farmington Road in the city of Livonia. According to Michigan Stained Glass Census archives, it was constructed in 1979 and designed by Merritt McCallum Cieslak Architects. Two triple lancet dalle de verre windows in the north and south transepts are attributed to Willet-Hauser Architectural Glass. Shorty after its er****on, two more windows, clearly of an older stock, were transplanted from Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church (1890-1891) at 4461 28th Street in Detroit. One depicts Christ praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and another Christ knocking at the door. Both images are common to American Protestant churches, their origins traceable to German Lutheranism of the 17th to 19th century.

Learn more about the windows at this site in the online pages of the Michigan Stained Glass Census: https://michiganstainedglass.org/collections/building.php/id=208-792-759/.

First Presbyterian Church of Saline is located at 143 E. Michigan Avenue. It was built 1898-1899 and Spier & Rohns of De...
08/02/2026

First Presbyterian Church of Saline is located at 143 E. Michigan Avenue. It was built 1898-1899 and Spier & Rohns of Detroit were its architects. Numerous art glass windows of undetermined origin beautify it interior.

Clipping: Detroit Free Press, December 4, 1898

Allen Park Presbyterian Church is located at 7101 Park Avenue and was built 1956-1958. It's interior features an expansi...
07/30/2026

Allen Park Presbyterian Church is located at 7101 Park Avenue and was built 1956-1958. It's interior features an expansive collection of stained glass windows designed and fabricated by Willet Studios of Philadelphia, installed in the years immediately following the church's construction. Original blueprints held by the congregation name James B. Morrison as the architect.

Clipping: Detroit Free Press, January 31, 1959

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Michigan Traditional Arts Program
East Lansing, MI
48824

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