St. Joseph's Church began as a missionary church during the 1850s, with priests from Adrian, Clinton, Manchester, Tecumseh, and Monroe serving the parish until the first resident priest arrived in 1954. Irish pioneers built the original church in 1854, and the first Mass was held there in 1863. The tower and stained-glass windows were added in 1911. In 1928, Father Joseph Pfeffer of St. Mary's in Manchester directed an enlargement and remodeling that gave the church its present form, including a new transept and an enlarged nave that created a cruciform plan, while the red tile roof, tower, and interior use of mosaic, tile, and wrought iron gave it a Spanish Mission character. As part of the 1928 expansion, St. Joseph's Shrine was designed in inspiration from the grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. Work began in 1932 on fourteen outdoor stations of the cross showing scenes of the Via Dolorosa, the sorrowful way Jesus walked to Calvary. The footpath starts at a replica of Pontius Pilates's palace, passes balconied houses, goes through the judgment gate, and ends at Christ's tomb, with a crucifixion scene sculpted from Carrara marble. Under the supervision of Leo Ouelette, Mexican artisans Dionicio Rodriguez and Ralph Corona sculpted the steps, archways, and railings from wet cement to resemble stone and timber.