The parish of St. Joseph, the fourth oldest in the Archdiocese of Detroit, dates to the arrival of hardy French pioneers who began about 1790 clearing the dense walnut stands behind the shores of Maumee Bay. Father Gabriel Richard, visiting from Detroit between 1798 and 1820, knew the settlement as St. Joseph de la Baie Miami. A primitive log church built near the bay shore in 1819 was replaced by a frame structure in 1826, and the present church, on a more accessible site, was erected in 1851 and consecrated by Bishop Peter Paul LeFevere in 1852.