The parish of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Ypsilanti was founded by Father Thomas Cullen in 1844. The parish built a small wooden Catholic church on the corner of Cross and Hamilton Streets. In 1858 a brick church replaced the wooden structure. The current church building was built in 1933. In 1865, ground for the first St. John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery was purchased on St. John's Street. Father William DeBever purchased the River Street cemetery land in 1888, and the bodies at the original location were moved to this site. The old cemetery property was sold to the State of Michigan in 1923 to accommodate the expansion of the Normal School. The Sacred Heart Statue at the entrance to the cemetery was erected in 1923 to honor Father Frank Kennedy, who served as pastor at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church for thirty years.