A German Catholic settlement since 1836

The village of Westphalia, on the west side of the county, is one of Michigan’s oldest and most distinctive German communities. It was founded in 1836 by a small group of German Catholic families from the Westphalia region of Germany, who sailed to America, walked inland along the old Dexter Trail, and bought 560 acres of Clinton County farmland — naming their new home after the homeland they’d left. It became the first German Catholic settlement in central Michigan, and St. Mary’s Parish, founded in 1837, was the first German-speaking Catholic parish in this part of the state.

Nearly two centuries later, that heritage still defines the place. The community is built around St. Mary’s Church — a striking stone church that seats a thousand and is often named among the most beautiful Catholic churches in Michigan — and the surrounding township remains a tight-knit farming community with deep German Catholic roots and traditions like the St. Mary Fourth of July picnic.

St. Mary’s is at 201 N. Westphalia Street; you can learn more at stmarychurch.net.