I was looking for some detailed information about the West Side Polish Catholic Community. I know there's a Hall of Fame Thread that goes into quite a lot of detail concerning this topic because I was involved in a lot of it as a lurker, mostly. But, I'm interested in some family stories that go back a long way that includes much of the landscape of the Polish Catholic Community. But, this is not just for Polish Catholics from the West Side of Detroit because I'm sure there are lots of people that have no affiliation with either ethnic or religious portions of the thread "Title".

I would just like to dialog with interested members about this topic. I'm interested in some landmarks and "institutions" related to some of the Polish Parishes on the West Side. I tried to delve into the Sanborn Maps to get allot of the information I'm looking for but my hats off to you people that know how to navigate that website. I have access to it and I can spend hours looking for something and never even get close to a map location of a landmark I'm looking for at all. Besides, the human element is lost for me in just getting the analytical data from a website like that.

So, my first area of interest is St. Francis D'Assisi on Wesson and Buchanan. It is a beautiful Catholic complex that is mostly still intact all except for the school which has become "Hope of Detroit Academy". One of my 1st questions from some of you West Siders is do you know how long St. Francis' School existed, what grades it served, i.e.grade school, high school, etc., what order of nuns ran the school, was Polish part of the curriculum, when the school closed down and any other pertinent information related to St. Francis' School? Also, is the "Hope of Detroit Academy" part of the Detroit Public School System and if so what is there purpose and scope?

These are just startes as I have a lot of questions. There's very little on the website related to these questions and there's very little information that I can find about St. Francis D'Assisi at all. If anyone has a Sanborn map of the St. Francis D' Assisi entire complex that would be great and the later the better to include as much of the plant and buildings as currently exists.Is the location of the church geographically located in what was Springwells at one time in the early days of the parish?

Thanks for your help. My busia, babka or babcia for some of you, is just too old to remember these things. And, my dziadzia has been dead for more years than I can remember. Again, thanks.