Religion
Lajos Kovács
1877–1927 · Catholic priest, editor
Hungarian Catholic priest who led Delray's Holy Cross Hungarian parish in the 1920s and drove the building of its landmark neo-Gothic church, dedicated in 1925.
- Born
Nagykanizsa, Hungary- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 49- Birth name
- Kovács Lajos
- Also known as
- Rev. Louis Kovacs · Louis von Kovacs · Járdánházi Kovács Lajos
- Detroit years
- 1921–1927
- Field
- Religion
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kovács was ordained in Hungary in 1900 and came to the United States in 1905 to serve Hungarian immigrant parishes, working in New Jersey, New York, Indiana and elsewhere. He arrived in Detroit to become pastor of Holy Cross, the Hungarian Catholic parish of Delray, the industrial riverside district known as Detroit's Little Hungary. Holy Cross had outgrown its 1906 frame church, and Kovács led the fundraising for a new building. The cornerstone of the neo-Gothic church designed by Henrik Kohner was laid in November 1924, and it was dedicated in September 1925 in the presence of Detroit's mayor and bishop. In 1925 and 1926 he also edited the Hungarian Catholic weekly Katholikus Őrszem. He died in Detroit in 1927, aged 49, and was buried beside his mother in Connellsville, Pennsylvania.
Highlights
- Pastor of Holy Cross Hungarian parish, Delray
- Led fundraising for the church dedicated in September 1925
- Edited the weekly Katholikus Őrszem, 1925–1926
- Buried in Connellsville, Pennsylvania
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Worked here · 1921–1927
Holy Cross Hungarian Catholic Church
Delray's Hungarian Catholic church; the present neo-Gothic building by Henrik Kohner was dedicated in 1925 and still holds Sunday Mass in Hungarian.