German Catholics in the city had been among the most faithful supporters of St. Andrew's Parish, but by 1855 their number had so greatly increased that they aspired to have their own church. Joseph Emmer and his friends, Hubert Hauser and Joseph Finkler, went to their pastor, Father Van Paemel, who gave them his personal encouragement and promised the support of the mother parish of St. Andrew. Organization meetings were held every Sunday at Mr. Emmer's Canal Street house. A canvass was made of the German Catholics of Grand Rapids and were enthusiastically joined by more families from Alpine who came to town behind their ox-teams to attend Sunday Mass. Three hundred dollars were quickly subscribed for the purchase of land at the corner of First Street and Broadway Avenue and to this Father Van Paemel and Father Van Erp each contributed fifty dollars. St. Andrew's parishioners presented them with no less than $926 to be applied on the building of the new church. This was soon erected, a frame structure 30 feet wide and 75 feet long, and in it the first sacrifice of Holy Mass was offered by Father VanPaemel. The Bishop of Detroit, the Most Reverend Peter Paul Lefevre, announced the appointment of the Rev. Mathias Marco as first pastor of St. Mary's Parish.

On September 18, 1857, Father Marco assumed his pastoral responsibilities. The first church committee, Messrs. Louis Maven, Peter and Caspar Wuerzburg, Frank Berles, Joseph Emmer, Adam Schichtel, Ferdinand Eichoff, and Frank Vogt, engaged with the Bishop of Detroit to support their pastor with $300 per year and provide him with rooms and necessary furnishings. In 1858, a "priest-house" was built in 1858 with a total cash outlay of $35 as most of the labor and materials were donated. Beyond his parish in Grand Rapids, Father Marco had the care of souls in Alpine, Wright, Salem, Dorr, Byron and Odessa. Before being relieved of his tremendous burden of seven churches and retiring to his native Germany, Father Marco led a popular movement which resulted in the erection in St. Andrew's Cemetery of a monument to the memory of the beloved Father Viszoczky.

In fairly rapid succession, Father Allgeyer and the Rev. Henry Berhorst followed Father Marco in the pastorate at St. Mary's and its dependent churches in nearby towns.

Their attention was then directed toward Catholic education in the new parish. A Mr. Turner offered a small house, rent-free for one year, conveniently located. A tuition fee was fixed at $1 per year and $25 was to be paid each month to the teacher. Laymen did the teaching with Fr. Allgeyer, making occasional visits. The next pastor, Fr. Berhorst, secured the services of the teaching Sisters of Notre Dame. On August 6, 1866, the Sisters arrived in Grand Rapids and took possession of a house purchased for them by the congregation. They lived on the ground floor and turned the upper story into classrooms. By 1884 the Polish Catholics had constructed a school of their own, so their children withdrew from St. Mary's School.

Even so, by 1891 the number of pupils had so increased that the construction of a new school was undertaken.A temporary pastor, Father Schmitt, pushed the work to early completion so that Bishop Richter could dedicate the new school on February 21, 1892. The support of the parish school lay so on the consciences of everyone in the parish, whether or not he had children in the school and the resultant support enabled the children of St. Mary's to go to school without payment of any fees. It was during the pastorate of Father Berhorst that the frame church was found to be far too small. Fund raisers were held and one of the most successful was a picnic which brought a profit of $900 to the building fund. Land was purchased next to the rectory. Fr. Schmitt had so overworked himself that he resigned.

Four years after his successor, Fr. Joseph Ehrenstrasser (1874) arrived, the new church was solemnly blessed by the Most Rev. Caspar Borgess, Bishop of Detroit. Of Gothic-style architecture, the new St. Mary's Church is 142 feet long, 60 feet wide and 52 feet high. Ten years later the bell tower was completed- over 200 feet high. The Catholic Poles had attended St. Mary's Church, just as the Germans of St. Mary's had attended St. Andrew's. By 1872, their numbers were such that they could not well be accommodated in St. Mary's and aspired to have a parish of their own. The Dutch Catholics stayed five years longer with St. Mary's than did the Poles and it was only in 1887 that they withdrew to form a new parish, building a church, St. Joseph's, on Rumsey Street. As the pastors before, Fr. Ehrenstrasser continued to serve many missions beyond his parish.

The following list gives an idea of the many missions the early priests served: Allegan, Alpine, Berlin, Big Rapids, Byron, Casnovia, Cedar Springs, Chester, Croton, Dorr, Eastmanville, Hastings, Hilliards, Holland, Ionia, Leaton, Maple Valley, Morley, Newaygo, Paris, Reed City, Saginaw, Sand Lake, Spring Lake, Remus and Wright.

In 1883, the Diocese of Grand Rapids was formed from the Diocese of Detroit under the care of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Also, the Most Rev. Henry Joseph Richter, himself a German-American Catholic, was raised to be first Bishop of Grand Rapids. Fr. Ehrenstrasser, in 1885, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and died shortly after his return to St. Mary's. Fathers Joseph Sewick and John Schmitt came in rapid succession and under Fr. Schmitt the fine school was completed.

The Very Rev. Joseph Benning came in 1893 and when he resigned to join the Capuchin Fathers, his place was taken by the Rev. Joseph Schrembs, pastor of St. Mary's of West Bay City. A badly needed rectory was erected during his pastorate.

About 1904, a model convent replaced the old house that the Sisters had been using. In 1907, St. Mary's parishioners celebrated the Golden Jubilee and in 1957, its 100th year. At Monsignor Schrembs' elevation to the Episcopate in 1911, the Rev. Joseph Vogel became pastor. He was succeeded in 1918 by Rev. John Schmitt, formerly of St. Andrew's, Grand Rapids. When Fr. Schmitt died in 1921, the Rev. John Reese was appointed pastor. At his death in 1940, the Rev. Bernard Hansknecht, was appointed pastor of St. Mary's Parish. The following are a list of German immigrants who belonged to St. Andrew's Parish and took an active part in the formation of St. Mary's Parish in 1856:

Simon Amend

Hubert Hauser

N. Arlet

John Hoffman

Frank Berles

Joseph Jackoboice

John Bock

Sebastian Klaiber

John Braunschneider

Conrad Klaiber

Joseph Clemens

John Kuehnnen

Matthew Daum

Frank Kaiser

Eberhard Druecke

William Koch

Jacob Ebener

T. Kruse

Joseph Emmer

John Lange

Ferdinand Eickoff

Louis Martin

Joseph Finkler

Ferdinand Mirlenbring

John Green

J. Naegele

Charles Greulich

Bernard Orth

William Hake

Andrew Poposki

Jacob Pogozinski

Julius Pulte

T. Rusche

Michael Stang

John Schmidt

Clemens Schenkelberg

Caspar Schenkelberg

Anton Theile

J. Tinkeler

William Tennes

Peter Vollpert

Francis Vogt

Caspar Wuerzburg

Frank Wuerzburg

Peter Wuerzburg