In 1640, the Jesuits undertook a missionary journey from Huronia (Georgian Bay) to the land of the Neutrals (Southwestern Ontario). At first they were well received but some Indians believed the priests would bring pestilence and disease among them. They were protected by some Neutrals but after spending the winter made their way back to the Hurons.

Not long after the missionaries returned to Huronia, the Iroquois (from upper New York State, in the Mohawk Valley) attacked the Hurons and practically exterminated the settlement. A few of the Hurons escaped and found refuge among the Ottawas in Upper Michigan.

After the massacre of the Hurons, the Iroquois in 1650 attacked the Neutrals and so complete was the destruction of that tribe that none were left. About the year 1665, the French made peace with the Iroquois and Lake Ontario and Lake Erie were opened for travel.

When Cadillac founded Detroit in 1701, for purposes of fur trade, he invited several Indian tribes to come and make their abodes near the French fort which was named Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit.

Among the Indian tribes which came to Detroit was a remnant of the Hurons and the Ouendots (Wyandottes) from Michilimackinac whose ancestors had been Christianised by the Jesuits in Huronia in the second quarter of the 17th century.

For more than a quarter of a century after the Hurons’ arrival at Detroit the only spiritual ministrations accorded them were supplied by the Recollect (Franciscan) chaplain of the fort at the Church of Ste. Anne. In time these children of the forests asked for a black robe, i.e. a Jesuit, to be their spiritual chief as had been their wont in Huronia and at Michilimackinac. As a result of this plea in the summer of 1728, Fr. Armand De La Richardie, S.J came from Quebec to establish a mission among them.

It was given the imposing title of “The Mission of Our Lady of the Assumption among the Hurons of Detroit.”

Because of troubles that arose amongst the various Indian tribes of the region, Fr. La Richardie transferred the Indian village and mission head-quarters to the south shore at the bend of the river on the fields of the Hurons. There they would enjoy the protection of the fort at a place known as La Pointe de Montréal – where Ambassador Bridge now crosses into Canada. Happily, a reminder of their abode at this place has been retained in the names of some streets in the area – Huron Line, Wyandotte St., and Indian Road.

At this location - located east of the present University Centre extending from the river to Tecumseh Road - the missionaries were given by the Huron Indians a parcel of land (approximately 191.8 ft. wide by forty deep) and with the help of a grant from the Governor of New France, a chapel and mission buildings were started in 1748.

At about the same time as the transfer of the Huron Mission to La Pointe de Montréal, French settlers began to receive grants of land on the south shore. Technically these settlers belonged to the parish of Ste. Anne, but occasionally they attended divine services and received sacraments in the small Huron Chapel.

This takes us to the end of the Seven Years’ War in Canada and the consequent British occupation of the Fort of Detroit, and by that time some fifty families had established habitations for themselves along the south shore.

In the Indian revolt of 1763, the support of the French settlers would have been sufficient to turn the tide in favour of the American Indians. On the advice of Fr. Potier the French of the south shore generally did not enter the fray, but his Indian subjects were not as easily controlled. At that time the Hurons were living under two separate chiefs – one received the war-belts from Pontiac with shouts of joy, while the other refused. On May 11, the eve of the feast of the Ascension, Pontiac held a council at the Huron Village, at which he threatened to massacre all those who would not to go to war with him. Only sixty warriors agreed to join the battle after Mass the next day, but in the uprising the Indians failed to strike a decisive blow and at the end of October Pontiac and his Indians buried their hatchets.

In 1765, some sixty families living on the south shore petitioned for a parish of their own. Instead of erecting a second religious centre in the same locality, it was decided that the Huron Mission should become the parish of theAssumption entrusted with the care of the souls of both the Huron Indians and French Settlers.

A new church, sixty by thirty feet, was built by the settlers to replace the chapel of 1749 which was falling to ruin. This integrating development was canonically effected in 1767 when Father Potier, the Jesuit missionary of the Hurons, became the first pastor of the parish. When virtually all the rest of southern Ontario was still a wilderness, on its westernmost point the Church had established a permanent position under the patronage of Our Lady of the Assumption.

Father Potier continued his ministry until his sudden death in 1781, during that time he had baptized 500 of the French settlers’ children and 699 Huron Indians. Because nearly all the church lands had been sold by his successor, it was necessary for Fr. Francoise-Xavier Hubert to acquire new land. Again the Hurons came to the assistance of their missionary. In March of 1782, they made a donation of a tract of land six arpents wide by forty deep – the present Assumption church is situated on the eastern half of that property.

By 1821, the parish continued to serve the Huron Indians at their reserve (now Anderdon Township), though their numbers had been reduced to 130. Their graveyard near the river band below River Canard is one of the oldest historic places in Essex County.