Old St. Patrick is the oldest English-speaking Catholic church in the state of Michigan. Although the parish may have actually begun around 1829, the earliest records refer to its first building. In the spring of 1831 the parishioners erected a log church on a small plot of land where the rectory currently stands. In its more than 175 years of existence, the parish has had 31 pastors, at least two names, and has come under the jurisdiction of three different dioceses: Cincinnati, Detroit, and Lansing. Throughout the years parishioners have come together to build with their own hands six major parish buildings: three churches, two rectories, and most recently the Parish Center.
    The original log church has not survived. In 1837 it was torn down and replaced by a building in the present cemetery. By 1850, the church had grown to 90 families from the original 15 and was known as St. Bridget. In 1875, money was raised to build the present church and parishioners did most of the construction themselves. The cornerstone was laid on May 31, 1877, and the building was dedicated on October 20, 1878.
     Legend has it, that to insure contributions for the new church, the pastor encouraged a friendly rivalry between the German and Irish families. Two separate collection boxes were set up, and if the Irish box contained more money, the church would be called St. Patrick, but if the German box contained more, it would be called St. Joseph. According to another legend, the Irish box contained more partly because many of the German men were married to Irish women who exercised control over the household money that went to support            the church.
     In the fall of 1917 heavy winds ripped off the roof of the church and rectory. Again in August 1980, on a Sunday during the Labor Day Festival, a funnel-cloud blew out the walls of the Parish Center, but no one on the festival grounds was injured, and the building was re-built   in 1981.
     Since 2016, Father Tom Wasilewski has been the pastor. Currently the parish has about 375 families and continues to keep alive traditional Gregorian Chant and Mass celebrated ad orientem. It has also been home to Ann Arbor's best Fish Fry for the last 40 years.