"The year 1840 marks the beginning of St. Joseph Parish, even if only on mission status. For the Dexter (Catholic) faithful, their first church building was a small frame building at the corner of Dexter Townhall and Quigley Roads. It was here, also that the first cemetery was provided for the little parish, records showing that the former was on the northeast corner, the cemetery on the northwest corner. The land had been donated by Mr. and Mrs. James Walsh. The first recorded headstone in the cemetery is from 1839; the last is from 1910.



Today the cemetery stands in a grove of trees, refurbished recently to salvage as many monuments and gravestones as possible. Since there are no extant records of plots, a plaque commemorates all those who were buried in the first years of St. Joseph Parish." It was in 1854 that the Church was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt in town, part way up the hill from the river at the corner of Fourth and "D" Streets. from The history of Old Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery has been copied from the 150th Anniversary Celebration Book, published and sponsored by St. Joseph Catholic Church, Dexter, Michigan.



"On the knoll at the southwest corner of the intersection you will find the historical marker relating the brief history of the old St. Joseph Catholic Church on this site. many of the first settlers in the surrounding area were from Ireland. After the church burned in 1854, use of the cemetery declined. In 1981, concerned parishioners rescued the remnants of gravestones and created a memorial."