Founded by the Jesuits as Detroit College in 1877, the Roman Catholic university preparatory school moved here from its first location on Jefferson Avenue. In 1976, ten years after the Detroit race riots, despite declining enrollment, the Jesuits resisted the trend of relocating to the suburbs. They kept the school in Detroit so as to invest their resources in the city and increase the racial diversity of their high-achieving student body. It is the only Catholic college-prep school left in the city. The historic gray sandstone school rises three stories from a raised foundation to a red tile hipped roof. Divided stairs climb to an elaborately carved baroque main entry in the central entrance pavilion. The Spanish Colonial Revival building is the focus of the campus and an educational center of new promise for Detroit.