Lost Chicago Churches
Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 29, 2015 09:00PM

To me it's been our greatest loss. Here's some of our treasures that were demolished.

In alphabetical order to start

1.St Agnes. 39th near Archer. Nice interior, I may be able to hunt down a photo online.
2.All Saints. 25th-Wallace. One of the images of America books has a photo of the altar. Beautiful Gothic church.
3.St Anne. Garfield Blvd-Wentworth. I've only seen the exterior.
4.St Augustine. 50th-Laflin.https://www.cardcow.com/81562/st-augustine-church-51st-laflin-chicago-illinois/
5.St Basil.Garfield Blvd-Honore.https://www.flickr.com/photos/79111912@N04/7082003173/
6.St Bernard. 65th-Stewart.Had an all marble interior.
7.St Brendan. 67th-Racine.http://www.city-data.com/forum/chicago/934752-what-chicagos-italian-neighborhoods-4.html
8.St Bridget.http://webgene.blogspot.com/2005/12/condons-from-county-waterford-ireland.html
9.St Cecilia. 45th-Wells.Very impressive church similar to St Barbara in Bridgeport.
10.St Charles Boromeo.Roosevelt-Hoyne. Beautiful church.

To be continued.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: mikbasile (---.lightspeed.cicril.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 01:14AM

Great Job, Those old churches held many memories. We would identify where you lived by what parish you lived in. We lived in St Marys of Mt Carmels parish, 67th. and Hermitage. They would have a parish carnival, for the Feast Of Our Lady OF Mt. Carmel. We could see St.Brendans Church from the top of the ferris wheel, It was the next parish to the east.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.260.popsite.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 01:32AM

I was at the fireworks show at St Mary of Mt Carmel around 1964 (I would have been 4) when one of the pyrotechnicians was injured in Raster grammar school's playground.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: WayOutWardell (---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 01:47AM

Good list. I'll add:
St. John (Old St. John), 18th & Clark, demolished ca. '62
St. Laurence, South Shore
St. Columbkille
Woodlawn Immanuel Lutheran, 64th & Kenwood
Woodlawn Methodist Episcopal, 64th & Woodlawn

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Diogenes9561 (---.res.bhn.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 10:49AM

I was raised in St. Benedict parish, the church located on the corner of Irving Park Rd. and Leavitt in the North Center neighborhood, but I was baptized at St. Sebastian which, as I determine, was located at 3021 N. Dayton St. in Lake View.
It was a small church and appears to have been closed in 1990 with many other churches. The land appears to have been incorporated into the Illinois Masonic medical center.
Here's a website I found that lists current and former churches and their addresses, some of which are approximate.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~itappcnc/pipcnchicagochurches.htm

It's sad to look at Google maps and see vacant lots or churches simply sitting empty, like several churches in the Roseland area, or others that have become Baptist or non-denominational Protestant churches like many in the older South Side neighborhoods.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: nordsider (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 12:06PM

deleted



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2015 11:28PM by nordsider.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Dunning1 (---.dhs.gov)
Date: January 30, 2015 01:01PM

My parents were married at St. Jarlath's, which was at Jackson and Paulina. It has been closed and torn down for years, and I often wonder what the church looked like. I believe the area is now an empty lot.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Diogenes9561 (---.res.bhn.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 01:55PM

Dunning1, here's a link to a website that has pictures and postcards of old Catholic churches:

http://chicagopc.info/catholic_churches.htm

The churches are alphabetical and St. Jarlath's has a picture there. And, there are many others, too, that have been mentioned already that are only memories. Chicago was a different place once upon a time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2015 02:10PM by Diogenes9561.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 03:34PM

Regarding some of the churches mentioned.

St John's 18th-Clark. James T Farrell was baptized there. Looked like a beautiful church from the outside, never saw photos of the interior.

St Laurence. 72nd-Dorchester. Got inside it on Good Friday in the late 90's. Nice interior.

St Columbkille. Shot of the interior was a beautiful church.

St Jarlath. Would like to see an interior photo.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 03:47PM

This link has some interior photos of St Charles Borromeo, you've got to page through the book aways though. St Charles Borromeo was the childhood parish of gangster Roger Touhy, and when he escaped from prison in 1942, he held a couple of clandestine meetings there. It's described in The Stolen Years.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Dunning1 (---.dhs.gov)
Date: January 30, 2015 04:15PM

Thanks Diogenes, I had never seen the church. My grandparents, who lived on Loomis between Jackson and Van Buren, were about to move out of that neighborhood in a few years as it was turning more and more industrial. They had a store/restaurant/bar there for years, and finally moved in 1953. I understand with the drop in population St. Jarlath struggled to survive, and I was rather surprised to read somewhere that it was made the original outreach church to the Puerto Rican community that was starting to move into the Chicago area. I had always associated that community with the Wicker Park/Humboldt Park area.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 04:24PM

Got the wrong link for St Charles Borromeo hope this works https://archive.org/details/stcharlesborrome00stch

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: nordsider (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 06:26PM

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2015 11:28PM by nordsider.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 30, 2015 08:51PM

Some more

St George 39th-Wentworth.Beautiful church with an impressive interior. Almost entirely Austrian at one time, except for the priests.

St George. 32nd-Lithuanica. Very impressive church.

St John of God. 52nd-Throop.Another very beautiful church http://content.library.ccsu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/cpaa/id/36413/show/36313

St Ludmilla. 24th-Albany

St Matthew. Walnut-Albany. Only seen pictures of the exterior.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: January 31, 2015 07:35PM

Old St Stephen's. Sangamon-Ohio. Beautiful little church.

Our Lady of Vilna. 23rd-Leavitt. Small combination building.

St Philip Benizi. Oak-Cambridge. Outstandingly beautiful Sicilian Church near the Cabrini-Green projects.http://blogs.lib.luc.edu/ccic/little-sicily-st-philip-benizi-parish-fr-luigi-giambastiani/

Resurrection.Austin area. An impresive church built by Henry Schlacks.

Sacred Heart. 19th-May. Never saw it, but a former parishoner said the interior was quite nice.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: WayOutWardell (---.dsl.chcgil.sbcglobal.net)
Date: January 31, 2015 08:41PM

Eric F Wrote:
>
> St Philip Benizi. Oak-Cambridge. Outstandingly
> beautiful Sicilian Church near the Cabrini-Green
> projects.http://blogs.lib.luc.edu/ccic/little-sici
> ly-st-philip-benizi-parish-fr-luigi-giambastiani/

Another one near there is headed for demolition, if not gone already - St. Dominic, on the corner of Sedgwick and Locust.
>
> Resurrection.Austin area. An impresive church
> built by Henry Schlacks.

The church was demolished in the 80s but the rest of the parish buildings (school, convent) remained until just recently.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Eric F (---.hsd1.il.comcast.net)
Date: February 03, 2015 04:45PM

Sacred Heart. 70th-May. Combined church-school
Sacred Heart. 46th-Honore. Chicago's only Gorale parish. Wolniak funeral home was acros the street.
St Theodore. 62nd-Paulina. Another combined church-school.
Assumption BVM. Wabansia west of Ashland.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: SouthSide41 (---.res.bhn.net)
Date: February 20, 2015 01:39PM

Dunning1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My parents were married at St. Jarlath's, which
> was at Jackson and Paulina. It has been closed
> and torn down for years, and I often wonder what
> the church looked like. I believe the area is now
> an empty lot.

I grew up at 1623 West Van Buren. I attended St Jarlath's for first and second grade. I left for the Congress Expressway. You can find my story at http://www.memoriesofatime Look for my story about construction/destruction. I have a picture of the sign. My sister and I played under the "L" behind the house. My uncle owned a tavern down the street, Van Buren.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/20/2015 03:10PM by SouthSide41.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: Dunning1 (216.81.94.---)
Date: February 20, 2015 02:57PM

I wonder if you remember my grandparents store...it was located at 316 S. Loomis, on the west side, between Jackson and Van Buren. Their names were Gus and Helen.

Re: Lost Chicago Churches
Posted by: SouthSide41 (---.res.bhn.net)
Date: February 20, 2015 03:12PM

I do not remember that store. We were pretty insulated. But I remember Peter Mendoza, my playmate--and chocolate milk at school. :o)

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