Old Immanuel Lutheran Church - Chicago, Illinois

Organized in a Norwegian Church on Chicago’s North side in 1851, Immanuel is the LCA’s oldest Chicago parish. The original frame chapel was replaced by a magnificent brick church on the corner of Sedgewick and Hobbie Streets, but, even before it could be dedicated or paid for, it was destroyed in the great fire of 1871. The congregation paid the debt and rebuilt an exact replica, shown here. This structure was sold by Immanuel when the congregation moved to the Rogers Park neighborhood but was actively used as a church until it too was destroyed by fire in 1954.

Erwin Weber

May, 1997