Fourth Presbyterian Church II
Life Span: 1914-Present
Location: Lincoln Parkway (Michigan Ave) and Chestnut
Architect: Cram & Goodhue, Howard Van Shaw (1925 Parish House)
Chicago Tribune, April 27, 1911
Church Buys Palmer Estate Lot.
Record was made of the sale by the Potter Palmer estate to the congregation of the Fourth Presbyterian church of Chicago of the property at the northwest corner of Lincoln Park boulevard and Chestnut street as a site for the new church of the congregation. The lot has an east frontage of 113 feet running through to Geary place, and the consideration in the deed is $100. The present church is at Rush and Superior streets, and the change of location was for the purpose of securing more room for its social and secular needs. Two other buildings in addition to the church are understood to be planned, and the land and buildings will represent an investment of approximately $500,000.
Inter Ocean, May 3, 1911
Additional ground for the new Fourth Presbyterian church, which ls to be located at the northwest corner of Lincoln Park boulevard and Chestnut street, has been purchased from the estate of Willam S. Thomson. The last purchase comprises 220×35 feet at the southwest corner of Delaware place and Lincoln Park boulevard, extending from the boulevard to Geary street. Title was taken by the First Trust and Savings bank for a stated consideration of $35.000.
The Fourth Presbyterian Church at the southwest corner of North Michigan Avenue and Delaware Place. At the left is the Parish House (1927), connected with the church by the Noyes Cloister.
Chicago Tribune, September 18, 1912
The corner stone of the new Fourth Presbyterian church of Chicago, Lincoln parkway and Delaware place. was laid yesterday afternoon in the presence or 500 members the congregation. The stone was laid by the Rev. John Timothy Stone, pastor of the church: Luther W. Bodman, president of the board of trustees, and and Thomas D. Jones, chairman of the building committee.
The new Fourth. when finished, will he one of the most imposing church buildings in Chicago, It will cost about $650,000.
Mr. Bodman read a brief historical sketch of tha church which was founded in 1868.
The church was founded by the union of old Westminster and old North Presbyterian churches of Chicago in 1868. The united congregations occupied the old North church Cass (Wabash) and Indiana (Grand) streets. The church became so prosperous after the fusion that elaborate improvements were made. The church was expensively decorated, and upon the reopening the place was filled with members of the congregation. The celebration was on Oct. 9, 1871.
Mr. Bodman said:
- The evening services were just concluded when the heavens were alive with a horrifying
tempest of wind, smoke, and burning brands, sweeping away homes, churches, and possessions in the great fire of Oct. 9, 1871. The church was a total loss.
Inter Ocean, November 13, 1913
VOTE DOWN NEW CHURCH NAME
Congregation of Fourth Presbyterian Rejeets Title of “Northminster.”
The name of the Fourth Presbyterian church will not be changed to Northminster Presbyterian church. This was decided at a meeting of the congregation following prayer meeting last night. The vote was 136 to 18.
The Fourth Presbyterian church, Rush and Superior street, was organized in 1871 by combining two churches, the North and Westminster churches. The proposed new name, being à contraction of those two names, was to pay a tribute to the work of the members of the two parent churches. The change was opposed on the ground that the efforts of the congregation since 1871 had given to the name Fourth Presbyterian church an asset too valuable to lose.
The new $650,000 church at Delaware place and Lincoln parkway will be dedicated probably in February, it was announced last night
Fourth Presbyterian Church
Dedication Services
Chicago Tribune, May 10, 1914
Architects, designers in stained glass, painters, contractors and laborers, men who had worked in the construction of the new Fourth Presbyterian church at Chestnut street and Lincoln Parkway, and their families, were present last evening at a service specially arranged in their honor. It was the initial service in the dedication of the building. The church has a seating capacity of 1,400, and there were about 800 at the opening service. The sermon was preached by the pastor, the Rev. John Timothy Stone. He was assisted by the Rev. Myron E. Adams, pastor of the First Baptist church, who read the scripture lesson, and by the Rev. George K. Newell, pastor of the Sixth Presbyterian church, who offered prayer.
Art Must Be Unselfish.
“Art may be beautiful but coid unless it becomes a part of unselfish service,” said Dr. Stone. “The man who ruthlessly tramples a violet under foot cannot rightly apprehend God!”
Dr. Stone pointed to the stained glass window above the organ.
“In that window.” he said, “there is pictured beneath the figure of the ascending Christ a family group, containing a mother and her child. It is a beautiful picture, not simply because the lines of the faces are beautiful but because it represents sacrifice. So the men who have worked on this church that generations to come might worship here.”
Church Cost $750,000.
The new church cost $730.000. It is built of sandstone. The auditorium has glazed tile flooring and exposed stone walls and supporting pillars. The pulpit is built of stone of the ancient Scotch pattern and is entered by a stairway. Owing to the elevation of the pulpit the floor of the auditorium is level. The dedication of the church will take place today,
Chicago Tribune, May 31, 1914
One of the interesting features of the recent dedication of the beautiful new Fourth Presbyterian church on Lincoln parkway was the use of the old silver vessels for the communion service. This silver set has had a curious history. On the night of the Chicago fire in October, 1871, it was taken from the church to the residence of Abram Poole. On the corner of Pine street (now Lincoln parkway) and Erie street. When the approach of the lames was seen to be inevitable the church and family valuables were carried into the garden and buried there. When those who buried them returned after the fire was over and only smoking ruins remained they found that some one had dug up their treasure and made off with it. Some years later the church silver was anonymously returned by the presumably repentant thief. though his repentance did not extend so far as to restore the Poole possessions. Who can tell what course his mental processes took to make him give back the sacred vessels?
The suggestion (which was finally negatived) to call the new church the Northminster instead of the Fourth Presbyterian was prompted by the fact that the present church is the combination of two earlier ones. Half a century or more ago there stood on the corner of Ontario street and Dearborn avenue one church of this denomination called Westminster, while another one, Known as the Old North church, stood not far away, on the corner of Ohio and Cass streets. These were united under the name or the Fourth Presbyterian church, and the suggested Northminster was an attempt to retire and unite the two early names. The term minster signifies literally a church connected with a monastery, and so the original meaning makes it an inappropriate appellation for a Calvinist church. but it would fit the Gothic fane which has been erected by the Presbyterians on Lincoln parkway.
The new church being built by the Roman Catholics on the corner of Sheridan road and Buena avenue bids fair to be one of the most beautiful clerical edifices in the west. It is a good reproduction, though I should say on a smaller scale, of “St. Paul’s Without the Walls” at Rome, a famous and lovely point. of pilgrimage for thousands of travelers every year. Report says that this new church is to be known as Our Lady of the Lake, though I have not been able to confirm this.
Chicago Tribune, June 7, 1914
The old Fourth Presbyterian church, Superior and Rush streets, will be torn down this week and the stone taken for the building of the Bohemian Hubbard Memorial church, Lawndale avenue, near Twenty-sixth street. of which the Rev. Vaclav Vanek is pastor. The Bohemian church is in affiliation with the Fourth Presbyterian church, which recently moved into its new structure on Lincoln parkway and Chestnut street.
Fourth Presbyterian Church II
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map
1927
Fourth Presbyterian Church II
Ross & Browne Real Estate Map
1927
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