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the st. paul's evangelical lutheran church building housed several occupants long after church moved out

following the revelation of a time capsule, or foundation deposit, in the cornerstone of humboldt park's former st. paul's ev. lutheran church, it seems appropriate to elaborate the twentieth century history of the building. as dnainfo covered, the most recent iteration of the building was as a d.i.y. venue and residence, a purpose quite in line with its historical use as a gathering place for a number of different organizations engaged in political and charitable matters. in the church's 125 year existence it served as a place of worship initially for english and norwegian lutherans, and much later for jehovah's witnesses. notably, during the 1920's and 1930's the building was a headquarters or gathering place for those involved in the labor movement, and even a radical german "free thinker association."

c. 1906 construction at hirsch and washtenaw

early on, one of the leading members of the trinity norwegian evangelical lutheran church was a reverend l. harrisville, who studied for the ministry in minnesota, and served as pastor in sioux city, iowa for a decade before arriving to chicago to work at st. paul's english lutheran church. records on harrisville indicate that a new church was built in the first decade of the twentieth century, with the congregation moving or expanding to a building constructed one block east. the newer church at hirsch and washtenaw had its cornerstone laid with great ceremony in the summer of 1906.

the st. paul's congregation merged in the mid-1920's with two other lutheran congregations of norwegian heritage (bethlehem church and our savior lutheran church), to form the united lutheran church. this successor relocated to 409 greenfield street, in oak park, where they remain today.

the early 1920's saw 2733 w. hirsch become the worker's lyceum, and headquarters for the german "free thought league of north america." the latter was a liberal community whose members numbered just over 1,000 in 1899, maintaining interests in social, educational, and political matters. the freethinkers grew out of a movement for church reform, with dissenters establishing secular alliances against religious authoritarianism and dogmatism.

a 1922 volume of "the new majority" mentions 2733 w. hirsch street in connection to several meetings being held. the chicago federation of labor specifically invited female workers and relatives of union men to join the mass meetings which were packing halls across the city. the article reads, "the labor movement in chicago is fast whipping itself into shape for a fight-to-a-finish with the open shop advocates who don't know what it is to work for starvation wages and therefore think it's a fine thing for everyone but themselves." additionally the worker's lyceum was a headquarters for women gathered to send aid to russians suffering from famine.

august 15, 1921 chicago tribune

 



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