Rivers of Black Mud
It was 1875. Chicago had been a city for only 38 years. The great fire was merely four years in the past.
That’s when a young priest first set his eyes upon the hardly recognizable intersection of Webster Ave. and Osgood St. (now Kenmore Ave.). It was the barely civilized fringe of Chicago. He saw truck farms, dirt streets that became rivers of black mud in the rain and the snow, and an occasional home breaking the monotony of a sweeping prairie.
Forty-one-year-old Rev. Edward Smith, C.M., had been summoned by the Bishop of Chicago to establish a new parish. He had $5,000 to purchase property and to build a new church. For almost a year, he used the small chapel at nearby St. Joseph Hospital to serve the 75 German and Irish Catholics in the area.
Working with parishioners, he purchased land and commissioned the construction of a small brick building on the corner of Webster and Osgood. On Christmas Day of 1875, they celebrated their first Mass together in the roofless building still under construction.
The original St. Vincent de Paul multipurpose building commonly known as “Father Smith’s Farm” from Then & Now · DePaul University 125 Anniversary
The top floor was the church. The first floor the pastor’s home, schoolrooms, and a parish hall. The building was finally finished and dedicated on April 30, 1876.
By 1891, the original building was clearly inadequate to meet the needs of a now booming neighborhood. Planning began for a magnificent replacement church.
It was slow going. The depression following the closing of the 1893 World’s Fair and concerns about the exact location of the elevated railway running from downtown to Wilson Avenue delayed progress.
When the new church was finally dedicated on May 2, 1897, there were few churches that could rival it in grace or architecture. That holds true today, as well.
One of its unique features is unobstructed sightlines. Normally, multiple columns are required for support. Steel supports reduced the number of columns to only four.
With the original building vacated, it was heavily remodeled along with the addition of a third floor. It became the home of the new St. Vincent's College in 1898. That school is now known as DePaul University.
On dedication day, the new church was very plain. The altars and floors were wooden, the walls were bare and most of the windows were plain glass.
It took 17 more years to furnish and decorate the church. Stained-glass windows came from Franz Mayer & Company of Munich, Germany. A first-class Lyon & Healy organ was installed. The High, Blessed Virgin, and St. Joseph Altars were built along with a marble altar rail. The sanctuary was tiled.
The Carrara marble High Altar
After fire destroyed a large portion of the church interior in 1955, the damaged south Rose window required replacement. The new 22-foot window was created by Conrad Schmitt Studios of New Berlin, Wisconsin. The theme is “Sun of Splendor.”
The Rose window replacement and some of the Lyon & Healy organ pipes.
The Shot
The Chicago Streets and Beyond Meetup photography group regularly sponsors photo walks and tours. Ever since my sister-in-law’s wedding there in 1995, I’ve wanted to return to admire its beauty. The Meetup on November 23 was that opportunity.
Thanks for looking and Happy New Year,
Chuck Derus