Ukrainian Village District Extension III

“Chicago architect Henry Worthmann was a member of the congregation who had previously completed several church designs, and his firm of Worthmann & Steinbach was the congregation's choice as designer of the new church and school buildings on the east side of Hoyne Avenue (as well as a parsonage at 910 N. Hoyne which is included in the first extension of the Ukrainian Village District).”

“John Evangelical Lutheran Church and School Buildings exemplify the history of the Ukrainian Village Chicago Landmark District as a neighborhood built up by German ethnic immigrants for whom religion was a prominent part of daily life.”

“Though known as Ukrainian Village, the neighborhood was first settled and built by German immigrants. European immigrants who settled in the city's neighborhoods clung to religious traditions, and built churches, synagogues and religious-based schools, employing architecture to express faith, ethnic identity and pride, leaving neighborhoods such as Ukrainian Village with a rich and varied inventory of historic religious architecture.”

“Development of Ukrainian Village as a residential neighborhood occurred in roughly three phases and areas beginning in the 1880s and lasting into the 1920s. The first phase of development began in 1886 when real estate developer William Kerfoot began to build distinctive brick worker's cottages in the vicinity of Haddon Street and Damen Avenue.”

“Though these are commonplace building types in the city, Ukrainian Village stands out for its overall cohesiveness and physical integrity, evidence of careful maintenance by the generations of ethnic immigrants who settled there.”

“As noted above, one of these blocks was developed by members of the congregation of St. John's. An area containing 147 properties was designated as an extension to the Ukrainian Village Chicago Landmark District in 2004.”

“This historical backdrop fostered within the Ukrainian immigrant community in Chicago a strong sense of cultural and national identity, and their close-knit neighborhood became known to Chicagoans as Ukrainian Village.”

“Fig. b. Fig. a. The 2200-block of W. Walton Street, already part of the Ukrainian Village District, was developed exclusively by and for members of St. John's congregation beginning in 1907.”

“John's congregation in 1907, just after the congregation moved into the neighborhood and construction of the church and school buildings was completed. The congregation that built the St.”

“In his brief history of the congregation, written in 1942 on the occasion of the congregation's 75th anniversary, the congregation's pastor, Reverend Paul Sauer, described the transaction: Mr. Charles Thoms and Alderman Beilfuss bought five acres of prairie a block west of the church, and had them laid out in lots, for sale only to members of St.”