OUR HISTORY
est. 1896
Edgewater Presbyterian Church was founded in 1896. It is a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA)—which has roots in the Church of Scotland.
Architectural landmark
In 1926, the congregation of largely Scottish and Welsh families built the “New Community House” in 1926 where it stands today on Bryn Mawr and Kenmore Avenues.
The New Community House is a prominent architectural landmark built in the French Romanesque style. It features Bedford Indiana limestone and what was then state-of-the-art fireproof reinforced concrete.
American sculptor Emil Zettler created stone carvings of biblical figures above the south door—and family scenes above the west door.
Established in 1896
On April 17, 1896, J. MacMeans and his wife—a Scottish couple—hosted a gathering of neighborhood residents at their 2975 N. Kenmore Ave. home.
A larger gathering was convened on May 4 with representatives from other presbyterian denominations. The assembly agreed there was a need to stake a new local church.
On June 9, Edgewater Presbyterian Church was officially chartered with 43 members.
On June 25, the first elders and deacons were ordained and installed.
The Rev. R.R. Stevens was installed as the first minister of Word and Sacrament. He served until September 28, 1898.
Rev. Stevens and the Session leased property on Granville and Greenview Avenues. On October 3, 1897, a $4,444 church building was dedicated.
Stake
On October 24, 1899, the Rev. Dr. Louis Perkins Cain was installed pastor. Remarkable growth followed with over 700 members. The church on Granville and Greenview became too small.
Despite an earlier stake on the northwest corner of Ardmore and Kenmore Avenues, philanthropist Nancy Fowler McCormick persuaded the congregation to plant a stake at Bryn Mawr and Kenmore Avenues instead—across from where the current church stands.
There, a second church was built.
Dr. Cain retired in 1918 leaving the congregation without a pastor for almost three years.
The congregation continued to grow leaving the church with a repeat problem: the need for more space.
On March 30, 1921, a building committee was established “to consider the problem of our building needs and to report to the congregation.”
The New Community House
The Rev. Dr. Asa J. Ferry—who had experience building and growing churches in Philadelphia—was installed as pastor of Edgewater Presbyterian Church on October 31, 1921.
Dr. Ferry had experience leading Philadelphia’s Bethany Temple from a mere mission to a congregation of 1,700 members. He oversaw the purchase and construction of several church properties in the City of Brotherly Love, worth collectively over $250,000.
The building committee recommended on January 4, 1922 that instead of enlarging the current church it would purchase two lots across the street and move there.
On January 25, 1926, the lots were purchased and plans finalized for the New Community House and an adjacent church with sanctuary—to be built and furnished at a cost of approximately $450,000.
The Roaring Twenties
The congregation continued to grow with the New Community House in the 1920s. Programming blossomed with a diverse array of fellowships—for men, for women, for young adults.
There was a gymnasium hosting team sports, a men’s glee club, a Boy Scouts troop, missionary societies, and one of the largest Bible studies in the U.S.
Bible study participation was so extensive that the worship space plus balcony in the New Community House were not large enough to seat everyone. Multiple sessions had to be convened in a single day.
Stock Market Crash of 1929
A pivotal moment in the history of Edgewater Presbyterian Church came with the stock market crash in 1929.
Construction was halted on what was supposed to be an adjacent church—with the formal sanctuary for worship services—as funds disappeared.
Church members mortgaged their own homes to be able to prevent foreclosure on the existing New Community House.
In 1931, church membership reached 1,500 persons. Sunday school enrollment was at 2,100 youth and adults.
From 1934 to 1938, the Rev. Dr. William Woodfin helped keep the church open and growing.
Post-war Edgewater
From 1938 to 1966, the Rev. Dr. Adolph Bohn served as shepherd of Edgewater Presbyterian Church.
The mortgage was paid off and plans for an adjacent church were abandoned. Instead, the temporary sanctuary in the New Community House was refurbished into a permanent one.
The Memorial Chancel was dedicated as it is known today, from which the choir leads music each Sunday at 11 a.m.
At the same time, the Cross Memorial Chapel was established on an upper floor. The log cabin-themed Boy Scout Room was dedicated, too.
But despite surviving the uncertainties of the Great Depression and war years, Chicago experienced a population decline in the 1950s.
As the interstate highway system fed into growing suburban communities, many of the Edgewater neighborhood’s residents moved there, too.
Church membership in 1960 dropped to 1,013 people.
To Create a New World
The Edgewater neighborhood was economically challenged by the end of the 1960s.
In 1967, the Rev. Richard Dunn was installed as pastor. But he barely survived a single year as shepherd.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Linthicum—who was installed in 1969—helped the Session adopt a comprehensive ten-year plan of ministry, to reinvigorate the congregation, and to better the surrounding community, and society at-large. It was called, “To Create a New World.”
It was hoped this would also reverse the membership loss. In 1970, the number shrank to 597.
The plan had quick results and gained national attention in 1971, recognized by the National Council of Churches as one of 18 congregations in America having “a meaningful ministry in a rapidly changing society.”
By the end of the 1970s, the New Community House became home to the Commons Theatre, a Head Start children’s center, and a number of other non-profit social service organizations.
The Revs. Leland B. Issleib and Gordon Neil Butcher had subsequent, long tenures of service as pastor, continuing the legacy of “To Create a New World.”
Changing Demographics
Edgewater and its surrounding neighborhood enclaves saw an increase of southeast Asian, as well as African, immigrants—attracted by low-cost housing and nearby educational opportunities.
In the 1980s, university students from Nigeria, Cameroon, Kenya, and South Africa, among other African nations, settled down in the neighborhood.
And they were Presbyterians!
After the Session offered pastoral leadership to the first woman in its history in 2004, the Rev. Dr. Barbara Cathey helped cultivate the cultural diversity of the congregation.
African, Caribbean, and even Asian styles of music were blended into worship. A pan-African thanksgiving celebration called Harvest became an annual worship tradition—followed by a feast of thanks for the fruitful blessings of the year.
Community ministries were established, helping uplift the Greater Chicago Food Depository and the Care For Real food pantry. Sarah’s Circle, a residential community for women facing threat of homelessness, became a partner.
Edgewater Presbyterian Church embraced the residents of Bryn Mawr Care, an intermediate care mental health community across the street. Dr. Cathey led them through the Lighthouse ministry—Bible study and small group worship for residents. The church also invited them to take part in other fellowships.
The Pandemic
Dr. Cathey retired in 2020—but her leave came at a moment of great change in world religion and politics, and the disruption of a pandemic.
Interim pastor Rev. Victoria Curtiss was later joined by husband Rev. Kent Organ.
Ahead of convening a pastoral nominating committee, the interim co-pastors led a congregation of about 70 to discuss its future.
Members were educated of the changing neighborhood—and changing demographics of religion in America.
The neighborhood was found to be more youthful, less likely to have families, and more likely to be unaffiliated with a faith denomination.
With the sale of historic Epworth United Methodist Church nearby, Edgewater Presbyterian Church grew anxious and considered the future of the New Community House, too.
The Session joined Sustainable Solutions for Sacred Spaces (S4) to help formulate ideas for the community’s future.
Without a Pastor
In March 2022, the interim co-pastors departed as the result of pandemic-related illness.
In April, the Session decided that it would forge ahead without an interim pastor—looking to pulpit supply to lead worship week after week.
They were: Rev. Terry McIntyre, a retired Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor; Rev. Jane Tuma of the Chicago Presbytery; Rev. Nannette Banks, a vice president of McCormick Seminary; and Gerald Farinas, a ruling elder ordained directly by the Executive Presbyter of Chicago, Rev. Dr. Craig M. Howard, on February 13.