St. James Cathedral has been home to Rush Hour Concerts from the very beginning. Founded in 1834, St. James is the oldest Episcopal congregation in Chicago. The timeline below is adapted from The Church in the City by Rima Lunin Schultz and the official St. James website, where you can find more detailed information regarding the St. James community.
1834 – 1900
1901 – 1955
1956 – present
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St. James Timeline
October 12, 1834 – Two of Chicago’s most prominent early residents, the merchant, investor and entrepreneur John H. Kinzie and his wife Juliette, held Chicago’s first Episcopal service in their meeting house, hosting their friends and neighbors. The St. James Parish was formally founded.
Easter Sunday 1837 – St. James was then located at “the edge of civilization” – a plot of wild prairie land at the corner of Cass Avenue and Illinois Street (now Wabash Avenue and Illinois Street). Names of early members remain important part of Chicago’s history, institutions, streets, and landmarks, such as Kinzie, Newberry, Hubbard and Larrabee.
1850s – Membership at St. James grew rapidly and included many of Chicago’s business and civic leaders and their families, as well as Chicagoans from all walks of life. A much larger Gothic Revival church made of Joliet limestone was soon built at the current location, the corner of Cass (now Wabash Avenue) and Huron Street.
1860 – Abraham Lincoln attended service at St. James after his nomination to the presidency, underscoring St. James’ growing prestige and civic prominence.
1861–1865 – The Civil War – Of the 70 members of St. James who enlisted in the Union’s armed forces, 10 young men lost their lives. The congregation built a memorial to them in the church’s narthex, designed by Frederick Withers, of New York’s Vaux, Withers & Olmstead, one of the most significant firms in American architectural history.
The continued growth of the St. James congregation during and after the Civil War led to a grand redecoration and expansion of the cathedral, the creation of Chicago’s most impressive organ, and the fire-proofing of the Civil War Memorial, which was funded by the family of Chicago’s first mayor (and St. James parishioner) W.B. Ogden.
October 8, 1871 – The Great Chicago Fire – Only weeks after St. James’ redesigns and renovations were completed, the city suffered one of the largest U.S. disasters in the 19th century. The Great Chicago Fire burned from Sunday, October 8, to Tuesday, October 10. St. James’ Civil War Memorial – thanks to the Ogdens’ farsighted gift – was one of the very few parts of the church that survived the Fire, joining its tower, façade, Memorial and the nearby Water Tower as the few structures that survived the devastating conflagration.
St. James before and after the Fire.
1875 – Exactly four years and one day after the Great Fire, St. James was officially rebuilt. One of the most enduring and visible testaments to that restoration still visible today is the solid brass altar cross donated by former mayor Julian Rumsey and family to replace the previous gift that literally melted in the Fire. Other improvements to the parish is the Paul Popp Memorial Font. Carved in Rome from Carrara marble by American sculptor Augusta Freeman – at a time when women sculptors were uncommon – the Font is still used for baptisms today and greets everyone who enters St. James.
1892 – World’s Columbian Exposition (a.k.a. The Chicago World’s Fair) – Civic leaders and laborers worked night and day to create the attractions and buildings of the “White City” in what is now Jackson Park. St. James parishioners were among the leaders of Chicago’s efforts to wow the world. The excitement of the Exposition and the prosperity it displayed reflected Chicago’s sophistication and economic status to the world.
1913 – Addition of the Saint Andrew Chapel, designed by the now-famous architect Bertram Goodhue and modeled on a medieval Scottish abbey. The Chapel was a tribute from the Houghteling family to James L. Houghteling, founder of the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew at St. James in 1883. Saint Andrew Chapel was also accompanied by the gift of a solid silver Communion set created by Ralph Adams Cram, whose Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue remains a testament to his world-renown Gothic Revival mastery.
1921 – St. James was chosen to act as the pro- (temporary or acting) cathedral for Bishop Charles Anderson after a fire devastated the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, one of the first American churches built specifically as a cathedral. The original Altar Cross rescued from the fire is still used at St. James on occasion.
1929 – The Great Depression – The advent of the Great Depression saw the near bankruptcy of the Diocese of Chicago and the collapse of ambitious plans for building a massive new Cathedral on the site of what is now the John Hancock Center. Aside from abandoning this grand plan, St. James Church was able to weather the rest of the 1930s and on through the WWII relatively unscathed.
1930 – Bishop George Craig Stewart was elected diocesan bishop. The diocesan offices were officially moved to a building at 65 E. Huron, immediately adjacent to St. James, which was purchased in 1929 as part of the unrealized arrangements for building a new cathedral.
1955 – The St. James Vestry and membership agreed. St. James Church was named the Cathedral in 1955. The parish’s rector, the Rev. Howard Kennedy, became the first Dean of St. James Cathedral.
1957 – St. James abolished its pew-rental policy, a historic practice that most American churches had cast away already, in response to a dramatically evolving neighborhood.
1960 – St. James’ controversial renovation project – which included removal of much of the older furnishings and the addition of a marble floor and altar, among other modern redesigns like a vast modern window – was received with mixed reactions.
1963 – The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., brought the national spotlight to civil rights in Chicago when he arrived to help lead efforts to test the effectiveness of the city’s 1963 fair housing ordinance, and the political leadership’s commitment to real progress. When Dr. King and his colleagues began to prepare a protest march through Cicero, tension threatened to explode throughout the city and suburbs. In his role as CCRR’s chair, Bishop Montgomery stepped forward and offered St. James as “common ground,” a neutral place where peace could be built.
August 1966 – a blue-ribbon panel of civil rights, business, labor, and other community leaders came together with Mayor Richard J. Daley and city officials at the Cathedral for what became known as the Summit Conference. From their intense discussions, the Summit Conference’s leaders produced a plan to ensure enforcement of civil rights laws and monitor city government that was ground-breaking for its time.
1970s – Liturgical reforms embraced the ordination of women as priests, and Cathedral staff priest the Rev. Anthony Henllan-Jones created the Cathedral Counseling Center.
1980s – St. James members and funds were important in the early years of several social services agencies such as Deborah’s Place and Central City Housing Ventures, and members were active in reaching out to people with HIV/AIDS early in the pandemic’s history.
Late-1980s – Much of St. James was returned to the glory of its 1880s-1890s Arts-and-Crafts and Victorian Gothic Revival design with a $2.5 million restoration project, which renewed the hand-stenciled designs of original artist E. J. Neville Stent.
1991 – St. James hosted Chicago’s first-ever large-scale ecumenical service for people living with HIV/AIDS, which welcomed local Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Greek Orthodox leaders.
2000 – Rush Hour Concerts at St. James Cathedral – a free summer chamber music series featuring world-class musicians from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, and around the world – was founded by concert pianist and St. James member Deborah Sobol and became one of St. James’ many successful programs.
2001 – Summer in the City – a summer program for Chicago youths to experience Chicago through art, music, theater, writing and athletics – was founded and have featured the Joffrey Ballet, 500 Clown, The Second City Chicago Improv Co., Street Level Youth Media, and many more as artists-in-residence and activities.
September 11, 2001 – More than 700 people attended St. James’ healing service for flight attendants, pilots and other staff from United Airlines and American Airlines, initiated by a parishioner who led one of the airline employee unions.
2006 – St. James’ Counseling Center outgrew its space in the undercroft and moved to a new facility in Chicago’s Loop in March 2007. The undercroft will be remodeled to house classrooms and meeting space for the Cathedral, and will serve also house the Cathedral’s offices during the redevelopment of 65 East Huron.
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