Woodlawn Immanuel English Evangelical Lutheran Church

Woodlawn Immanuel English Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1899 as Immanuel English Evangelical Lutheran Church, a member of the Northern Illinois Synod of the General Synod, serving English-speaking Lutherans on Chicago's South Side.

Wilcox Hall at 43rd and Champlain was rented from 1899 to 1903. In 1903 the congregation constructed a church building at Chaplain Ave. & 43rd Street. In 1917, in order that a Lutheran church might be located near the University of Chicago, lots at Kenwood Ave. and 64th St. were purchased by the Women's Home and Foreign Missionary Society of the General Synod. The frame dwelling on the lot was repaired and services were started on April 22, 1917. Immanuel's old building continued to be used until it was sold to an African Methodist congregation in 1921. From 1921 to 1924 Immanuel worshipped at the Woodlawn Masonic Temple, at 64th and University, until its new building (pictured above) could be constructed at 64th and Kenwood. "Woodlawn" was added to the congregation's name when the congregation moved.

The congregation disbanded in 1973. The property was turned over the Lutheran Church in America's Board of American Missions, who sold the building to the New Spiritual Light Missionary Baptist Church.

Original records
Original records are located at the ELCA Region 5 Archives in Dubuque, Iowa. The ELCA Archives has congregational histories and other materials relating to Woodlawn Immanuel.

Sources
Woodlawn Immanuel Lutheran Church, Dedication Week Program, 1924.