Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church

Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1923 as a member of the Augustana Synod. In September 1914 a Sunday School was organized and met in a home at 6144 S. Keating Ave., in the West Lawn neighborhood of Chicago. For seven years the school was conducted in portable school buildings on 62nd St. and S. Kenneth Ave. In the spring of 1922 families of the Sunday School met and decided to purchase a lot and build a chapel in which to worship. A one-story bungalow (pictured below) at 6118 S. Kenneth Ave., was completed and dedicated on June 11, 1922. The congregation was organized on April 25, 1923.



The small chapel soon was too small for the congregation. Lots were purchased at 62nd and S. Kenneth and a new building was constructed. The parish hall (pictured below) and parsonage were dedicated on June 30, 1929.



Completion of the rest of the church building had to wait until after the Depression and World War II. Dedication for the new sanctuary (pictured below, original parish hall at right) was held December 5, 1954.

The parish hall was remodeled in 1968 (pictured below).

Pastors

J.H. Gregg
1924-1929

C.M. Olander
1929-1930

C.F. Wittenstrom
1930-1935

O.V. Anderson
1935-1939

H.C. Hoyer
1940-1943

J.A. Melvin
1943-1957

Jack Berry
1957-1965

Walter Wittman
1965-1987

Original records
Original record books should be found at Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, 6149 S. Kenneth Ave., Chicago, IL 60629-5209. Early records have been microfilmed and are avilable from the ELCA Archives and from the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. Church minutes from 1922-1932, membership records from 1923-1932 and ministerial acts from 1923-1930 are on film Augustana #A31. The ELCA Archives also has congregational histories and other materials relating to Calvary.

Sources
Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, Dedication Album, 1929.

Calvary Evangelical Lutheran Church, 60th Anniversary Directory, 1983.