Irving Park Lutheran Church
Irving Park Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, at Belle Plaine and Harding, was organized on Dec. 30, 1903 as a member of the Augustana Synod. Heavily settled by Swedish residents in the last years of the 19th century, the Irving Park area, between Crawford, Kedzie, Lawrence Avenues and Irving Park Boulevard, received its first Swedish Lutheran missionary efforts from members of Immanuel Lutheran. Sunday School efforts begun in 1901 led to the formation of the new congregation.
The lot at Belle Plaine and Harding was purchased in 1904. A temporary building (pictured below) was constructed in late 1904 and early 1905 at the rear of the lot so as to not interfere with the construction of a more permanent structure.
In 1905
Emaus Lutheran Church of Jefferson Park merged into Irving Park Lutheran.
The permanent church building was built and dedicated on the four hundreth anniversary of the Reformation in 1917.
Pastors
K.A. Danell Oct. 1904-1907 (ord. 1907)
Joshua Oden July 1908-1955
Original records Original record books for Irving Park Lutheran and Emaus should be found at Irving Park Lutheran Church, 3938 W. Belle Plaine, Chicago, IL 60618-1997. Early records have been microfilmed, as Augustana #A11, and are available at the ELCA Archives and at the
Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. The microfilm includes church minutes from 1905 to 1932 and membership records from 1904 to 1931. The ELCA Archives also has copies of congregational histories, church publications and other materials.
Visit Irving Park's home page at
http://www.iplc.org/.
Sources Irving Park Lutheran Church,
Silver Jubilee in Commemoration of the Twenty-fifth Anniversary, Chicago: Irving Park Lutheran Church, 1929.