St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church / Swedish Evangelical Capernaum Lutheran Church

St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Capernaum Church, a member of the Augustana Synod, by members of Elim Lutheran Church living in the Dauphin Park neighborhood of Chicago.

Beginning with Sunday School work in 1904, the congregation was organized on January 30, 1906. Joining with Ebenezer Lutheran Church of Oakdale to share a pastor, the congregation called its first pastor in 1907. A wood-frame chapel (pictured below) at 740 E. 91st Place was constructed in 1909-1910, with dedication held on April 3, 1910.

English was adopted as the language of the congregation around 1920. From 1921 to 1940 Capernaum shared a pastor with Lebanon Lutheran in Hegewisch.

To facilitate a fresh start after the Great Depression, Capernaum changed its name to St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1937. A new building (pictured below) was constructed at 655 E. 88th Street at Langley Avenue and dedicated on December 21, 1941.

St. Mark's underwent a racial change in the 1950s, eventually becoming an African-American congregation.

Pastors

Original records
Original records of ministerial acts for 1906-1940 and church minutes from 1906-1952 are located at the ELCA Archives in suburban Chicago, as are copies of congregational histories and other materials relating to St. Mark's. Early books have been microfilmed and are available at the ELCA Archives and at the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. Filmed as Augustana #A16, the microfilm contains records from 1906-1939.

Sources
St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 50th Anniversary, 1956.

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 65th Anniversary, 1971.