Timeline
St Andrew – 3546 N. Paulina St.
(English-speaking)
Established: October 12, 1894
Oct. 14, 1894: Worshiped in a hall above Westpfahl’s saloon at Lincoln Ave. near Roscoe St.
Apr. 21, 1895: Church at SE comer of Addison and Paulina.
Jan. 22, 2022: Renew My Church decision: As-is, “while establishing a covenant for ministry between the two parishes” (St. Benedict)
Feast day
November 30
Story
St. Andrew was established in 1894. Surrounded by farmland, the area had only been annexed into Chicago five years earlier. Archbishop Feehan named the parish in honor of its first pastor, Irish immigrant priest Andrew Croke.
St. Andrew completed its first church in 1896. The yellow wood frame building, pictured here in 1917, stood at Paulina & Addison.
St. Andrew grew rapidly, opening a school in 1902. In 1912, the parish rolled its wooden church/rectory across the street to lay the cornerstone for a new, larger brick Romanesque church in its spot.
Source: https://chicagoancestors.org/place/saint-andrews-cathedral
In 1926, St. Andrew built a new school building that remains open today.
By the Great Depression, St. Andrew lengthened its church by 60 feet and installed a new high altar to stop overcrowding its 10,000 parishioners.
1940s wedding in St. Andrew’s.
Source: Henry D. Green Photograph Collection of the Chicago Public Library: https://www.chipublib.org/henry-d-green-photograph-collection/
In 1935, Biship Sheil was named pastor of St. Andrew’s. Previously, Sheil established the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) for sports. In 1951, St. Andrew’s built a new gymnasium to accommodate CYO activities.
The Chicago Daily Tribune reported the gym housed three basketball courts, a portable regulation-sized boxing ring, portable stage, $10,000 pipe organ, could double as a roller rink and social center, and fit 5,000 people.
In 1970, Chicago police arrested St. Andrew’s assistant pastor along with a member of the parish finance committee in a gambling raid, with the Chicago Tribune reporting 600 people dispersed during “a game similar to bingo.” The priest told the Tribune that the gaming proceeds helped offset an $88,000 budget deficit faced by St. Andrew’s school, which was trying to pay salaries for and retain good lay teaching staff.
The communion rail and original altar frontal are missing, artwork & stenciling whitewashed.
Sources
Renew My Church Wrigley Field grouping decision: https://www.renewmychurch.org/documents/1607309/3609815/Wrigley+Field+Grouping+-+One+Page+Summary+-+English+-+FINAL.pdf
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