SALUTE TO FIRST IMlVf ANUEL LUTHERAN CHURCH
WHEREAS, Pastor Harold L. Therwanger and the congregation of First Immanuel Lutheran Church of the Missouri Synod on South Ashland Avenue celebrate the 160th anniversary of its founding; and
WHEREAS, On September 10, 1854, the Reverend Paul Schick and eighteen German immigrant families dedicated First Immanuel Lutheran Church, holding the first services in a church just 46 feet long by 24 feet wide situated on 12th street where St. Ignatius high school is now located; and
WHEREAS, In the fall of 1854, Pastor Schick opened a school within First Immanuel Church that admitted any student who could speak German. The school was an immediate success, necessitating the hiring of a full time teacher, Theodore Beunger, in 1855 and the expansion of the church in 1857, doubling its original size; and
WHEREAS, In 1864, a new ediface was dedicated on the corner of Taylor and Brown (now known as Sangamon and in 1873, First Immanuel Lutheran Church joined with 6 other congregations to create Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois; and
WHEREAS, First Immanuel Church moved to its current location on November 4, 1888, quickly expanding with more than 3,100 baptisms and 2,300 communicants within the next two years; and
WHEREAS, By the end of the nineteenth century, First Immanuel had parented three new Lutheran churches within Chicago, cofounded a home for the elderly, and continued vital support for a local orphan home; and
WHEREAS, In keeping with its teachings of equality and acceptance, First Immanuel opened its doors to both Polish and Latvian Lutherans in 1909, Mexican Lutherans in the 1930's, and fully racially integrated its congregation by 1955, appointing the churches first black vicar, Samuel Hoard; and
WHEREAS, First Immanuel opened its doors to an historic community rally where the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke on July 7, 1966; and
WHEREAS, The Honorable Robert W. Fioretti, Alderman of the 2nd Ward has...
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