ORDINANCE
Stone Temple Baptist Church Building 3620-3624 W. Douglas Blvd.
WHEREAS, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Municipal Code of Chicago (the "Municipal Code"), Sections 2-120-630 through -690, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks (the "Commission") has determined that the Stone Temple Baptist Church Building (the "Building"), located at 3620-3624 W. Douglas Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, legally described in Exhibit A attached hereto and incorporated herein, satisfies five (4) criteria for landmark designation as set forth in Section 2-120-620 (1), (2), (3) and (4) of the Municipal Code; and
WHEREAS, the Building exemplifies the importance of houses of worship in the cultural, religious, and social history of Chicago's diverse neighborhoods; and
WHEREAS, as the First Romanian Congregation Synagogue from 1925 to 1954, the Building exemplifies the significant history of the North Lawndale neighborhood in the early twentieth century when it was Chicago's most prominent Jewish neighborhood. Through its location on Douglas Boulevard, the Building reflects the importance of Douglas and Independence boulevards as the center of Chicago's large Jewish community on the West Side from the 1910s through the 1940s; and
WHEREAS, as the First Romanian Congregation Synagogue, the Building reveals the aspirations of many Jews who came to Chicago in search of freedom, community and security and escape from anti-Semitism and violence in Romania and other Eastern European countries; and
WHEREAS, when the Building became a Baptist church in 1954, Reverend James Marcellus Stone led his congregation to support the civil rights movement and the Building provided a forum for preaching and programs led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others in the national struggle for racial equality; and
WHEREAS, a thread of social justice binds the Jewish and African American congregations that have worshipped in the Building. The Jews of the First Romanian Congregation provided ai...
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