As I turned back toward Integrative Pet Care, on Armitage just west of Western, I came upon what I thought at first was a church, above. (The crosses gave it away.)
According to this, by 1910 the Norwegian community in Chicago had migrated north and west from Wicker Park into Humboldt Park and Logan Square. Originally named Salem Norwegian Free Church, it was later changed to Salem Evangelical Free Church. (Why "Salem?" I wondered.)
And on the California side, there's a sign reading Good News Bible Church/Iglesia Evangélica Libre Salem. So it is an active church after all, not a condo building.
From the church's website:
Good News Bible Church is an Evangelical Free Church in the Humboldt Park/Logan Square community of Chicago. An urban community of believers, GNBC is made up of people of all ages and from all walks of life. Good News began in 1979 and worships in the historic facilities once populated by the Salem Evangelical Free Church, birthplace of TEAM Missions, and is one of two congregations that make up this church (the other congregation is the Spanish-speaking Iglesia Evangélica Libre Salem.) On June 3, 2003, Good News completed a merger with the existing English-speaking congregation.
There's also this undated picture on the "Our Story" page:
It's interesting how that neighborhood has changed. What was once a blue-collar part of town is rapidly gentrifying with hipsters spilling over from Wicker Park. One thing is for sure, though: you won't see any Norwegians there! They all decamped for the suburbs a long time ago.
* If you really want to be specific, it's actually Palmer Square, which is a "pocket neighborhood" within Logan Square.
1 comment:
Thanks for posting. I am a Logan Square native in my 50's. Today the majority of people living in Logan Square are not from Logan Square, in fact, they are not even Chicagoans, they are either from the far suburbs and suprisingly, Michigan (judging by license plate and cell phone area codes) which I always wondered why until I drove to Michigan and saw how depressing it actually was. So you probably won't find any Norwegian descendants at the church.
This building is highly unlikely to become condo. Salem is part of a denomination called the Evangelical Free Church. It is a very conservative denomination that for example, does not ordain women. They are growing and opening new churches and I am sure the attendance at Salem is probably high. The churches that almost always go condo are liberal churches such as Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, United Church of Christ that seem to attract 10-20 members on a Sunday.
Post a Comment