Churches of the Past
The Churches of the Past
There were three churches in the Washington Park neighborhood in 1910. Those churches were: St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church and School located on the corner of N. Western Avenue (N. 35th Street) and W. Brown Street; Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church located at the corner of N. Western Avenue and W. Cherry Street; and English Lutheran Church located at the corner of N. Western Avenue and W. Elm Street (W. Garfield Avenue).
The three types of churches that were found in Washington Park were all factions of Protestantism, showing the community members had similar beliefs, though there was slight variation between the different parishes. Some religious influence came from outside the neighborhood’s boundaries. As 1927 rolled around there were five churches, two of which were the same as they were in 1910. In addition to English Lutheran Church and Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church, the area’s churches in 1927 included: Evangelical Bethel on N. 38th Street and W. North Avenue; St. Thomas Aquinas Evangelical Church and School on N. 47th Street and W. Garfield Avenue, which was just outside of Washington Park’s boundaries; and Washington Park Presbyterian Church located on N. 39th Street and W. Garfield Avenue. Interestingly, one Catholic church disappeared between 1910 and 1927. This may have been due in part to the area’s demographics. One possibility is that the area’s previous occupants moved to a different neighborhood, rendering the church unnecessary. People also may have been coming from other neighborhoods to this church before deciding to found one in their own neighborhood, eliminating the need to commute. Both theories are possible explanations for the disappearance of the church. |
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St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church
The Washington Park blocks between N. 34th Street, N. 36th Street, W. Brown Street, and W. Vine Street have a rich, community-centered history dating back to the turn of the 20th century. On the corner of N. 36th Street and W. Brown Street sits the old St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Church, once the heart of this neighborhood.
Consecrated in 1915, the church was a place of worship for the neighborhood's English-speaking Catholics. Even up until Washington Park's decline, many people who lived in the neighborhood could claim their family had been there since the beginning. Some even had family that built the church and continued to support the congregation until the end of its time. From its early years, the church was invested in educating young parishioners, but it wasn't until the 1920s that those students had a building of their own in which they could study. In 1926 the church commissioned architects Eschweiler and Eschweiler to construct a Parochial school that included 18 classrooms and 750-seat auditorium, all for the price of $200,000 (today just over $2.5 million). This school was connected to the church by a convent (no longer standing) which housed the nuns who taught there. Former students say that they could always tell when the nuns were coming to class by the sound of their rosary beads clicking as they walked down the halls. St. Thomas Aquinas consistently had a growing presence in the community, engaging residents in potluck dinners, dances, and various fundraisers. The main event held at the church was the annual "Brat Festival." Every summer, the church yard would fill with community members who came for brats and fun. Local children would ride around on a four-person bicycle adorned with signs reading "St. Thomas Aquinas Bratwurst Festival" to advertise the event. Some children went back to the school towards the end of the summer to help the nuns prepare for the new school year or to perform odd jobs around the church. As the school expanded and added a gymnasium, sports became popular. Soon there was a basketball team that played against other area schools, and attending games became a popular activity in the neighborhood. The Alumni Tournament was an event that Washington Park residents looked forward to every year. The tournament brought the school's old teams back (pre-1965) to play against more recent ones. This event continued until the neighborhood's decline and ended in 1985. |
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