Chapter 1 EARLY HISTORY OF THE BRETHREN IN CHICAGO

Chapter 2 THE HASTINGS STREET ERA

Chapter 3 BROADENING OF THE HASTINGS STREET OUTREACH

Chapter 4 LEADERSHIP ROLES AT YORK CENTER

We will cover later, and in greater detail, the important part First Church played in getting York Center onto a firm footing. But before we do that, let us return to the beginnings of the Brethren in the Chicago area.

Drawing from both  Dr. Mallot's history and a second valuable source [written by Dean Frantz] found in the Archives at the General Offices, we can trace, although slightly indirectly, York Center's roots back to the first recorded Brethren assembling in Chicago. For their initial meeting about twenty interested persons gathered at 3525 South State Street on January 30, 1885. Fourteen of the twenty lived in the city, a majority of whom were women. This first meeting would have been better attended but the word got out that the service was going to be in German. A second service was held the following day, which attracted a much larger crowd after the people discovered the meetings were held in English. Moved by the enthusiasm shown, it was not long afterwards that they organized and soon blossomed into an active group, quickly setting up Sunday School classes.

Picture in your mind that period in 1885, over one-hundred-sixteen years ago. That was a time only twelve years after the great fire leveled most of Chicago as a result of Mrs. O'Leary's cow allegedly kicking over a lantern at milking time. In fact, this small Brethren group, moved several years later to the Hastings Street site, which placed them not too far from that famous incident. Could any of these early Brethren have been there and experienced the trauma of that great conflagration? Indeed, some of them did. This was also a time less than twenty years alter the conclusion of the Civil War, which was also a time of great cultural shifts in America with the onset of the Industrial Age. Dr. Mallott writes that that era was pivotal in Brethren life, although not recognized by those experiencing the transformation as they pushed westward from their roots in Maryland and Pennsylvania, through Ohio and Indiana, and to the prairies of Illinois.

One wonders how these two-and-three-generations-ago Brethren, whom we usually think of as agrarian and earning their livelihood primarily by farming, would forsake their Emerson and Thoreau pastoralism to reconcile with living in the heart of such a bustling city, as was Chicago, the city of broad shoulders renown. But this small group of twenty Brethren also was only a small part of Chicago's booming growth from 500,000 people in 1880 to 1, 100,000 in 1890, more than doubling in that ten-year period. Subject to this kind of mushrooming, the city was drawing people from all walks of life. Undoubtedly, in a period of such dynamic growth, this city would have been flooded with adventurers of every hue: hustlers, cattle drivers, knock-abouts, canal and lake sailors, European immigrants, and various other newcomers seeking a fast track to riches. What was the motivation for these early Brethren to come to such a teeming and alien environment? Their history indicates that many came with a vision of mission in their minds. Of this latter group, several were young, well-educated women. ( Details next chapter )

There are ample records indicating that they were  not simply country folks , forsaking their backgrounds and seeking their way in the big city. On the contrary, many were people of education, and came with certain goals in mind. And they were not operating alone, but were in constant contact with both their home districts and the wider brotherhood. How, at that time, there was a network for easily communicating with each other is difficult for us to comprehend today, but stay in touch they did. And why Chicago? Probably because it was the largest city in the district for the first ones here. It was the accomplishments of these northern Illinois Brethren that also attracted other Brethren from around the country who felt the call to be furthering God's work in other than a rural environment. We do know that they felt the need to actively reach out to their community, opening missions with accompanying health dispensaries to serve the needy, primarily children, and to make available educational possibilities for any who might be interested. The churches in the Illinois and Wisconsin District produced people who were progressive and more sophisticated than one might think. After all, it was the Brethren from the Northern Illinois District who established the first foreign missions by the Church of the Brethren. In 1875, the Lanark Church of the Brethren was the originator of Brethren Missions when they sent Christian Hope to Denmark. (Doesn't the name Christian Hope seem almost a coined term, for it fits so well the idea of missions?)

In addition to their expansion efforts in the inner city, other energetic Illinois Brethren, besides some moving to Chicago, established a printing office and a college in Mt. Morris, and later succeeded in getting the denomination's headquarters established in Elgin. They also started two homes to care for not only orphans and the elderly, but to serve others unable to go it on their own.

We know from the record, that from the outset, those coming to Chicago were progressive in spirit and energetic in purpose, and maintained a keen interest in youth This is evidenced by their starting a Sunday School almost immediately after the initial and historic 1885 meeting. Classes were held in a rented building, located where the old Fair store used to be. That would be on the west side of State Street, a block south of where Carson's main store is today. Their immediately starting a Sunday School, which was not a universally accepted Brethren practice at that time, gives the first inkling of their interest in education and their willingness to adapt to change, even break from tradition. They quickly became involved in outreach and soon opened a Mission near Jackson and Oakley.

Following a year later, they held their first communion service in a building at Adams and Clark. All of this intra-city activity occurred in rented properties in what is now the city's core, or what we refer to as The Loop. If relying on the then available means of transportation, suggests that they also probably lived close in, although one family owned a sizeable farm in what is now Maywood. By 1889, they officially organized with a body of twenty charter members and immediately enlisted a professional minister, that also being a break from Brethren tradition.

As noted, they did not come here in a haphazard fashion, leaving their rustic backgrounds to arrive in the big city by ones and by twos, nor did they simply happen to be in the same area at the same time, but many came with intentioned purpose. And they were not only able to be in contact with each other, but also were known by, and sought support from, both the district and the wider brotherhood. As we shall see later, the district was of financial assistance when this early group moved to the Hastings Street site.

Some of the impetus for getting the Hastings Street site up and running came from the major support of another entrepreneurial early Chicago Brethren, a person in the clothing business who was a large supplier of plain clothes, the then common dress of the Brethren. He annually traveled the plains of Illinois, and as far west as Kansas and Nebraska, offering his wares to the Brethren settling there. Chicago was also a lure for younger Brethren who, restless at farm life, opted not staying on the farm but looked to their future in the city. Many sought employment at another burgeoning Chicago institution, one that was run by two Brethren brothers named Albaugh along with a Methodist named Dover. Their mail order house, Albaugh and Dover , located at Marshall and 22nd street, was said to be the third largest mail order house in the nation at that time and, because of its bustling activity and rapid growth, needed packers and order fillers by the hundreds. The young Brethren felt comfortable in moving to the urban area to work at such a place.  One person who was acquainted with that era reported that at least one-hundred persons were brought into the Church of the Brethren, drawn by the influence of many supervisors in the mail order house who were Brethren, some of whom were ministers. 

With their rapid growth, they soon found that rented facilities were not suitable, so they started a search to find a place of their own where they could meet regularly, a place that the Brethren could identify as their own. They found a German Baptist church building and adjacent property at Hastings Street, and oddly this facility many years later had an  indirect tie with York Center's beginning . Their numbers continued to grow as did their activities in both inner-city mission work and the offering of health assistance, via their dispensary, to the surrounding community . Again and some years later they began looking for larger facilities for relocating the seminary and the dispensary. This movement corresponded with the cultural shift sweeping westward in Chicago. Years later after the enlarged seminary and adjacent hospital were located on Van Buren Street, the Hastings Street property was vacated and the congregation moved to the newly acquired and much larger First Church building.

(Chapter 2, among other things, deals with the valuable contributions made by several spirited ladies in both the furtherance of the mission emphasis as well as their interest in education, which helped to lead to the establishment of the seminary and the hospital.)

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