Old St. Mary's (Fourth Location)

Old St. Mary's (Fourth Location)

Old St. Mary's had six locations from its founding in 1833 to the present. This is the fourth.

As with the rest of what is now the Loop, Old St. Mary's burned during the great Chicago Fire of 1871. Bishop Thomas Foley (appointed in November 1869) had already moved his activities to Holy Name, as had his predecessor Bishop James Duggan. Old St. Mary's, though, was still a prominent church and community. In 1872, Bishop Foley purchased a limestone Congregationalist Church at 9th and Wabash, which had been completed in 1867 and survived the Fire.

(Architect Unknown)

Harry C. Koenig, ed., “Old St. Mary’s,” in Harry Koenig, ed., A History of the Parishes of the Archdiocese of Chicago, Vol. 1 (Chicago: The Archdioceses of Chicago, 1980): 578-88.

Paul B. Jaskot

1872-1970