Chicago Church and Parish Locations, Prior to the City Having Its Own Archbishop (1833-1879)

Chicago Church and Parish Locations, Prior to the City Having Its Own Archbishop (1833-1879)

Parishes and Original Church Locations for Chicago, 1833-1879

In 1833, the first parish of Old St. Mary's was established in Chicago. At that point, Chicago was under the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and, hence, did not have its own Archbishop. This file shows all of the Parishes and original church locations for the communities founded from 1833 to 1879 (marked with a red dot, and by the red line on the timeline). Note that many of the churches (such as St. Michael's) had a different location before the fire than after. See, for example, the many moves of Old St. Mary's (viewable as a separate feature).

In October 1880, Chicago received its first Archbishop, Archbishop Feehan. For the parishes and churches established under his administration, please see the Orange dots and Orange timeline.

In addition, the photo that you see above on this entry is a Google Map version of all parishes during this period showing the founding ethnic community of the church.

Jack Bochar, Locations of Chicago Roman Catholic Churches, 1850-1990, Revised edition (Sugar Grove: The Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois 1998, [1990]).

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.

Robert B. Spinney, City of Big Shoulders: A History of Chicago (DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2000).

Paul Jaskot

1833-1879