“The story of the Chicago Temple,” says David Foster, chairperson of the church’s Centennial Committee, “is both remarkable and inspiring. The church leaders involved in its conception, design, and building showed an incredible amount of faith, vision, and daring. There are lessons we can learn from them even today.”

One hundred years ago, on September 28, 1924, members of the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Chicago, M. E. Church leaders, representatives of other faith communities, and Chicago political figures gathered to dedicate the Chicago Temple building, the twenty-two-story combined church/office building at the southeast corner of Clark and Washington streets in downtown Chicago.

The Chicago Temple was not the church’s first mixed-use building. In 1858, church leaders decided to take advantage of their downtown location by tearing down their traditional building and erecting a combined church/office building, a four-story building housing both the church and private offices and businesses. Profits from building leasing helped to build other Methodist churches throughout Chicago. By 1920, a good deal of the Methodist churches in the city owed their existence to the First M. E. Church.

The first combined four-story church/office building burned down in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and was subsequently replaced in 1872. By the 1890s, this building’s limitations were painfully clear to the Trustees who managed the church property. They wanted to replace it with a much larger building with more modern conveniences. More than thirty years would pass before the Trustees could overcome legal and financial hurdles connected with erecting what would become the Chicago Temple. Not until 1922, could they tear down the four-story 1872 building and begin construction on the new building. The office portion of the Chicago Temple opened in May 1923, and the completion of the church portion of the building inclusive of the tower and spire occurred in 1924. A service of dedication for the Chicago Temple building occurred on the afternoon of September 28, and almost immediately, the Temple became one of Chicago’s most famous and distinctive buildings.

Events commemorating the one-hundredth anniversary coincide as closely as possible with the original date of dedication and highlight both the building and its creators. The full schedule of events is available here.

As the senior pastor of First UMC, the church that has called the Chicago Temple home for one hundred years, the Rev. Dr. Myron McCoy said, “Serving the Chicago Temple congregation has been one of the highlights of my more than forty years of ministry. The First Church ministry reminiscent of Frank Mason North’s, ‘Where Cross the Crowed Ways of Life’ resounds with an embracing welcome for all. May the Chicago Temple Building and the church within its hollowed walls continue to witness the faith of its founders.”