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St. Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church
Serbians began to come to the Southeast Side in
the late
1890's. Like other ethnic groups they left their homeland to seek
better
jobs and many of them intended to return home when they had saved some
money. In 1904 South Chicago was designated as a parish district named
"Serbian Orthodox Parochial District of St. Elijah." When the Serbians
had their religious services, they initially rented halls which were
mostly
located along 91st street between Brandon and Burley. In
1919
they finally bought a fromerly Danish Lutheran Church located at 3016
East
98th Street for $1,000. All interior furnishings were also
bought
for $35. A committee selected St. Archangel Michael as the name for the
new church. By 1924 members of the church realized that the church they
had bought five years ago was too small to house the growing Serbian
population.
In March of 1924 a committee was chosen to find a place for the new
church.
The committee was also supposed to look for property for a cemetery.
The
church committee decided to purchase five lots on the 9800 block of
Commercial
Avenue for $4,550.00. A constructor and an architect were selected by
the
church's committee. The contractor was Zygmund F. Jakobowski and Franz
Roy, whose offices were at 9046 S. Commercial Avenue, was the
architect.
In September 18, 1926 construction began, as well as a religious
ceremony
that was performed by Reverend George Milosavljevich in honor of the
construction.
The old Lutheran church was sold for $3,250. In the early 1940's the
church
bought the vacant lot at 9801 Commercial and later built a school and
church
hall on the property. A picnic grove made up of 13 lots on the 9800
block
of Houston Avenue was purchaed in September 1954. The church at 98th
and Commercial Avenue served the Serbian community for 75 years until
several
years ago they decided to leave their traditional Russian style onion
domed
church and relocate to Lansing, a southern suburb of Chicago. They
moved
to Lansing on July 2, 1998. There they built their Church next to the
St.
Archangel Michael Serbian Cultural Center at 186th Street and Stony
Island
Avenue. They have moved out of the area because of the fact that the
majority
of the parishioners have also moved. With Lansing being the church's
geographical
center an estimated 70 percent of the congregation has left the area of
South Chicago. The church's congregation now brings in families from
surrounding
suburbs and from northwest Indiana. In order for them to have
constructed
their new church they had to sell their old one, and they sold it to an
Ethiopian Orthodox group.
Assumption Greek Orthodox Church
On February 3, 1921, some of the Greeks from
Hegewisch met
in the home of John Tsolakos, at 13445 Burley to discuss an
establishment
of a Greek afternoon school. They selected a committee of twelve
members
to study the matter of the school. They also contributed a total of
$233.00
and thus the founding of the school was on its way. On March 5th,
the school received its name, Homer. There would also be a priest
invited
for the Holy Week of April 7th-14th to come and
celebrate.
Reverend Dimitriadis was the priest asked to come. He accepted and thus
he became the first of many priests to serve the community of
Hegewisch.
On the 3rd of May, everyone decided that it was time to
establish
a church and have the priest teach at the school too. There was a
general
meeting on May 7th, in which it was decided to buy a
building
to house the church and to make a new constitution. A few weeks later
on
the 23rd of June, the new church was named Assumption of
Mary,
named after the Holy Virgin Mary. The purchase of the building took
place
a little while after on August 19th, 1926, and the first
meeting
at the new building was held on October 3rd, 1926. In 1936,
the church building burned down in a fire, but the parishioners were
able
to build a new church, which opened on September 6, 1937. Additional
construction
would occur thirty years later, in 1967, when the building was extended
by thirty-five and a half feet. The church was and still is located at
13631 S. Brainard.
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