Donating land for the construction of a church may turn out to be quite a lucrative investment. This was probably the case in the settlement called Sobieski at the beginning of the 1890s. First of all, German settlers appeared in the area. The first one was Hans Johann Schrum, who set up a large and profitable company in 1863. It was probably around that plant that the first settlement called West Hammond emerged. In 1891 a Lutheran church was built there. In the mid-1890s Poles started to settle to the south of West Hammond, creating the Sobieski settlement. The building land on the outskirts was bought up by real estate agents, who then handed over some of it for the purposes of building a church. They probably hoped that the town would develop around it, which would ensure the profitable sale of the remaining plots. Additionally, the nearby G.H. Meat Packing Company attracted the settlers with job opportunities.

Following the donation of the land the Polish community started to organize a parish, which was officially established in February 1892. A modest wooden church was completed as soon as a month later. The parish was really small at that time – it consisted of seven families. Only a few months after its construction the church was completely destroyed by a storm. It was quickly rebuilt and the first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day. However, the dedication did not take place until the spring of 1893. The single-tower building erected at that time, even if not as magnificent as Chicago’s “cathedrals”, undoubtedly did not have a temporary character. As soon as sufficient funds had been raised, a school and a wooden presbytery were built next to it.

The relocation of the meat factory, which burned down in 1901, diminished the Polish community, but it was still very numerous and constituted the dominant element in the town. The parish required further development. Polish-speaking teachers were needed, on which the local community firmly insisted, so in 1908 the Nazareth sisters were instated in the parish. Their convent was built three years later, and in 1914 a new brick presbytery was erected.

Despite the difficulties, the parish steadily developed. Unfortunately, in 1918 there was a short circuit in the church and a fire broke out. What was left of the building was no longer suitable for use. However, that was an impulse to start trying to build a new temple. The problem was that there were not enough funds, and until the parish managed to raise them, Masses had to be celebrated in the school building. Finally, in 1929 the plans were drawn up and the following year the construction began. Despite the economic recession the church was completed quite quickly. The costs amounted to over 250,000 dollars, which is equivalent to more than three and a half million dollars today.

The subsequent decades brought steady improvement. In the 1960s, when the process of closing churches began in Chicago, a new school was built for more than 700 children. Eventually, however, Calumet City yielded to the tide of change. Poles began to move elsewhere. In 2004 the school was closed down and in 2008 the parish stopped celebrating the Mass in Polish. However, it did not mean the collapse of the parish, because the Poles had been replaced by new inhabitants, who are now members of the local Catholic community.

The church’s two-tower façade, transept, modest architectural decoration and arcaded friezes correspond well with the character of the churches erected by Poles. However, considering the late time of its construction, it is a highly conservative design.

Its interior is worthy of attention. Originally, as we can deduce from the preserved photographs, it was rather incoherent and not very interesting. The furnishings were manufactured by the Daprato Statuary Company, strongly present on the American market, and the decoration was a compromise between the community’s high hopes and scarce funds during the recession. How ever, in the prosperous 1950s the parish could afford to thoroughly transform the interior. This time funds were not spared. The cost was about 300,000 dollars, which is more than 3 million dollars from a modern perspective. The refurbishing of the interior was preceded by the reconstruction of the towers.

The new features included multi-colored marbles, alabaster sculptures, new stained-glass windows. Most of the works were made in Europe: the marbles came from Pietrasanta in Italy, the bronzes were made by workshops working for the Vatican, four figures were ordered in Florence from Professor Alessandro Ciuffarelli. The decoration of the Chapel of the Poor Souls in Purgatory was prepared by Belgian artists, the stainedglass windows were ordered directly in Munich, other elements were brought from France. The whole project was a very conscious investment of the parish priest, Fr. Joseph Sehnke, who employed the W. A. Gieysztor company to conduct the work, while the person helping to select the proper manufacturers was Fr. Jerzy Langman, Ph.D. One of the most magnificent objects which appeared in the church at that time was a copy of a statue from the 19th century Spain, of Christ laid to the grave, placed in the base of the side altar. There are other similar direct artistic references in the church. It is also worth noting that the lintel of one of the church’s portals bears a plant ornament known from Tomasz O. Sosnowski’s works.

The interior, richly decorated with marble, is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and artistically coherent designs. Its distinguishing feature is the richness of colors, unparalleled in other Polish Chicago churches; some elements consist of several shades and kinds of marble complemented with alabaster. They are counterpointed by the more modest design of the altars, whose forms, inspired by Romanesque Revival art, correspond perfectly with the austerity of the main body of the church. The whole is complemented with elaborate bronze gratings and details. The furnishings include two noteworthy busts placed in the vestibule, of Christ and Our Lady. One of them bears the signature of Tomasz O. Sosnowski, who was a sculptor from Wołyń, educated in Krzemieniec, Warsaw, Berlin and Rome. His artistic life was associated with the latter city, and that is where he created the majority of his works. Some of them were brought to Poland – such as the monument of Jadwiga and Jagiełło placed in the Planty park in Cracow or the famous marble statue of Our Lady of Jazłowiec.

Kalendarium

1892 - erection of the parish of St. Andrew and construction of the first wooden church

1892 - destruction of the church

1892 - construction of the second church

1893 - dedication of the new church

1894 - construction of a school building

1914 - construction of a convent for the Nazareth sisters

1918 - church fire

1929 - design of a new church and starting the construction

1930 - completion of the church

1931 - dedication of the church

1947 - renovation of church towers

1955 - redecoration of the church

1961 - construction of a new school

2004 - closing the school

Text originally published in a book issued by the POLONIKA Institute.
Katarzyna Chrudzimska-Uhera, Anna Sylwia Czyż, Jacek Gołębiowski, Bartłomiej Gutowski, Polish parishes and churches in Chicago, Warszawa 2019, pp. 189-196.