General Council
(1867-1918)
Chicago Synod
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St. Stephen's
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St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church


St. Stephen's Lutheran Church
St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized on January 10, 1915, led by the Rev. Grover Rapps, a General Council missionary. The Board of Home Missions purchased a site on Parker and Kostner Avenues, at 4352 West Parker, in the Kelvyn Park neighborhood of Chicago. A bungalow chapel (pictured above), which later became the Parish Hall, was built and in use by Christmas 1915.

Work on financing a larger building was begun in 1926 and dedication of the completed building (pictured below) was held October 7, 1928.

The congregation dissolved in 2003.

StStephensGC2.jpg (169090 bytes)

Pastors
Grover Rapps 1915
Earl S. Rudisill 1915-1919
A. Langendorf 1919-1922
A.D. Whittaker 1922-1923
A.J. Hoyer 1923-1959
Dale Jeffers 1960-1964
Donald Pardonner 1965-1970

Sons of the congregation
Donald Karnuth, ordained 1959
Gerald Peterson, ordained 1961

Records
The record books were not turned over the ELCA Region 5 Archives at the time of the congregation's dissolution, and no current location of them is known. No microfilm has been produced from these records. The ELCA Archives has congregational histories and other materials relating to St. Stephen's.


Sources
St. Stephen's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Fiftieth Anniversary booklet, 1965.

Copyright 2002 Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.   
Please contact the Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
at archives@elca.org with any comments, questions or corrections.