St. Michael in Old Town

St. Michael in Old Town was started by the Diocese of Chicago (a wooden structure 100 x 100) to serve the many German immigrants who had come to Chicago. Barely a year later, the parishioners began to bicker and in response, the Bishop wrote to the Redemptorist Congregation asking them to take charge of St. Michael Parish. The Redemptorists came to serve at St. Michaels in 1860 and have been here ever since. On September 29, 1869 the feast day of St. Michael the Archangel a new church building was blessed and dedicated. On October 8, 1871, as the Chicago Fire moved past Holy Name Cathedral, religious from nearby institutions rushed to St. Michaels for respite, but they knew that the fire was just a few hours away. Priests, brothers, and nuns, helped by parishioners, packed parish treasures onto an oxcart and fled. Soon, flames tore into all the parish buildings, leaving only the walls of the church standing. Within a week a wooden combination church and school was erected an...