About Grace Church

 

Who is Grace Church

Grace Church of Logan Square was first established in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago in 1904, and has been a stalwart ever since. The early founders underestimated the church’s explosive growth and had to rebuild the structure just a few years after its founding, then continued to grow with the addition of our education wing in the mid-20th century. When the Methodist Episcopal Church and Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) denominations merged in 1968, Grace, the EUB congregation, invited in the Methodist Episcopal congregation from across the street. Later, Grace merged with another local congregation who again came together in our building.

Perched on the corner of two well-trafficked streets in Chicago, Wrightwood and Kimball avenues, our historic building boasts several distinctive architectural features such as arched doorways of Gothic and Moorish influence, yellow brick with limestone striping, and carved stone medallions. Although the neighborhood has been gentrifying and many other small congregations have had to sell their buildings, the neighborhood around Grace Church has embraced our church’s historic building.

Grace has a strong history of supporting the church’s surrounding neighborhood. For example, the church regularly collaborates with the Unity Park, a community park down the block, on events that draw hundreds of neighborhood families. Grace Church is a member of the Logan Square Ecumenical Alliance (LSEA), a group of congregations in the neighborhood focused on social justice initiatives that include advocating for affordable housing and community based mental health clinics. Through the LSEA collaborative, Grace has helped make real, measurable, systemic change to benefit our community. In normal times, we also share our space with community basketball leagues, AA groups, a community art program, an organization that feeds and reaches out to the homeless, yoga classes, music and theater groups, and others.