Church History
How did First United Church turn into the socially conscious, welcoming congregation it is today? It turns out that the church has a long history of leadership and civic involvement. It grew and changed along with Oak Park.
Two Oak Park churches, First Presbyterian Church and First Congregational Church, merged in 1975 to form First United Church of Oak Park. But the history actually goes back to the 1860s.
The first congregation in Oak Park was called the Oak Ridge Church of Harlem and started in 1860. Denominations did not meet separately; these believers first met in a community building that was later called Temperance Hall. Oak Ridge Church changed its name to First Congregational Church in 1871.
James W. Scoville, a founding member of the church and an early Oak Park settler, donated the current property at the corner of Kenilworth Avenue and Lake Street. The first stone church in Oak Park was dedicated in November 1874.
Separate churches and denominations split from this first church to form different Protestant churches in Oak Park. First Congregational Church remained in the original building, where the current building now stands.
People who had been Presbyterians in other areas conducted services in Oak Park as early as 1861, but they didn’t organize the First Presbyterian Church until 1883. The frame church built in 1886 at 931 Lake Street was replaced by a stone and brick church on the same site in 1901. This building is now the home of Calvary Memorial Church.
A more detailed history of the church, complete with early reminiscences about First Congregational, was written five years after the merger, in 1980. It can be found at this link.
