adapted from The Church and the City
by Rima Lunin Schultz

From 1900 through the post-World War I period, economic, political and social upheavals brought change to Chicago, both large and small. Among the changes at St. James, longtime parishioners from the Houghteling family paid tribute to James L. Houghteling, founder of the Brotherhood of Saint Andrew at St. James in 1883, with the gift of Saint Andrew Chapel, designed by the now-famous architect Bertram Goodhue. This jewel of a chapel, modeled on that of a medieval Scottish abbey, remains one of the Cathedral's most treasured assets. The Chapel was also accompanied by the gift of a solid silver Communion Set created by Goodhue's partner Ralph Adams Cram, whose Fourth Presbyterian Church on Michigan Avenue remains a testament to his world-renown Gothic Revival mastery.

In 1921, a fire devastated the Episcopal Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, which was at the corner of Washington and Peoria Streets on Chicago's near West Side (in today's Greektown neighborhood), one of the first American churches built specifically as a cathedral. The destruction of Saints Peter and Paul left Bishop Charles Anderson and the Diocese without a "home church."  Several architects became intrigued with designs for a new and grand edifice that would be a "modern" cathedral for an industrial city (see pictures, right) but the plans were never carried out. 

St. James was quickly pressed into service as the pro- (temporary or acting) cathedral, where the Bishop's cathedra (or throne) could reside. One tangible reminder of the Saints Peter & Paul, is the original Altar Cross rescued from the fire and still used at St. James on occasion.

As this status could, and soon would be, changed, being the pro-cathedral was purely a ceremonial distinction, but the experience proved educational for future decisions. Among other developments in the 1920s, the Parish House on the church's east side became home for the Bishop's office and staff, along with those of the congregation.

By the late 1920s, the St. James congregation had shrunk considerably, but a number of the old families still hung on, deeply attached to their church, in spite of the radically changing neighborhood. Much of the area's former elegance had evolved into low-rent retail buildings, cheap boarding-houses and transient hotels, dubious nightclubs, and even houses-of-even-more-ill-repute. The few remaining grand homes were cut-up into small apartments and even worse. Although the neighborhood grew steadily less grand and attractive, many parishioners maintained their memberships, even as they lived increasingly out of the parish's immediate area. This loyalty, and the pew-rental fees, kept St. James vibrant much longer than several other historic area congregations of other denominations which shriveled and even closed permanently as their members left the downtown area.

The advent of the Great Depression saw the near bankruptcy of the Diocese of Chicago and the collapse of ambitious plans for building a massive new Cathedral on the site of what is now the John Hancock Building. This left a huge unpaid mortgage for the land that had already been acquired. Ironically, the loss was St. James' boon, because building the new Cathedral might well have meant the destruction of St. James in order to sell the congregation's land for its cash value, as well as avoid having a redundant church just down the street. While this was a disappointment for those whose dream was a grand new building, St. James Church was able to weather the rest of the 1930s and on through the Second World War relatively unscathed. A small but loyal congregation maintained the parish's traditions and institutions, albeit on a significantly smaller scale than in years past.

When Bishop George Craig Stewart was elected diocesan bishop in 1930, he moved his cathedra from St. James to St. Luke's Church in Evanston, where he had been rector. Even though the bishop's seat had been moved away, the diocesan offices were officially moved to a building at 65 E. Huron, immediately adjacent to St. James, purchased in 1929 as part of the unrealized arrangements for building a new cathedral. After his consecration in 1941, Bishop Wallace Conkling often "worked" out of St. James, renewing the church's role a site for diocesan functions. This, in turn, renewed the hopes of many people who had come to regard St. James as the natural choice for Chicago's cathedral, given its heritage and location.

From the end of the Second World War and through the 1950s, amid the explosive growth of the suburbs and the consequent founding of many new churches throughout the Diocese, there were renewed calls to determine the diocesan cathedral. After weighing several options, all with any eye to the future as well as to the past, a series of negotiations and conferences provided a framework for Bishop Gerald Burrill's determination to make St. James the permanent and "full" Cathedral for the Diocese of Chicago. In the face of the complex tasks needed to arrange such factors as control of historic endowments and governance structures, the St. James Vestry and membership agreed. St. James Church was named the Cathedral in 1955. The parish's rector, the Rev. Howard Kennedy, became the first Dean of St. James Cathedral, and a new era in the life of St. James had begun.

Continue to History from 1956-Present

Estimated to cost $7 million in 1923, Architect Alfred Granger envisioned this great modern cathedral on the block that is now the John Hancock building.

Architects Tallmadge and Watson offered this plan for a new Cathedral.