Architecture

After growing out of the small wooden church of the initial Saint Michael in Old Town parish established in 1852 (see History Section), the parishioners set their sights on building a church that looked more like the churches they were familiar with from the various Germanic areas of Europe from which they came. Thus, the current church architecture of Saint Michael in Old Town was chosen.

Saint Michael’s is identified as a Romanesque style church due to its rounded arches on the doors, the interior and the thick hoods over the tall windows. Visitors notice the three rounded arched doors, with three steps leading up to each door, and three imbedded arches on each door. The religious symbolism represents the Trinity. Saint Michael in Old Town is filled with symbolism, always reminding the visitor of the faith and beliefs of its parish. Even the entry into the church includes the exterior door followed by two additional doors until you reach the interior. Again, this is a symbol of the Trinity – God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Building the church was fraught with challenges. The parishioners were well aware of the sandy marshy area in which they lived but perhaps not the amount of challenge it would give the builders. The workmen broke ground for this new red sandstone brick church designed by architect/builder August Walbaum and were faced with those conditions and continuously found water. Contractors needed to dig more than 8 feet deep to find solid clay while pumps constantly
removed water. They placed immense stone blocks to anchor the building. The cornerstone was laid in 1866.

It was amazing that in those post civil war times, with depression economics and a cholera epidemic, Father Zimmer was able to collect contributions of money, pledges or even a cow or barrel of beer to sell to get the money needed for the construction. Construction continued and the church was dedicated in October, 1869.

The final dimensions were 200’ long by 90’ wide by 70’ high. The church accommodated more than 1000 worshippers. The steeple was 200’ high making it taller than the water tower. The steeple of bells does not include the spire which was added later in 1888. The spire plus the cross at the top which is 24’ high by 9’ wide makes the highest point 290’.

The parishioners were very proud of their church. This area of Germanic immigrants worked very hard to support the church with the rebuilding project after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The rebuilt church of 1873 was the same as the original, since the walls were found to be architecturally sound. The windows, roof and interior decoration needed to be replaced, but the walls of the current church are the same walls as the church of 1869. The current decoration of altars and windows was installed in 1902 during the celebration of the Jubilee (50th Anniversary) of the founding of the parish in 1852.

The exterior of the current church is slightly different than the original church. The caps and columns around the doors have been restructured twice since 1873. The front of the church originally had three small round windows in the high front façade. Those were replaced by narrow high windows more in keeping with the other windows of the church. In 1913 a new façade of dark brown brick and limestone decorations was added. At that same time, a 9’ carved statue of Saint Michael was placed in a niche high above the main entrance to the church.