Our History.
The neighborhood we now know as Lakeview was actually a Chicago suburb in the 1880s. The area was sparsely populated and the roads between Evanston and Chicago were uneven and unpredictable. In bad weather, it was nearly impossible for people to get to church in either city, so Lake View Presbyterian Church was created in 1884. Led by Dr. Thomas H. Skinner of McCormick Theological Seminary, parishioners spent a year meeting in the community’s Town Hall and then later in a tent on our current site before construction on the original church sanctuary began. Designed by Chicago architect John Wellborn Root, the sanctuary was completed in 1888 and cost $13,057.51. By 1898 the church had outgrown its original space and the sanctuary was expanded to its current size. In 1911 the Parish House was built to house a rapidly growing educational and fellowship program.
Inspiring words that describe the spirit of the church in its early days were included in a brochure at the church’s Golden Anniversary in 1934 and are remarkably still descriptive of Lake View today:
I am the patience, the courage, the sacrifice of a long past,
l am the energy, the faith, the loyalty of a glorious present.
I am the devotion, the hope, the dream of a limitless tomorrow.
I am Lake View Presbyterian Church.
Throughout many cycles of growth, Lake View has been responsive to the needs of the community. Teaching English to immigrant populations, providing sanctuary for Central American refugees, providing alternative education for at-risk youth, serving a hot lunch to neighborhood senior citizens are strong evidence of a church history that proclaims the gospel in actualized missions that serve both neighborhood and city.
A new cycle of growth and renewal was evident in the year 2000 as a renovated sanctuary was completed, marking the beginning efforts at renovating the entire physical plant.
In 2004, following several years of research and planning, the restoration of the outside of our building began and was completed in October of 2005.
Continuing our social justice activities, in 2005 two members went to the MidEast as part of denominational efforts while three others joined a delegation to Chiapas, Mexico with Jubilee Economic Ministries. In 2006 we formed an Out and About Task Force and an EcoJustice committee while for several years we hosted a Fair Trade Bazaar.
In 2008 the church received the Richard Driehaus Foundation Award for Preservation, recognizing the exterior restoration which included the wooden shingles returning to the original red-brick color.
Lakeview has a history of responding to the changing needs of the community. For over forty years we offered an alternative high school, Lakeview Academy, as an exceptional ministry to at-risk students. With more options available in the city, the Academy was closed in 2015. Café Pride was a Friday evening safe-space for LGBTQIA youth designed to nourish with welcoming volunteers providing both time and food. After many years it gracefully ended in 2016.
Various DART teams have worked in New Orleans after Katrina as well as in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. In recent years the focus has been more local by partnering with Habitat for Humanity. Our Service Worship project in the fall and spring has taken us to a local school, food pantry, and women’s shelter to offer our assistance.
In 2018 work was begun to renovate the Parish House to include an elevator assuring that all levels of the church now are accessible. On Easter Sunday 2019 we celebrated joyfully as a bagpiper led the congregation from the sanctuary to our remodeled space through the new entrance on Addison St. This has become the home for many of our Third Space programs which are designed to be a place where people can belong and be themselves in community with others.
Flexibility, creativity and commitment to our mission and our community have carried Lake View during the months when the Covid 19 pandemic did not allow us to come together in person. Our two buildings were closed from March 2020 until July 2021 when we returned to join together with safety protocols in place. We learned how to have meaningful connections virtually and reached out in a variety of ways. When we returned there was a party in the yard on Rally Day to celebrate paying off the building loan.
At the end of 2021 our pastor of 25 years, Rev. Joy Douglas Strome, retired. As she said at that time, “We don’t stop at a stabilized, safe building. We don’t stop at a strong mission statement. We don’t stop with a reputation for welcome and justice. All important, but this is just the beginning of the birth pangs. Yet even more new life is around the corner, and we must bear down and birth it.”
The Rev. David Thornton came to Lake View as our transitional pastor in January 2022. David led the congregation through this time of transition and served as an advisor/ex-officio member of the church’s Pastor Nominating Committee. On May 7th, 2023 the Pastor Nominating Committee presented Rev. Ashley McFaul-Erwin as candidate for Lake View's next installed pastor. The congregation voted yes and welcomed Ashley, and her wife Erica, to Chicago in June 2023. Ashley's first Sunday was Pride Sunday, 2023 and was installed on September 14th, 2023. We are excited about following God's call together in the years to come!
