St. Matthew Lutheran Church

Hitory

More than a century ago, people of German extraction settled in the Lemont area. They were attracted by the natural beauty of the area, the rich soil, and the promise of work in the digging of the canal and later in the quarries. The discovery and development of the canal and stone deposits in our area attracted waves of immigrants as early as 1850, and among these were many who brought with them their religious heritage.

The actual beginning of our church dates back to the late 1860's and the 1870's when the German Lutheran people of Lemont decided to organize a congregation. Records of these early years exist only in bits and pieces since the official records were destroyed in a tragic fire in 1918. We do know from other sources that the development of Lutheranism in our community began in 1869 by the Rev. Gustav A. Barth, an 1869 graduate from the St. Louis Seminary.

In 1874 the congregation purchased from H.M. Singer, a building which originally stood on the corner of Main and Lemont streets and was used as a private school. Purchased for a nominal sum, it was moved on the present church property and converted into a church and school. The small building did not satisfy the needs of the rapidly growing congregation very long and in a special meeting April 26, 1885 the congregation decided to build a new and larger church.

Plans submitted called for a building 34x60x20 at a cost of $3,700.00 A committee was appointed to collect the necessary funds to build. After painstaking efforts the committee reported that due to unemployment and strikes, the collection fell short of their fondest expectations and deemed it unwise to proceed with the building at this time.

The final plans called for a stone structure measuring 40x75x22 at a cost of $9,178.12. The corner stone was laid June 26, 1887. Today the building still stands, a magnificent example of the Lemont quarry stonemason art. The exterior walls measure in places almost three feet thick and survived a fire in 1918. In January of 1974 it was identified as a building of historic architecture by the State of Illinois.