Free previewStop 2 of Chicago Christmas Walk: Magnificent Mile Lights to the Christkindlmarket
The Church That Burned on Day One
You're on North Michigan Avenue, and the grey stone church in front of you, with its pointed Gothic arches, is Fourth Presbyterian. Now turn around. Directly across the avenue is the dark tower you just left, the John Hancock Center, a hundred stories of steel. Hold both in view for a second: a church built to look medieval, staring down a skyscraper built to look like the future.
The story starts on February 12, 1871. Two Presbyterian congregations on Chicago's North Side, North and Westminster, joined together to become one church.
They called it Fourth Presbyterian, and the name was a bluff. By 1871 Chicago already had a First, a Second and a Third Presbyterian church, and also a Fifth and a Seventh. The church's own FAQ says it was not, in fact, the fourth of anything.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 2 of Chicago Christmas Walk: Magnificent Mile Lights to the Christkindlmarket (2 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
