A second group of Lutherans met at the home of Gust Winkrans and founded the Emmaus Lutheran Church in 1887.  (Previously Saint John's Lutheran Church was established in 1886.)  Part-time pastor Reverend C. Granat held services in a roofed basement which became the base of the first church building at the southeast corner of Ogden and Kensington.

In 1888, the new church became a member of the Illinois Conference of the Augustana Synod. It was 1897 before the congregation obtained a full-time pastor, Reverend Alfred Ostrom.

In 1903 the church building was completed. On Sunday afternoons, passersby could hear the singing of the congregation accompanied by a small reed organ played by Miss Ella Dahlin.

In the foreground stands Grace Lutheran Church.  Photograph from La Grange Centennial History 1879-1979

In 1910, the church, also known as Swedish Evangelical Lutheran, offered preaching in Swedish every Sunday at 7:45 and 10:45 a.m. Preaching in English occurred on the first Sunday of each month, according to a newspaper article written at the time.

The congregation adopted the name Grace Lutheran Church in 1924.

In 1928 a new church was erected across Ogden from the original structure. (The New Apostolic Church took over the old building.)

In 1948 135 members left to help establish the Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Downers Grove.

Additions in 1950 and 1966 enlarged the church, and a new parsonage was completed in 1959.

The La Grange congregation grew from 324 adults in 1939 to 1,231 in 1954, and 1,700 in the 1970s.

Several sources were used in the compilation of these entries including but not limited to:

• Images of America -- La Grange and La Grange Park, Illinois by RoseAnna and Robert Mueller, Arcadia Publishing
• La Grange Centennial History 1879-1979, William J Cromie, Editor, La Grange Area Historical Society, 1979

Last Modified:  07/28/2002