St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church

St. Stan's, dating to 1867, is the "mother church" and oldest of all of the Polish parishes in the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. In the early 1900s, more than 35,000 parishioners belonged here. Overflow led to the founding of many other notable parishes, including Holy Trinity, St. Mary of the Angels and St. Hedwig. The current 1881 structure was slated to be demolished during construction of the Kennedy Expressway in the 1950s, but Polish political clout steered the road around the church. The restored interior includes Zettler stained glass, Tiffany chandeliers, and a newly restored mural by Tadeusz Zukotynski. A lightning strike and fire claimed one of the church’s towers in 1964, but substantial ongoing restoration efforts have since stabilized the structure, including bracing the visibly tilting columns in the nave.

Patrick Charles Keely, 1881