Stone Temple Baptist Church, 3622 W. Douglas Blvd.

Landmark approved: Baptist church that played host to Dr. King

A Baptist church that played host to Martin Luther King, Jr., was approved as a landmark by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks on April 7.

The brick and limestone structure that now houses the Stone Temple Baptist Church was built in 1925 and 1926 at 3622 W. Douglas Blvd. in the North Lawndale neighborhood, designed by architect Joseph W. Cohen.

At the time, it was a synagogue, serving as a temple for Jewish immigrants who fled anti-Semitism in Romania. The congregation named their house of worship the First Roumanian Congregation.

The interior of the former synagogue, now church, includes an unusual cantilevered balcony that eliminates the need for intrusive columns. Though the building became a Christian house of worship in 1954, the congregation has preserved the Torah ark and other Jewish symbols on the interior.

From the congregation’s founding in 1897, it offered aid and demanded justice for the Jews of Romania and greater Europe. Rabbi Harris Goldstein’s Yom Kippur service after Hitler came to power in 1933 focused on respect for the Jewish people and a change in German policy.

Members of the First Romanian Congregation gathered on the raised platform, or bema, of the synagogue during a celebration of Yom Kippur in 1934. Rabbi Goldstein’s sermon prayed for respect for the Jewish people and a change in German policy as Hitler was gaining power. (Chicago Tribune, Sep. 19, 1934.)

In 1947, as the congregation was celebrating its 50th anniversary, it sent a delegation to Romania to identify ways in which it could assist in reconstruction.

At that same time, North Lawndale was transitioning from “Chicago’s Jerusalem” to a predominately African-American neighborhood. In 1954, the congregation sold their temple to Baptist worshipers led by the Rev. James Marcellus Stone.

Stone was a long-time friend of King’s father, an Atlanta pastor, and on Dec. 16, 1959, the younger Rev. King spoke for the first of what would be many times at Stone Temple. On July 24, 1960, King addressed a rally at Stone Temple, and urged the audience to join a march the following day to demand support for civil rights from the Republican National Convention, which was meeting at the International Amphitheatre near the Stock Yards.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preaches at Stone Temple, circa 1966 (Courtesy of Stone Temple Baptist Church)

Chicago would soon become home to King’s civil rights efforts in the North, and he founded the Chicago Freedom Movement with the help of preachers like Stone.

The report to the Landmarks Commission also makes note of the stunning architecture, which contains religious symbols of the Jewish faith that remain a part of the structure today.

The landmark designation now goes to the City Council for final approval.

For further information, see the 24-page report submitted to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.