FIRST BAPTIST CONGREGATIONAL
CHURCH OF CHICAGO
A Historic National Landmark
The First Baptist Congregational Church is a historic Protestant (Christian) church in the United Center
Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
~Restoration Campaign News~
Emergency-Stained Glass Repair Project
This project is supported by a $50,000 grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places, a program of Partners for Sacred Places in collaboration with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
First Baptist Congregational Church History
It is reported that every President of the United States from Abraham Lincoln to John Kennedy stood behind the great pulpit. The interior of first Baptist Congregational is dominated by the Andrew & Mary Dole Memorial Great Kimball organ, reputed to be the largest enclosed pipe organ ever made.
It was installed in 1927 at a cost of $250,000. It is a four manual and pedal organ containing 117 speaking stops and 5,466 pipes ranging from the 32 foot bombard and diaphones pipes to the small high tones of the mixture ranks whose speaking length is about 1/2 inch.
Two rooms are constructed on either side of the organ case to accommodate the great size of the instrument and additional chambers were provided in the back balcony on the east wall for the echo and antiphonal organs.
The sanctuary is lighted by six chandeliers, 10 lancet windows, and three large Gothic arched windows. The windows are made of opalescent glass imported from Italy. They continue from the main floor through and behind the balconies and upwards.
The First Baptist Congregational Church is an active, thriving Christian community under the leadership of Reverend George Daniels. It has three chorale ensembles, two staffed organist, preschool, primary and junior Church, young adult Christian education programs, a full complement of ministers, deacons, and deaconess, and a missionary program.
The church is in excellent physical condition and as functional for worship and organizational purposes now as it was a century or more ago.