First Evangelical Church

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The First Evangelical congregation originally met in a schoolhouse in Leyden Township. In 1853 Henry Schmidt donated land at the corner of Church Road and Third Avenue, and in 1854 a church was dedicated by Bishop John Seybert. The building was moved to Cogswell corner on Irving Park and Prospect in 1865.

The American Gothic style church in the photo was built in 1887* on the south side of Lincoln Avenue one-half block east of York Road. For many years it was part of the Evangelical United Brethren denomination.

Rudy Laho recalls a wind storm in 1933 that destroyed the top of the steeple. His father fashioned a new lightning rod apparatus, and Rudy himself climbed to the top of the steeple to install it.

In 1967, the congregation built a new church on Church Road and is now the United Methodist Church of Bensenville.

From Bensenville by Martha Kirker Jones 1976

*A newspaper account states that the church was begun in 1874 and completed in 1876. Anyone with knowledge about this church or interior photos of it, please send e-mail to history@bensenville.lib.il.us.