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MAPLE
STREET CHAPEL
HISTORY
The
Maple Street Chapel was dedicated on
May 29, 1870,
not quite a year after a previous house of worship on the
opposite corner of Main and Maple Street was consumed
by a fire. It did
not take long for the new building to become an important piece of the
fabric of the Lombard Community.
The
first town meetings for the Village were held in the Chapel.
The Reade Room, at the south end of the Chapel
building, served as
the Village’s first library.
The bell in the steeple not only called
people to worship on Sunday mornings, but also summoned
the Village’s volunteer fire department.
After the turn of the of the
century, the
Chapel even presented silent movies.
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"Listen
and You Will Hear....."
Oldest picture of
the exterior
Probably taken 1870 - 1880
Note:
1. Original entrance doors on
north side, in finished
(unpainted) wood
2. Wood fence across front
(probably on north side of
Maple Street)
3. Apparent absence of roads
(probably dirt paths)
4. Two roof lines - sanctuary
(front) and Reade Room
(back). A third roof line now
appears in the space that now
houses the 1940 pipe organ.
Oldest pictures of
the interior
(dating to early 20th century)
Top picture probably older than bottom, because top picture has no carpeting, but bottom
one does.
Note:
1. Original organ (replaced in
1940) with pipes at console
2. "Light fixture" which was
actually just a rack that
held
kerosene lamps (in top
picture, there is a kerosene
lamp on the back wall to the
right of the door.)
3. Original configuration of
altar, which was not raised.
Interior originally did not have the beaded board on the walls, but
it had been added by the time these pictures were taken.
Photo taken in 1907. In this
picture and the next one are the
only known views of Cushing Hall, torn down in the 1970s. It is in
back of the chapel to the right. Note, in contrast to the older
picture, that the entry doors had been painted white.
Photo taken in
1912, facing south. The two-story house to the right
of the chapel, covered with stucco, was the George Hiel house, purchased
by the Village and torn down in 2003. At the right edge of the picture
is the house which is now the Lombard Historical Museum.
This picture probably dates to the
1920s or 1930s. The kerosene lamps have been replaced, but the
original organ is still present, and the altar is still in is original
configuration.
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