History

First Congregational Church of LaGrange was gathered March 18, 1881, when 17 charter members covenanted to form a congregation this congregation on March 18, 1881. J. C. Armstrong was the organizing pastor and the first of 15 senior ministers who have served our church.

The congregation met in temporary facilities until its first permanent home was erected and dedicated the next year. This frame edifice served the church well yet was quickly outgrown. So, on September 10, 1892, the cornerstone was laid for a new church building, a stone building that still stands today at the corner of LaGrange Road and Cossitt Avenue. Dedicated as the church’s sanctuary in May of 1893, this facility is now known as our Founder's Room, and it is the oldest church building in La Grange.

As the years passed, the church continued to grow, requiring larger facilities again and again. Our present sanctuary was built in 1907, and is home to some of the village’s most magnificent stained glass windows. Then, in 1951, the church added an entirely new wing on the Sixth Avenue side of the property. In this wing you’ll find a smaller sanctuary called the Chapel of the Beatitudes and a block of offices and classrooms used for education…and now also for musical education through our conservatory.

Founded as a local church of the Congregational denomination, ours became part of the Congregational Christian denomination when it was formed in 1932. In 1962, our members voted to become an official part of the United Church of Christ, a denomination formed in 1957 by the merger of the Congregational Christian, Evangelical and Reformed denominations. Thus, today we belong to an extended church family of more than 1.5 million members in 6,395 local churches throughout the United States.