St. Josaphat Parish was founded in 1883 to serve the growing Kashube population in the area. (Kashubes were a separate ethnic group living in what is now Northern Poland under Prussian domination and who spoke a language closer to German than to Polish.) By 1889 the parish numbered 800 families.

In 1899 ground was broken for the current church building designed by William J. Brinkman, the architect of many exhibits at the World's Columbian Exposition. The church is the first in the United States to be absolutely fireproof, using an all-steel skeleton.

By 1902 there were 1,000 students in the school. A second school building was completed in 1913. A third school, to replace the original, and the convent, were built through the generosity of the 1353 registered families in 1962. By 1980, St. Josaphat Parish, reflecting both the loss of housing stock and population shifts in the neighborhood, had become a parish of 450 families. The last few years have seen more tremendous changes in the neighborhood. Where there were factories, there are now new townhouses. Where buildings once stood vacant, now one or two-year-old children play in a rehabbed home.

St. Josaphat Parish is once again growing. Mass attendance is up. The school population has tripled. New parishioners worship with the old-timers, and they mingle together at parish functions. St. Josaphat Community Park now stands on a former abandoned lot behind the Church. Over 1300 households now call St. Josaphat home, with new members registering every week.

Through the grace of God and the faith of so many people, St. Josaphat Parish has become once again a vibrant, diverse, healthy parish thriving in its second century of service to the people of its Lincoln Park/West DePaul community.

More about us...