What Was St. John's Like 150 Years Ago?

As prepares for a special service this Sunday to celebrate its 150th anniversary, here's a look back at the church's history.

The following text comes from "The Story of Mokena," a book put out by the Mokena Woman's Club in the 1960s. The full text, reprinted with club permission by the Mokena Area Historical Society, is available for download at the village website.

All spelling and punctuation is as it appears in the original text.

St. John's United Church of Christ was founded by an assemblage of German immigrants in 1862 under the name, United German Evangelical Church of Mokena.

In this first church the seats were arranged to form a center section and two side sections. Women and children sat on the left-hand side, men on the right, with the overflow from each side in the center. A few hardy individualists escorted their wives to the center section and sat with them, but this didn't happen until the turn of the century; these same brave ones wore the latest in men's fashions, serge outfits of "ice cream" (white) pants with dark blue coats, which caused much comment.

Services were conducted in English for the first time in 1907.

The FrauenVerein (Women's Association) formed in 1904 and worked faithfully for the church. Once, when one member reminded another that it would be her turn to serve at the next meeting, she was startled by the answer she received, "Oh, yes! When one runs with the wolves one must howl with them."

In 1923 the present church was built adjacent to the park, and the old structure was converted into a duplex dwelling which stands at First and Division. A new educational unit was added to St. John's in 1960. The Rev. Theodore C. Wimmler started as pastor the same year.

Read more about the church's history at the St. John's UCC website.