The history of St. James Church

After a canvass made during the winter of 1925 and the spring of 1926 by members of the Evangelical Synod of North America (a denomination made up primarily of German immigrants) it was determined that the Western and Devon area was home to a large number of persons with a heritage in the Evangelical denomination who did not have a convenient church home.

In 1926, that denomination's Home Mission Board purchased a lot at the corner of Rockwell and Albion and contracted with the Rev. Alfred F. Schemmer as an organizing minister, a service was held in the display room of the Ford Sales Company at the south-west corner of Arthur and Western on Sunday September 26, 1926 at 2:30 in the afternoon. About 125 persons attended from the city's other Evangelical Churches. At the service, an offering of $40.00 was collected and given to the Rev. Schemmer to rent a space for a temporary place of worship.

The following week Schemmer rented a store at 2644 Pratt Avenue and on Sunday October 3, 1926, the first worship service of what would become St. James was held with 8 or 10 adults present and 13 children in the Sunday school. More...