Serving Chicago Since 1911

In 1911, St. Mark Methodist Church felt called to plant a church in the "Gap" neighborhood, that would serve people migrating from the deep south. This congregation was originally named St. Luke Mission. It was organized in 1911, but formally in 1912. During the 1920s, the parish numbered about 3000, and moved into a facility at 33rd & South Park Blvd (now King Drive). In 1925, Bishop Joseph Crane Hartzell (pictured above), a white missionary bishop to Libera, came to preach at the rapidly growing church. Three years later, he was killed in a violent beating by teenagers, who were upset about his ministry with African-Americans. The congregation, then known as South Park Methodist Church, then voted to change the name of their parish to Hartzell Memorial Methodist Church, in honor of Bishop Hartzell's ministry to people of African decent.

Since that time, the parish relocated to 30th & Prairie, and to its current home at 33rd & King Drive (close to its second site), in 1963, to a beautiful mid-century modern building. 

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In 1989, the former St. Luke's United Methodist Church merged with Hartzell, and in 2006, the former St. James United Methodist Church, also merged with Hartzell.