Church History
St. Ita Parish was founded in Edgewater in 1900. On October 23, 1923, His Eminence George Cardinal Mundelein commissioned Architect Henry J. Schlacks to design and build a new church specifically in French Gothic design for St. Ita Parish. The current church, which opened in 1927, was the capstone of Henry Schlacks’ distinguished career as an ecclesiastical architect. St. Ita's became Schlack's last full-scale masterpiece, the climax of building 12 great churches in the Chicago area. The open tower appears airy and delicate, yet it contains 1,800 tons of Bedford limestone and rises to 120 feet in height. Elaborate Gothic detailing marks the altar, but the medallion windows containing more than 200,000 pieces of stained glass, designed by Schlacks, are the real highlight of the interior.
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