St. James was one of a handful of North Division churches of great importance to the so-called Old Settler community. The congregation’s earliest building of its own, was constructed in 1837 at Cass (now Wabash Avenue) and Illinois streets on land donated by Chicago pioneer John Kinzie. St. James moved to its new (and current) location at the southeast corner of Cass and Huron just after Christmas in 1857, though the church was not fully completed until thirteen years later. The architect was Edward Burling, whose work included the pre-fire Chamber of Commerce.
