Church
Old St. Patrick's Catholic Church
Fire-surviving nineteenth-century parish famed for Celtic stained glass and a legendary summer street festival.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to Old St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Chicago traces how a nearly empty parish in the 1980s found new life when a young priest, Father Jack Wall, closed off a single block outside its doors for a summer party. It follows the World's Largest Block Party from its first modest crowd to the acts that later played it, and the running tally of romances the church says started there. Oprah Winfrey once told her television audience this stretch of pavement was one of the best places in America to meet a spouse.
This audio guide was created using AI.