Queen of All Saints Basilica

Queen of All Saints Basilica is a historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago located at 6280 North Sauganash Avenue in Chicago's upper middle-class Sauganash neighborhood. Along with St. Hyacinth and Our Lady of Sorrows it is one of three Minor basilicas in Chicago, Illinois.HistoryIn 1929 the Calvert Club, a Catholic area fraternal organization, pushed to establish a church in the Sauganash area. They petitioned the Archbishop of the Chicago Archdiocese at the time, Cardinal George Mundelein. Mundelin appointed Father Francis A. Ryan to be pastor of the new parish dedicated to Queen of All Saints. The initial church structure was a portable wood frame church that had previously served as St. Giles Church in nearby Oak Park. It was relocated to the northwest corner of Peterson and Knox Avenues and dedicated in June 1929 as Queen of All Saints Church. The area filled with residential developments after World War II, and first attracted Irish and German immigrants and their descendants. The ethnic composition of the neighborhood has not changed since, although there has been substantial mixing between the two dominant ethnic groups. The Queen of All Saints School was founded in 1932 and like the church, has an enrollment largely of Irish and Germanic descent.