On another American Holiday: From a book for private distribution, “His Imperial Highness the Grand Duke Alexis in the United States of America during the winter of 1871-72″”

Yesterday being Thanksgiving Day, the Grand
Duke and some of his suite went to the Greek Chapel to attend service.

The Duke was met at the door of the chapel by the officiating clergyman, Father Bjerring, holding in his hands a golden crucifix with which he blessed the Duke, and to which the latter very piously pressed his lips.

At the close of the service the priest again blessed the Duke, who also again very piously kissed the crucifix.
http://www.archive.org/stream/hisimperialhigh00unkngoog/hisimperialhigh00unkngoog_djvu.txt

I could swear I saw something in the NY Times on Fr. Bjerring celebrating with Bishop Paul Thanksgiving in 1870 (bishop Paul left the States Nov. 26 from NY. I’ve seen elsewhere in NYTimes (in the context of Bjerring’s defense of Russia’s religious policy in connection with the Lutherans, IIRC) Bjerring was just recently naturalized

From the link you posted to the Serbian parish website, I found this note:

“1892 – Archimandrite Firmilian Drazich, later to become Metropolitan of Skoplje, visits Chicago from April until September. Fr. Drazich has the distinction of being the first Serbian Orthodox priest to serve the Orthodox liturgy in Chicago (in a rented hall). Three Cathedrals in Chicago — Annunciation Greek, Holy Trinity Russian and Holy Resurrection Serbian—herald their beginnings from this common chapel.”

This is obviously the same “Archimandrite Fermillian” in the Tribune article I reprinted above. It certainly may be true that the Chicago Orthodox community had a common chapel prior to the establishment of any of the parishes. There was no resident priest in Chicago, and no formal parish, until the Greek church was founded in 1892. But we do know that there was a lay Orthodox organization before this, and it’s possible that they had a chapel.

The early history of Orthodoxy in Chicago is extremely interesting, perhaps more interesting than that of any other US city. I look forward to hearing what more you find.

Another little interesting caveat to researching Chicago before 1909 or so is that the street names and numbers are crazy. At some point in the mid 1800s, the Post Office mandated that buildings have numbers on them in order to deliver mail. In Chicago, there were at least three different methods for house numbering to be found in the city, and none of them made a whole lot of sense, and so the city of Chicago decided to standardise the system. Also, there were many street names that were repeated at different points in the city, and streets that only used a particular name for a couple of blocks, and this was also more or less standardised. As a result, Holy Trinity, for example, had its address changed from 560 N. Leavitt to 1121 N. Leavitt. Holy Resurrection Serbian Cathedral first had the address 8 Fowler St., which became 1905 Fowler, which became 1905 W. Schiller. Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church had the address 34 Johnson, which became 1101 Johnson, which became 1101 S. Peoria (which is now a space occupied by the University of Illinois at Chicago, meaning that the address doesn’t really exist anymore).

I actually happened by a building that had a large Russian-style cross on top of it. So far, I haven’t been able to find out any information. It’s a mansion on an old street, and the address now, is 2141 W. Pierce St, but back in the day was probably 82 Ewing.

One difference, however, is the location. In the July 5, 1892 article (cited above), the location of St Nicholas is given as No. 20 North Peoria. By April 9, 1893, the Tribune reported that the Russian church was located at No. 13 South Center Avenue. As best I can tell, the name was changed along with the location. (This is rather common. The Russian/OCA cathedral in San Francisco has received a new name each time its building has changed.)

Here’s another wrinkle: on December 24, 1899, the Tribune did a story on a donation by the Tsar to build a new church in Chicago, and it referred to the parish as having a “Brotherhood of St Nicholas.” I’m not sure what exactly this “brotherhood” was. It’s possible that the community called itself “St Nicholas” and called its building “St Vladimir.” (This is rare, but not unheard of. The OCA community in Santa Rosa, CA is called “The Parish of the Protection of the Holy Virgin Mary,” but the actual church building is dedicated to St Seraphim of Sarov.) It is also possible that the “Brotherhood of St Nicholas” was an organization within the parish which took care of the church property.

The first mention I’ve found of “Holy Trinity” is from the Tribune, on April 13, 1902 (reporting on the upcoming cornerstone laying for the new church building). Once again, with the move to a new church building, the parish changed its name.

On May 17 of the same year, the Russian priest Fr Ambrose Vretta came to Chicago and founded St Nicholas parish under the Russian Church (cf. the May 19, 1892 issue of the New York Times, page 3).

Off the top of my head, I don’t know how the name switched from St Nicholas to St Vladimir. I’ve seen no evidence to suggest that the Russian parish was founded prior to the Greek one, though I’d certainly love to learn more.

As for St Tikhon’s hope for a bishop in Chicago, he did indeed express such a desire, though this was a number of years after the events I’ve related. The World’s Fair you mention is a fascinating subject in its own right, and eventually, I’ll write about it in detail here.