Pullman, now a National Historical Park, was built by the Pullman Palace Car Company as a company town. George Pullman – owner of the company, founder of the town, and a Unitarian Universalist – saw the church as a place to unite residents of all denominations under a broad-minded evangelical clergyman. However, this vision was unfulfilled, and the building ultimately was purchased by the First Methodist Episcopal Church in 1892. The congregation has a long history within the Pullman community as an advocate for justice and workers’ rights. In 2002, the church merged with 2 predominantly Black congregations, rebranding as Greenstone UMC.

The merger led to a heightened commitment to outward-facing service, and the current Greenstone UMC serves as a community center in modern Pullman, which is now a neighborhood within the City of Chicago. Programming at Greenstone UMC ranges from concerts and farmers markets to community assistance and environmental work. Greenstone UMC also collaborates and shares space with Pullman Tech Workshop, a trades school which reduces systemic barriers to training in hands-on historic preservation work.

Greenstone UMC has partnered extensively with preservation organizations across the country, including Landmarks Illinois and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and has recently received a $1.08 million grant from the City of Chicago’s Adopt-A-Landmark program toward the bell tower restoration. A National Fund grant of $100,000 with $100,000 in matching funds raised by the congregation will go towards further stabilization and repair efforts for the serpentine stone, which has posed life safety issues from falling masonry, as well as restoration of stained glass in the rose window.

Greenstone UMC by Rev. Luther Mason