A history of North Shore Congregational Church

On April 27, 1949, a group of twenty-five faithful servants met in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fritz vonGrossman to sign the Charter Membership Roll of North Shore Congregational Church. The church held its first worship service on May 15, 1949 in the Lower Assembly Room of the Milwaukee Country Day School (now the Karl Jewish Community Center) on Santa Monica Boulevard. Dr. Everett MacNair of Plymouth Congregational Church led the ninety-six person congregation in this first service.

North Shore welcomed its first minister, Rev. Vernon I. ("Pat") Flynn, on July 1, 1949. Worship services had been suspended for the summer to allow members and Rev. Flynn to canvass the neighborhoods spreading the word about their new church. Weekly worship resumed on September 11, 1949 and Rev. Flynn launched the church's first fall programming season. On November 6, 1949, the church received 329 charter members.

In May 1954, the cornerstone of the church building was laid, and the congregation moved into this new home, at the corner of Bell Road and Santa Monica Boulevard in January, 1955. Soon thereafter, John D. ("Jack") Fitzgerald, Jr. joined Rev. Flynn as the church's first Assistant Minister. Rev. Fitzgerald served the church from 1955-1957.

The groundbreaking for the new addition occurred on April 4, 1999 where we changed the entry of the church and put in an elevator.

In 2003, we updated our constitution and by-laws. (This form is in pdf format. Click here for the latest FREE version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.)