I had passed by this unique and beautiful church numerous times just east of Jones Park in East St. Louis, and I finally got around to photographing it and figuring out its history. Its current owner is Pilgrim Green Missionary Church, and they’re thriving, recently building a new hall out the back to the south.

But I strongly suspected that this was originally a Catholic church, but I didn’t have much to go on other than a list of closed parishes from the Belleville diocese. Which one was it? Well, as I often have to do when I do research, I have to take “a leap of faith.” I didn’t have much to go on, other than two angels over the front door. I took a shot in the dark and guessed it was the former Holy Angels Roman Catholic Church, and I was right! Good educated guess!

As I learned from the St. Clair County Historical Society, the parish grew and paralleled the rise and fall of the massive industrial giant that was East St. Louis and its company towns.

It was actually founded in 1924, and I think the original school building and rectory were built shortly after that, as well as the temporary sanctuary. When the permanent church was built in 1950, in a new, Modernist style, a new front was built on the school, seen above, as well as a new rectory to the east.

As can be seen, the 1920s school has been torn down, leaving the front facade standing, and the 1950s front sitting abandoned. Below is the facade from the back.

As mentioned, the new rectory sits to the east, and from the looks of it, much of it has collapsed or been demolished. A very interesting campus and how it’s been adapted to the modern day.