St. Augustine’s Church

Inscription

Side One: St. Augustine’s Church

In need of their own place to worship in the segregated city of Gary, a group of Black professionals helped establish St. Augustine’s Episcopal Mission in 1927. In the late 1930s and 1940s, Benedictine monks, assigned by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana, aided the Mission. Under the leadership of Rev. Wallace Wells, the congregation flourished in the 1950s.

Side Two: St. Augustine’s Church

St. Augustine’s involvement in social and civil rights issues included efforts to integrate the beach at Marquette Park in 1953 and to find adoptive families for Black children. After years of growth, the Mission commissioned renowned architect Edward Dart to design a new church here, which opened in 1959. The diocese bestowed parish status on St. Augustine’s in 1961.

Installed 2025 Indiana Historical Bureau, Indiana Landmarks, Inc., William G. Pomeroy Foundation, Founding Families of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, and Paula M. DeBois