History

Greek Orthodox life in St. Louis traces its origins to 1904, when a group of prominent Hellenes organized the first Greek church-community, Hagia Trias. Over the following decade two more communities took shape, and on Palm Sunday 1917 factions from across the city's Greek community came together at a general meeting and voted to organize a new parish. On October 3, 1917, the congregation gathered at Druid's Hall and officially named itself Saint Nicholas. The first Divine Liturgy at Henneman Hall was celebrated on October 21, 1917, and on December 22 the church was officially opened with a Hierarchical Liturgy celebrated by Archbishop Germanos of Antioch, assisted by Father Constantine Liakopoulos, the parish's first priest, who had been confirmed as Presbyter just weeks before. The Liturgy was celebrated in both Greek and Arabic, a reflection of the diverse Orthodox population of St. Louis from the very beginning.

The young community established a Greek language school in September 1918 and held its first parish picnic on the Feast of Pentecost that same year, an informal celebration of food, singing, and Greek dancing that was the ancestor of what became the annual Greek Festival. Saint Nicholas purchased an existing church building at Garrison and Saint Louis Avenues in October 1917 for $15,000. On September 29, 1927, a catastrophic tornado reduced the building to rubble. The community did not despair. Parishioners regrouped immediately, renting temporary space while searching for a new permanent location. After investigating multiple sites, the Forest Park Boulevard location was selected. Chicago architect Ernest K. Eugene drew up plans, construction began in December 1930, the cornerstone was laid on January 11, 1931, and the new Saint Nicholas Church was officially opened on Sunday, September 20, 1931.

In 1954 a committee recommended expanding the church and adding an adjoining community center. Ground was broken for the new community center in 1960, with architectural plans by Raymond E. Maritz and Sons, Inc. and construction by Guttman Construction Company, resulting in the community complex visible on Forest Park Avenue today. One of the parish's most visionary clergy was the Reverend George Mastrantonis, who recognized the need to present Orthodox Christianity in English at a time when such resources were rare and established the O Logos Mission, a pioneering Orthodox outreach effort. The Fr. George Mastrantonis Library, inaugurated in 1973, honors his memory.

As the twentieth century drew to a close, parishioners who had relocated to the suburbs sought a satellite location, and land was purchased on South Outer 40 Drive in 1998. A ribbon cutting at the new Family Life Center followed in May 2010, giving Saint Nicholas one parish with two campuses: the historic Forest Park Avenue church, nestled in the shadow of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in the Central West End, and the Family Life Center in suburban west St. Louis County.

Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church at 4967 Forest Park Avenue in St. Louis serves the faithful of the greater St. Louis metropolitan area as a parish of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Chicago, a community whose story has been the story of its people, from Greek immigrants who weathered hardships and divisions to a vibrant, growing Orthodox Christian presence in the heart of Missouri more than a century after its founding.