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Our 75th Anniversary Celebration in 2023, pictured above.
“A Good & Joyful Thing”, Oktoberfest, Trunk or Treat, Sudan Soirees, picnics, barn dances, Christmas Bazaars, talent shows…memorable parties, fundraisers and mission trips pop-up so often in the history of St. Michael’s that fellowship inside and outside of our church building is as foundational to our history as is our faith.
Indeed, our history records a group of young Barrington families who began meeting together socially in the 1930’s. Perhaps they had met while attending Sunday worship at St. James Episcopal Church in West Dundee, the closest Episcopal church.
After the war, the Barrington residents met intentionally to find a way to provide, within their village, the “spiritual advantage of an Episcopal Sunday School”. It appears that what they called “Sunday School” is what we call “Church”. Their services, in each other’s homes and then in Country Day School, consisted of Morning Prayer after which the adults gathered for Bible study.
In 1945, their representatives met with Bishop Wallace Conkling and received permission to form a parish in Barrington. With a chosen name, St. Michael’s, but little money, no clergy and no building, the parish was later reduced to mission status.
Some parents arranged for a bus to transport their children to St. James for Sunday School. Charles and Leona Buckley’s home was one of the last stops before the bus traveled on to West Dundee. Leona recounted this anecdote for our 50th Anniversary booklet: “If my memory serves me correctly, the founding of St. Michael’s came about due to one of those bus rides to St. James on a cold, icy Sunday morning. It was a typical Sunday morning; the roads were a bit icy, but not slippery or dangerous enough to cancel the bus. I watched my children board the bus and wave goodbye. All seemed normal. Little did I know that this particular Sunday would be an important day in St. Michael’s history.
“According to my son, and all the other children on the bus, while enroute to St. James one of the children shot the bus driver in the ear with a bean shooter. The bus driver temporarily lost control and began to swerve on the icy road. The children riding on the bus thought that not only was the bean shot funny, but so was slipping out of control all over the road!
“Thankfully no one was hurt. After hearing about the incident, a meeting was called for all the Sunday School parents where it was unanimously decided to discontinue busing our children to St. James for Sunday School.”
The long drive to West Dundee was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” for young families.
Thus, in 1948, with newly raised funds and a strengthened resolve to form a parish, their representatives again met with Bp. Conkling and were again given permission to form a parish with continuous weekly worship services. The growing group of Episcopalians rented space in the Masonic Temple, which they transformed from secular (even draping a red cloth over George Washington’s portrait) to sacred, every Saturday evening for 150 weeks.
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Before St. Michael's had a church building, | In 1949, the Reverend Joseph B. Williams, who served as a chaplain in World War II, was called to be the first rector. Fr. Williams brought with him a skillfully hand-carved corpus (Latin for the body of Christ). Depicting a crucified Christ, it had been hidden in an attic in the Tirol area of Austria by Herr Bischoff, a schoolmaster and artisan. Next, the fledgling parish needed to raise enough money to buy land, then build a church to hold high the cross upon which the corpus was mounted. The 25th Anniversary booklet, researched and written by founding members JoAnn Bailey and her sister, Mary Louise Lutz, noted that “building a church was not as simple as it sounded!” Among other issues, vestry members disagreed over the choice of liturgy: Morning Prayer or Holy Eucharist. Fr. Williams declared it would be Holy Eucharist. St. Michael’s has, from the beginning, adhered to the Anglo-Catholic tradition within the Anglican communion. Our church is worship-centered with a rich history of beautiful, formal liturgy, including acolytes, altar guild, and lay eucharistic ministers. |
In 1979 the Book of Common Prayer was adopted.
Although the 1976 General Convention supported the full participation of women in ordained and lay ministry, it wasn’t until 1991 that Heather Ross became our first female acolyte, and women were allowed on our altar as chalice bearers. Since then, several women have served St. Michael’s as a deacon, a curate, associate and assistant priests.
Currently, Rite I is celebrated at 8 a.m., and Rite II is celebrated at 10 a.m. Additional Holy Days are observed throughout the year during Lent, Advent, All Souls Day and more.
| Music at St. Michael’s is an integral part of our liturgy. Accompanied by our magnificent, 1,772-pipe organ, the expansive, inspiring, choral repertoire is oftentimes cathedralesque.
A church expansion was required to house the custom-designed Bosch pipe organ. A full choir with women’s and men’s voices sang at the blessing service in early 1970.
Sara Torbeck leads adult and children’s choirs, and a bell choir. Frequently, special service choirs include singers from throughout our community.
The Bosch pipe organ was built after the tradition of the 17th and 18th century pipe organs but incorporated the latest advances in technology. |
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St. Michael's as it looked in 1958, and in 2025, with many building expansions and additions.
Located at the corner of Hillside and Dundee Avenues, St. Michael’s Church presents a striking example of contemporary architecture. Designed by parishioner Edward Dart, St. Michael’s received the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for excellence.
St. Michael’s was built with a unique and now world-famous open bell tower, which later was graced by bells hand cast in the Netherlands and given, in 1955, as a Bard family memorial.
Our stained-glass windows, which portray the life of Jesus, were designed and installed by the Conrad Schmitt Studios, in 1961.
At the 50th Anniversary, in 1998, the Reverend Alvin C. Johnson, Jr., announced preliminary plans to move forward with a capital stewardship campaign to raise $3.2 million for a building expansion which would provide new offices for clergy and staff, 12 new classrooms, space dedicated to the Little Angels Christian Preschool, and large multipurpose space that would accommodate large dinners, receptions, seminars, and other events. Construction was completed in early 2001.
The most ever members of St. Michael’s at the blessing of the completion of the expansion.
In 2002, the neighboring Sturtz House, which was gifted by a parishioner, was renovated to serve as the Jr./Sr. Youth facility.
The Reverend Jesse Perkins, our 9th rector, led the formation of an IT team in 2020 to install cameras and a sound system to Livestream weekly worship services during COVID. Online services are still popular with many parishioners, and video conferencing is available for Bible studies, and other educational and committee meetings.
| A high value has traditionally been placed on outreach, giving to people outside our parish who are in need. St. Michael’s as a parish affirms our call to ministries of service, both to each other in this parish and the community beyond. Funds are dispersed locally, nationally and internationally in response to carefully researched and prayerfully considered requests.
Highlights from our impressive history of serving others outside our parish include our Covenant of Relationship with Renk Diocese in South Sudan which began in 1998; the 2005 Katrina Care Campaign; multiple mission trips to Haiti and Guatemala; and youth mission trips to several other states. |
Bishop Joseph Garang Atem of the Diocese of Renk in South Sudan, on left, has visited St. Michael's many times, beginning when he was a seminary student. Shown here with Deacon Laurie Michaels, Fr. Jesse Perkins and Assistant Priest Lisa Erdeljon. | ||
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Our gift shop, And All the Angels, opened in 1994, as a source for tasteful Christian gifts and books. It gives away all its profits to women’s and children’s charities.
Faith Formation
Epiphany pageants celebrate the visit of the Magi.
In 1998 the Little Angels Christian Preschool, opened its doors to meet the developmental and spiritual needs of young children of our parish and those in our community, ages two to five.
Adult faith formation and fellowship opportunities exist in abundance at St. Michael’s. Many groups meet regularly, others gather for shorter periods of time, like during Lent or Advent.
Our parish likes to have fun and celebrate life’s many blessings, a recent example was our 2025 ‘A Good & Joyful Thing Gala’, which raised $30,000 for Outreach! | |||
Photos of the rectors, interim rectors, priests in charge, assistant priests, associate priests, curates, deacons, and lay leaders who have served St. Michael’s since 1948 fill the corridor leading to the chapel and sacristy. It is a most impressive portrait gallery, remembering and honoring the many men and women who served God and our congregation over the past 75 years.
| The Rev. Joseph B. Williams | 1949 – 1957 |
People & Places: Read More about how St. Michael's developed and changed through the decades.
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