{"nrhp_refnum":"84001047","name":"St. James Catholic Church and Cemetery","other_names":["Catholic Church and Cemetery at Sagganash","The Sag"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"106th St. and Archer Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lemont","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.69863094900006,"lon":-87.93263819399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-08-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["European","Exploration/Settlement","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Catholic church and cemetery on a bluff at the junction of the Sag and Des Plaines valleys near Lemont, Cook County, Illinois. The cemetery was in use by 1837, and the stone church was built between 1853 and 1859.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the site is a cultural landmark tied to the prehistory and frontier settlement of northeastern Illinois, with exceptional integrity of setting and continuous use. It is linked to the Irish canal workers who built the Illinois and Michigan Canal. It is also described as the only combined Catholic church and cemetery complex, and the only rural Catholic church, in the canal's National Heritage Corridor.","narrative":"St. James (Sag) Church and Cemetery occupy a high bluff above the point where the Sag and Des Plaines valleys meet, southwest of Chicago near Lemont. Irish laborers building the Illinois and Michigan Canal began burying their dead here in 1837, and the earliest legible stone dates from 1846. The church cornerstone was laid in 1853, and the building was finished in 1859. Settlers hauled buff-colored local dolomite up the hill in exchange for cemetery lots. In 1882 the first resident pastor arrived, and architect Martin Carr designed a transept and steeple. Buttresses were added in the 1920s after blasting for the Cal-Sag Channel weakened the walls. The cemetery holds many locally carved tombstones bearing Irish surnames and the home county and parish in Ireland. The surrounding oak forest and the commanding setting remain largely intact. The site is listed for its ties to canal-era settlement and Irish heritage, and it is still an active parish.","period_of_significance":"1837-1882","architect_builder":"Martin Carr (1882 enlargement); original masonry by local Irish settlers","architectural_style":"Gothic Basilican plan; vernacular structure","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in active religious use; the cemetery is still used by descendants of canal workers and settlers. Condition is given as good and altered, on its original site.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.580865-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/6/8924/28892406/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/84001047.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001047/89b56b6721-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84001047/89b56b6721-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Teemu08 at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJamesLemont.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Teemu08 at en.wikipedia</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StJamesLemont.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"11000907","name":"Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-sanitary-and-ship-canal-historic-district-11000907/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892406","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._James_Catholic_Church_and_Cemetery_(Lemont,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7588443"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/st-james-catholic-church-and-cemetery-84001047/"}