[3] In the latter half of the 1930s, the workforce involvement and population as a whole of Mexican immigrants increased across the United States as the socioeconomic effects of the Great Depression started wearing down.

[4][5] The steady increase of their population lead to mass being given on storefront "chapels" due to the lack of a physical church for the Spanish-speaking community.

Archbishop Samuel A. Stritch encouraged Father Tort to enlarge the new chapel by completing $20,000 worth of renovations.

From August 1, 1947 onward, daily mass was celebrated in the church, with Reverend Raymond Sunye, CMF, as pastor.

[6] In 1990, the Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, closed 40 Catholic churches and schools in an effort to save resources with which to pay off the Archdiocese's debt.