Jeremiah Porter

Jeremiah Porter Soundex Code P636

Reverend Jeremiah Porter(1804 - 1893)

Considered Chicago's First Reformer

The Reverend Jeremiah Porter arrived in Chicago (shortly before it was Chicago) on Saturday, May 11, 1833. He is credited with being the City's first reformer.

Porter was a Yankee Presbyterian evangelist, originally from Hadley, Massachusetts. At the time there were very few clergy in Chicago. He organized the first permanent Protestant Church, and dedicated the First Presbyterian Church, Edward's Congregational Church, at Clark and Lake on Saturday, January 4, 1834.

In 1835, Reverend Jeremiah Porter married Eliza Emily Chappell Porter, nee: Eliza Emily Chappell.

Later that year he began a campaign to eradicate gambling, which would fail fairly quickly. He left Chicago in September 1835 to move to a farm in Peoria.