Waud captures the humility and piety of post-fire Chicago in this sketch of a service outside the ruins of Grace Methodist Church. Almost all its members lived nearby, so they, too, were burned out, which forced them to find at least temporary housing throughout the city and its suburbs. They regathered in early December in a temporary building, which was said to be the first church to reopen in the burnt district. Pastor William Parkhurst told them that there was a higher meaning and purpose in the church being destroyed since the ordeal inculcated greater self-reliance. The congregation, having decided to move to a new location a short distance farther north on LaSalle Street, sold the land to urban evangelist Dwight L. Moody.
For more of Waud's work, see the "Waud Drawings" gallery in the "Eyewitnesses" section.
