In summer 1833, the first service conducted by the DuPage Presbyterian Church — now called First Presbyterian Church of DuPage — took place outdoors because the hickory log cabin in which the service was to take place was too small for the crowd that arrived.

On July 12, a few hundred people showed up for a celebration of 175th anniversary of the church — the second oldest organized church in the Chicago area — and to take part in a variety of festivities.

The church is located at 180 N. Weber Road, Bolingbrook.

“It was a great weekend, and a lot of people came to honor the second-oldest church in the Chicago area,” said Pastor Mark Hughley.

Hughley said about 200 people attended the anniversary picnic and concert, as well as the Sunday service at which he spoke briefly on the church’s rich heritage.

“A Scottish bagpiper led the procession on Sunday because the church itself was founded by Scottish Presbyterians,” Hughley said.

According to Jim Childress, chairman of the Bolingbrook Historic Preservation Commission, the church was organized in 1833 — about a year after settlers began farming the area.

In 1833, just a few weeks after a Presbyterian church was organized in Chicago — now the First Presbyterian Church located on Michigan Avenue across the street from Water Tower Place — the DuPage Presbyterian Church was organized.

Services were held in a log-cabin school house and homes of church members until March 1844, when a new structure was built solely for the purpose of serving as a church.

Hughley said one of the highlights of the anniversary weekend was a display of artifacts, including a chalice used until 1909, a bible from the 1840s, a communion set used between about 1909 and the 1960s and the pulpit, used in the 1850s.

“That really provided a connection between today and the church’s past,” Hughley said.

By 1853, a permanent structure was built on the south side of Royce Road near Paxson Drive, a site once marked by a stone marker.

“I have seen it several years ago, but now it is overgrown there,” said Childress.