Churches helped define Arlington Heights birth and growth, but not without a little in-fighting, Margery Frisbie said during her keynote address at the Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Thursday morning.

Mayor Arlene Mulder kicked off the prayer breakfast Feb. 2. She said Arlington Heights was built by residents, not necessarily government officials like herself. (Michelle Stoffel/Tribune)

Arlington Heights celebrated itself at Mayor Arlene Mulder’s breakfast gathering, attended largely by village officials and business leaders, and put on by the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce.

In honor of the village’s 125th anniversary this year, Frisbie, a historical writer and longtime Arlington Heights resident, delivered a humorous keynote address detailing how churches and faith helped build the community.

Frisbie started her journey as an Arlington Heights historian after her husband, Richard, was asked to write up the history of St. James Parish — and said no.

So Frisbie offered instead, and delved into history. With few archives, she relied on stories from people who had been around when the church was founded. She found she liked hearing their stories and through various other assignments researching the history of the Arlington Heights Memorial Library or other groups, she began gathering an oral history of the village.

Churches were an integral part of the burgeoning village, she said, and residents not socializing at the pubs were socializing at church.

Most of the churches were set up on the north side of town, she said, on what was known as Piety Hill. Most of the pubs and taverns were on the south side, known as Hell Hole.

Lutherans and Catholics often sparred, even shopping at different grocery stores, but eventually were brought together in the 1960s through interfaith efforts.

The journey toward unity wasn’t easy, but “part of building a community was working together,” Frisbie said.