Evangelical minister and founder of the Christian Catholic Church (later Christian Catholic Apostolic Church) and the Christian utopian city of Zion, on Lake Michigan near the northern border of Illinois.

John Alexander Dowie, founder of Zion City, was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, May 25, 1847, to an evangelical family. By the age of six he had completely read the Bible and had taken the pledge against tobacco, opium, and alcohol. The family immigrated to Australia in 1860, with Dowie returning to attend the University of Edinburgh from 1867 to 1872, at which time he once more sailed for Australia. In 1876 Dowie married and he began his evangelistic ministry three years later in Melbourne.

Dowie immigrated to San Francisco in 1888 where he founded the Ministry of Divine Healing. After years of traveling across the country preaching and healing, he finally settled in Chicago and in 1893 set up a tabernacle at the World's Columbian Exposition. During the next seven years, Dowie founded the Christian Catholic Church (Protestant-Evangelical) that met in several city locations including the Chicago Auditorium (1896). He continued his preaching, teaching and healing, while encountering increasing criticism from local press and police. Finally, Dowie secretly purchased a frontage on Lake Michigan between Chicago and Milwaukee, and on July 14, 1900, the land was dedicated and formally consecrated to God as Zion City. The Christian utopian city opened its gates on July 15, 1901.

Dowie was able to persuade the federal government to let him import the machinery and personnel from England to create a lace-making industry, the first of its kind in America. Its products were eventually sold through the best downtown Chicago department stores. His reputation and message were spread by means of several serial publications (e.g., "Leaves of Healing"), and through his preaching tours. He continued to develop his utopian community until a stroke took his life on Mar. 9, 1907.

Wilbur Glenn Voliva (1870-1942) succeeded Dowie as General Overseer of Zion City, 1906-1942. Voliva was born on a farm in Indiana on Mar. 10, 1870. In 1889, he entered Union Christian College at Merom, Indiana, and graduated five years later into the ministry of the Christian Church. In 1898 he was drawn to Dowie's teachings and eventually joined his congregation. He succeeded Dowie only a few years later. Voliva is perhaps best remembered as the originator of the Zion Passion Play, an annual production that debuted in 1935.