Pilgrim Baptist Church is a historic church located on the south side of

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, USA. The landmarked building was originally constructed for a synagogue, Kehilath Anshe Ma'arav. The church is notable both as an architectural landmark and for the cultural contributions by the congregation of the church. Located at 3301 S. Indiana Ave, the church is in the heart of Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood.

History

The building was designed as a

synagogue A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of wors ...

by Chicago architects

Louis Sullivan Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...

and

Dankmar Adler Dankmar Adler (July 3, 1844 – April 16, 1900) was a German-born American architect and civil engineer. He is best known for his fifteen-year partnership with Louis Sullivan, during which they designed influential skyscrapers that boldly addr ...

, and built in 1890 and 1891. Originally, the structure was the home of Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv, an important congregation in the development of

Reform Judaism Reform Judaism, also known as Liberal Judaism or Progressive Judaism, is a major Jewish denomination that emphasizes the evolving nature of Judaism, the superiority of its ethical aspects to its ceremonial ones, and belief in a continuous sear ...

; Adler was a member, and his father was a

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. That congregation continues as K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Temple. A

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul c ...

congregation moved into the building in 1922, forming Pilgrim Baptist Church. The church is credited as the birthplace of

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is c ...

in the 1930s.

Thomas A. Dorsey Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them gospel, i ...

, the "Father of Gospel Music", was the music director at Pilgrim Baptist for decades.

Albertina Walker Albertina Walker ( – ) was an American gospel music, gospel singer, songwriter, actress, and humanitarian. Early years Walker was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Ruben and Camilla Coleman Walker. Her mother was born in Houston County, ...

Mahalia Jackson Mahalia Jackson ( ; born Mahala Jackson; October 26, 1911 – January 27, 1972) was an American gospel singer, widely considered one of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century. With a career spanning 40 years, Jackson was integral to ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in '' Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". Wit ...

Sallie Martin Sallie Martin (November 20, 1895 – June 18, 1988) was an American gospel singer referred to as the "Mother of Gospel" for her efforts to popularize the songs of Thomas A. Dorsey and her influence on other artists. Biography Martin was born ...

, James Cleveland,

The Staples Singers The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...

, and The Edwin Hawkins Singers are among those who have sung at the church. Famous members of the congregation include Bessie Coleman. The church also hosted the

funeral A funeral is a ceremony connected with the final disposition of a corpse, such as a burial or cremation, with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect t ...

service of boxer Jack Johnson in 1946, and was prominent in the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the United ...

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

delivered sermons at the church during the height of the movement. In 1973, the building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, and the building was designated a

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, archit ...

in 1981. It housed a large series of murals painted by the African-American painter William E. Scott between 1936 and 1937. Pilgrim's charismatic and forward-thinking pastor Junius C. Austin hired both Scott and Dorsey in the 1930s to increase the church's appeal making it one of the largest churches in the country in just a few years.

Fire

On January 6, 2006, a fire broke out that spread and gutted the building. Investigators concluded that the fire was started accidentally by workers performing roof repairs during a $500,000 restoration. The roofers were fitting metal

coping Coping refers to conscious strategies used to reduce unpleasant emotions. Coping strategies can be cognitions or behaviours and can be individual or social. Theories of coping Hundreds of coping strategies have been proposed in an attempt to ...

, which is sealed with a

blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning gas lamp used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually metalworking. Early blowtorches used liquid fuel, carried in a refillable reservoir atta ...

. Consumed in the fire were decades of historical records, along with boxes full of Dorsey's original

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chords of a song or instrumental musical piece. Like its analogs – printed books or pamphlets in English, Ara ...

. An elementary school across the street had to be evacuated, and the nearby Illinois College of Optometry building had windows destroyed by the high temperatures of the fire. Cars parked alongside the church were "virtually incinerated." After the fire, the brick and stone of the outer walls still stood near-complete and were determined to be structurally sound. A steel support skeleton was later attached to the outside to brace the walls for a possible later reconstruction of the interior of the building and restoration of the façade. The congregation now meets in a building across the street from the burnt out structure.

Reconstruction plans

Following the devastating fire that destroyed all but the exterior masonry walls of Pilgrim Baptist Church, the congregation committed to reconstructing the church on the current site. Sufficient documentation exists to ensure an accurate reproduction of the church, allowing for necessary alterations related to current liturgical and code requirements. The target period for reconstruction of Pilgrim Baptist is the 1920s–1930s era. This period was chosen because it was during this time that, as Pilgrim Baptist Church, the most significant events associated with the building, including the rise of gospel music, occurred. At the same time, the building itself retained most of the physical elements that characterized its original design as a synagogue by Adler & Sullivan. The exterior of the structure will be reconstructed to include all of the character-defining features of its original construction, which survived into the 1920s. At the interior, the sanctuary will be reconstructed to include all of the character-defining features of its original construction, with necessary modifications to accommodate modern accessibility and church usage requirements. The

August 2020 Midwest derecho The August 2020 Midwest derecho was a powerful derecho affecting the Midwestern United States on August 10–11, 2020, primarily eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. It caused high winds and spawned an outbreak of weak tor ...

caused significant damage to the structure but the damage was not expected to affect the reconstruction schedule.

In popular culture

Although some news reports confused the two buildings, this is ''not'' the same Pilgrim Baptist Church as that used as the "Triple Rock" church in the movie ''

The Blues Brothers The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedians Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on ''Saturday Night Live''. Belushi and Aykroyd fronted the band, in character, respecti ...

'', which stands on 91st Street several miles to the south.

References

External links

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Rebuild Pilgrim Baptist Church

Chicago Landmarks page

''Chicago Tribune'' news article on fire

BBC: Fire destroys historic US church

{{Louis Sullivan Burned religious buildings and structures in the United States Churches in Chicago

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...