THE GAP — There’s new hope for the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church with plans to convert the building into a national gospel music museum.
Don Jackson, CEO of Central City Productions, said Tuesday he is working on a plan that would rebuild the church, considered the birthplace of gospel music and which burned down in 2006, as a museum.
Jackson has a strong track record with museums and gospel music as the founder of the Stellar Awards for gospel music and a former chairman of the board of trustees for the DuSable Museum of African American History.
“Based on what we know about gospel music, the musicians we’re connected with and the historians, we think Chicago makes the best home for the museum,” Jackson said.
Jackson said he had few details to offer until a feasibility study was done to determine what could be done with the four remaining exterior walls of the church designed by Adler and Sullivan.
He said he imagined exhibits as well as conference space and TV and music studios to support the existing training programs of the Stellar Awards Gospel Awards Academy nonprofit, which will be the lead developer for the museum.
Jackson said he already has a letter of intent with the church leadership for a 45-year lease to the site and is hopeful the museum could open as early as 2020.
The plan got the unanimous support of the Gap Community Organization on Tuesday night, in part because the Pilgrim Baptist congregation would no longer be involved.
The congregation has struggled for more than a decade to rebuild the church as its membership shrank and church leaders said Tuesday it was time to pass the project on.
“We’re saving a historic landmark,” said Robert Vaughn, chairman of the trustees for the church. “We can’t stand in the way of progress.”
The church will have no role in developing the museum or its ongoing operation, according to Jackson. It will continue to own the land and will donate some of its artifacts from the time Thomas Dorsey, “the grandfather of gospel music,” was the music director and singers like Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Sallie Martin, James Cleveland and the Staples Singers performed in the church.
Jackson said his organization will not get control of the former church until he’s hit undisclosed fundraising goals. He said he will not start fundraising until after the initial studies are done sometime in the next three months, but he would like to move quickly once they are.
People leave Pilgrim Baptist Church on Easter Sunday in this undated photo. [Courtesy of New York Public Library]
Pilgrim Baptist Church, designed by Adler and Sullivan, is a Chicago landmark for its role as the birthplace of gospel music. [Courtesy of the Library of Congress]
