Completed in 1891, Pilgrim Baptist Church in Bronzeville, Illinois, served as a Jewish synagogue before it became home to Pilgrim in 1922. The building was historic for many reasons, one of them being that it is often credited as the birthplace of gospel music. In the 1930s, as the congregation grew, Thomas A. Dorsey was brought aboard as Pilgrim’s music director. Dorsey had the idea to apply jazz and blues to church music: That fusion was eventually coined gospel. Dorsey’s music, along with high energy sermons, made Pilgrim a popular destination come Sunday. Among those said to have sang at Pilgrim during Dorsey’s (who died in 1993) 55-year tenure were Mahalia Jackson and Sam Cooke
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