The idea of a Chicago gospel music museum is a longtime dream of the Rev. Stanley Keeble, who worked with gospel legends Inez Andrews and the late Jessy Dixon.As the 27th annual Chicago Gospel Music Festival moves this weekend to Bronzeville, it’s fitting that plans for a museum have been resurrected for a spot across from the landmark Pilgrim Baptist Church, 3300 S. Indiana. In the 1930s, its congregation played a role in the rise of gospel music, as the home base of Thomas A. Dorsey, the father of gospel music, and author of more than 3,000 blues and gospel songs, including “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” (1932), recorded by acts as diverse as Elvis Presley, Merle Haggard and Ike and Tina Turner.
Pilgrim Baptist pastor Tyrone R. Jordan recently reached out to Keeble. “He needs a base,” Jordan said in an interview last week. “And what is a better base than the home of gospel music?”
Jordan offered Keeble the entire 3,000-square-foot third floor of Pilgrim Baptist’s temporary home at 3301 S. Indiana, a former car dealership. In January 2006, Pilgrim Baptist was consumed by fire and is being rebuilt on its original site.
“Things are finally taking to take shape,” said Keeble, who in 2010 had announced plans to open the museum in the former parsonage of the Metropolitan Apostolic Community Church, 4108 S. King Dr., but that fell through. “It’s looking very good for the museum.”
Keeble and Jordan hope to open the museum, to be named the Chicago Gospel Music Heritage Museum, by October.
article courtesy of Eurweb.com/Chicago Sun-Times.com
