Architecture | MNopedia

How Architecture Has Shaped the State

Three Thousand Years of Building in Minnesota

Expert Essay: Architectural historian Larry Millett, author of Lost Twin Cities and numerous other books, offers a colorful tour of notable Minnesota buildings and building styles, from American Indian burial mounds to Beaux Arts monuments and suburban big boxes.

Pilgrim Baptist Church, St. Paul

Pilgrim Baptist Church in St. Paul was the first African American Baptist church established in Minnesota. The congregation was founded during the Civil War, in 1863, by enslaved people who had escaped from Missouri, including pastor Robert Thomas Hickman. The church’s third building (732 West Central Ave.) was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.

Pilgrim Baptist Church, 1990

Pilgrim Baptist Church (732 Central Avenue West, St. Paul), 1990.

Side view of Pilgrim Baptist Church, ca. 1945

Side view of Pilgrim Baptist Church (732 Central Avenue West, St. Paul) ca. 1945.

Opening Day at Pilgrim Baptist Church, 1928 (front doors)

Members of Pilgrim Baptist Church gather in front of their new building at 732 Central Avenue West, St. Paul, on its opening day: December 16, 1928. Cropped portion of a panoramic photo.

Pilgrim Baptist Church, undated

Pilgrim Baptist Church (Cedar Avenue between Twelfth Street and Summit Avenue) in St. Paul, undated but between 1886 (when the congregation moved to Cedar Avenue from Sibley Street) and 1928, when the congregation moved from Cedar Avenue to 732 Central Avenue West.