Lee Bey: The Urban Observer

(photo by Lee Bey)

First Church of Deliverance, an Art Moderne beauty at 4315 S. Wabash. The building was built in 1939 and designed by Walter T. Bailey, who was the first African American to hold an architecture license in Illinois. Those striking, terra cotta-clad twin towers, built in 1946, were designed by Kocher Buss & DeKlerk. The Rev. Clarence H. Cobbs was only 21 when he founded the predominantly black First Church congregation in 1929. The church began its radio broadcast in 1934, giving Cobbs and his 200-member choir a national reach and influence. The congregation's choir revolutionized the sound of gospel music in 1939 when its organist and composer Kenneth Morris convinced Cobbs to install the newly-created Hammond electric organ at the church. The church's gospel festivals in old Comiskey Park in the 1940s drew thousands. In 1953, the congregation became the first black church in the U.S. (quite possibly the world) to broadcast its services on television. WLS-TV carried those services live--a significant development, in retrospect--for 12 straight weeks, according to the First Church of Deliverance website. The church, designated a protected Chicago landmark in 1994, is still well-kept and in service by its congregation. And the choir still enjoys a bit of prominence, judging by this video clip.