Tilsenbilt Homes, Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church to be recognized as historic Minneapolis sites

A postwar neighborhood in south Minneapolis and a church on the city's North Side are poised to become official historic sites.

A City Council committee unanimously passed resolutions last week approving historic designations for ­Tilsenbilt Homes and Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church.

Both sites are landmarks in the city's black community.

The church and the neighborhood are under interim historic protection, pending approval from the full council.

Tilsenbilt Homes, a south Minneapolis single-family housing development built in the mid-1950s, was one of the nation's first integrated private housing developments. Thirty-two of the modestly sized, single-story houses there are being recognized as a local historic district.

Council Member Elizabeth Glidden, who led the effort, has advocated for recognition of black history throughout south Minneapolis.

"This is just an area where we have not done our work — where we have not, as government, spent the time and attention that should be spent on these cultural resources, this social history that is so significant to our city, to our state, to the country as a whole," she said.

The 32 homeowners who have opted for historic designation will have to preserve the original exteriors of their 1950s homes and avoid major renovations, such as altering rooflines or the size of first-story windows.

Across town, Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church is in the historic Shingle Creek neighborhood. That community's early residents were former slaves and the children of former slaves who moved from the South, according to a report from Minneapolis city staff.

The church was established in 1923 and operated for decades out of a converted garage and then a basement. In 1968, neighboring Hope Lutheran Church donated the current building, originally a schoolhouse in rural Osseo.

At last week's committee meeting, Council President Barb Johnson applauded the designation for the church, which is about four blocks from where she grew up.

"This is a building that is really significant in the history of north Minneapolis," Johnson said. "This is really a great ­celebration."