Founded in 1863 by Rev. Robert Hickman with the assistance of his wife, Fielding Combs, Henry Moffitt, John Trotter and Giles Crenshaw, Pilgrim Baptist Church of St. Paul is one of the oldest African American Churches in Minnesota. Hickman’s prayer group held services in their homes in downtown St. Paul. Finally in 1863, they succeeded in renting the lodge room of the God Temples in the Concert Hall Building on Third Street. Hickman sought and received mission status from the First Baptist Church of St. Paul in January 1864. Between 1864 and 1866 the black parishioners continued to worship separately under Hickman’s direction. Next, they constructed a building on a lot located on Sibley near Morris Street. Their first two ministers, William Norris and Andrew Torbet, were white. Robert Hickman, the leader and natural candidate for the position of minister was not chosen. He was eventually licensed to preach in 1874 and ordained in 1875. When Hickman became the congregation’s official minister in 1878, the church’s white ministry ended.