Names of Store-Front Churches in Chicago

~TH THE INCREASE OF CHICAGO'S NEGRO POPULATION to more than 800,000 there has come a proliferation of store-front churches on the city's south side. The congregations meet, frequently on week-nights, in empty store buildings in dilapidated, frequently semi-abandoned, blocks. Though one strikingly handsome window on 61 st Street and another on 43 rd have been painted decoratively in a style much like Diego Rivera's, the old shop windows are usually left clear and bear only an unprofessionally lettered schedule of services, the name of the preacher (who is often self-appointed and unordained) and of the congregation. The church names themselves are full of interest. In February 1962 the following were observed in the area bounded by 32nd and 63rd Streets, State Street and Cottage Grove Avenue: