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THE PLACE: "Annie Pfeiffer Chapel,(on Florida Southern College Campus): is the Hallmark of the Wright buildings on the campus and was completed at a cost of $120,000. Student labor enabled this building to be constructed from 1939 to 1941. The Chapel is considered to be a true specimen of Wright’s work, with all the basic elements of his architecture integrated within. One can truly experience Wright’s desire of being lifted “out of the ground, into the light. . .” while standing beneath the tower. Wright used colored pieces of glass to break the monotony of the blocks allowing natural light to enter. The building’s tower is also affectionately referred to as “the bicycle rack in the sky” and “the bow-tie” because of the wrought iron work atop and the exterior concrete design respectively." (from (
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This is a wonderful site with both information and photos - (
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This building is a wonder to behold (visit link) both at a distance and up close to see all the inlaid colored glass.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE PERSON:"Annie Merner Pfeiffer, (1860-1946)September 23, 1860 - Born New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada
March 1, 1882 - Married Henry Pfeiffer
January 8, 1946 - Died in New York
The young Annie Merner was educated in the public schools of Ontario. She was the daughter of John and Anna Marie Zingg Merner, well-to-do farmers who moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa to escape the Canadian winters. In Cedar Falls she met and married Henry Pfeiffer in 1882. The Pfeiffers began their affiliation with the Methodist Episcopal Church when the couple moved to St. Louis in 1917. They were originally members of the Evangelical Church, but there were no such churches in St. Louis. When the couple again moved, this time to New York in 1927, Annie Merner Pfeiffer became president of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the New York Conference. One of the first institutions to which the Pfeiffers first made a gift was the Ethel Harpst Home in Cedartown, Georgia. As their knowledge of and interest in the projects of the WHMS grew, they began to single out other institutions for financial assistance. Mrs. W. H. C. Goode, president o the national WHMS, directed Mrs. Pfeiffer's attention to Mitchell Home School in 1929, and Mrs. Pfeiffer made her first visit to Misenheimer in that year. Gifts totaling over 1.5 million dollars followed, including gifts of buildings, cash, and stocks.
*Annie Merner Pfeiffer received honorary degrees from the following institutions:
1937 Albright College, Reading, PA
1939 MacMurray College, Jacksonville, IL
1938 Cornell College, Mt. Vernon, IA
1941 Florida Southern College, Lakeland, FL
1941 Kansas Wesleyan University, Salina, KS
1941 Bennett College, Greensboro, NC
1942 Southwestern College, Winfield, KS
1942 Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, IL
She also served on the Board of Trustees of several colleges and universities, including Pfeiffer Junior College. Her philanthropy extended to institutions around the world.
Annie Merner Pfeiffer died January 8, 1946." (cited from (
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"At its dedication, Annie Pfeiffer (wife of the founder of Pfeiffer Chemical Company) reportedly said, "They say it is finished," perhaps in reference to the metal bars forming a spire or steeple."
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HER HUSBAND: (since he 'officially' made the money for their philanthropy):
"Henry Pfeiffer, (1857–1939) was the oldest of ten children born to Heinrich and Barbara Kluftinger Pfeiffer, German immigrants. He was born in Lewiston, Pa., but the Pfeiffers moved to Cedar Falls, Iowa. He received his early education in the Cedar Falls public schools and later attended North Central College, Naperville, Ill.
He became a clerk in a retail drugstore in Cedar Falls and later opened his own. Soon, his brothers Paul and G.A. joined him as business partners. Pfeiffer's business successes led him to found the Pfeiffer Chemical Company, and gain control of both William R. Warner and Company, and Richard Hudnut Cosmetics Company. This company is now known as Warner-Lambert.
Pfeiffer married Annie Merner in 1882. They lived modestly and never had children. Instead, they devoted time and money to philanthropic enterprises, especially to colleges like Pfeiffer, under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Upon his death, Pfeiffer left the greater part of his estate to religious, educational, scientific, and similar institutions. The Henry Pfeiffer Chapel on the Misenheimer campus was named in his memory by his wife and was dedicated in 1942."
(cited from (
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