Confederate Chapel - Higginsville, MO - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

County of site: Lafayete County
Location of site: 1st St., Missouri Confederate Home Historic Site, Jct. MO-213, busi. MO-13, & MO-20, 2 miles N. of Higginsville
Chapel built: 1892
Non-Denominational Chapel

This is a historic site, chapel is used for weddings and services on a sporadic basis.
When I visited the park ranger said it was unlocked and was always so, to allow visitors to the cemetery, or park, visit at their own leisure.

Confederate Chapel
The chapel was built in 1892. A contemporary wrote succinctly "At the south end of the street or avenue, stands a neat frame chapel built by the ladies of Lafayette County at a cost of $1,200, where preaching service is regularly held." In 1913 the chapel was moved to a more central location to accommodate an aging resident population. Sixty-Five years later, when threatened with destruction by the expansion of the mental health facility, it was moved again to its present location, which approximates the original. The Perceptor, Xi Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi Sorority was instrumental in this endeavor" ~ Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Plaque Text: To the men who bore the battle and to their wives and their families, we dedicate our effort in the restoration of this chapel. ~ Laureate Phi Chapter, Beta Sigma Phi

"The Confederate Chapel is a small one-storied white frame structure measuring 44' along the southeast side, 52' along the northwest side, and 34' along the northeast and southwest sides. It now rests upon a new concrete basement that was poured in October of 1978 when the chapel was returned to its original site on November 14, 1978. The basement is approximately 6' below grade level on the southwest side, approximately 7' decreasing to 6' below grade level on the southeast, and 6' below grade level on the northwest.

The building is basically rectangular with a square two-storied tower projecting from the left corner of the facade and a small tri-partite bay. The Chapel is faced with weather board painted white on all four sides; the paint was chipping and fading badly so in June of 1979 the chapel was given a new coat of paint."

"The chapel is entered through a small vestibule in the bell tower. The original pews placed in two rows form a central aisle the length of the chapel. The chancel is a wooden platform upon which stood the communion table and pulpit (neither are now present). The chapel floor is 4' tongue and groove plank boards of pine, the walls are wainscotting and plaster, and the ceiling is tongue and groove yellow pine wood with walnut stain. Two large wooden fans are suspended by pipe from the ceiling. In the center of the ceiling is a flue that accomodated a coal stove until the 1960's when gas heaters were installed. The small room added in 1913 is unadorned with the northeast and southeast interior walls obviously recognizable as part of the original exterior southwest wall. ~ NRHP nomination form

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