United Church, The Chapel on the Hill, Oak Ridge, TN
Encyclopedia
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
was the city's main church during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Dedicated on September 30, 1943 and completed late in October 1943, it was originally a multi-denominational chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
shared by Catholic, Protestant
Protestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
and Jewish
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
congregations.
Architectural design
The building design is a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 700-series U.S. Army chapel. It is a frame building built on a three-bay rectangular plan with a steepleSteeple (architecture)
A steeple, in architecture, is a tall tower on a building, often topped by a spire. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religious structure...
d bell tower
Bell tower
A bell tower is a tower which contains one or more bells, or which is designed to hold bells, even if it has none. In the European tradition, such a tower most commonly serves as part of a church and contains church bells. When attached to a city hall or other civic building, especially in...
and a gable
Gable
A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of a sloping roof. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system being used and aesthetic concerns. Thus the type of roof enclosing the volume dictates the shape of the gable...
entry porch
Porch
A porch is external to the walls of the main building proper, but may be enclosed by screen, latticework, broad windows, or other light frame walls extending from the main structure.There are various styles of porches, all of which depend on the architectural tradition of its location...
. It was one of three Army chapels built using the same design in Oak Ridge during World War II. One of the other two chapels, the West Chapel in the city's West Village area, was later torn down, but the East Chapel in the East Village is still in use.
History
The U.S. Army built the chapel to house religious activities, as one of numerous community facilities in the "townsite" area of Oak Ridge. The building was dedicated on September 30, 1943, in a ceremony that included prayerPrayer
Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...
s and talks by a Jewish rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
, a Catholic priest
Priesthood (Catholic Church)
The ministerial orders of the Catholic Church include the orders of bishops, deacons and presbyters, which in Latin is sacerdos. The ordained priesthood and common priesthood are different in function and essence....
, an Episcopal
Episcopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
priest, a Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
minister, and the minister who was serving the United Church congregation that eventually came to own the chapel. Its name, "The Chapel on the Hill," comes from a reference in a prayer by the Knoxville Baptist minister who participated in the dedication.
The United Church congregation that is housed in the Chapel on the Hill traces its history to July 18, 1943, when some 25 to 30 Christians of diverse denominational backgrounds gathered for Sunday worship in Oak Ridge's main cafeteria
Cafeteria
A cafeteria is a type of food service location in which there is little or no waiting staff table service, whether a restaurant or within an institution such as a large office building or school; a school dining location is also referred to as a dining hall or canteen...
. Subsequently, several members of the group made plans to establish an interdenominational Protestant church, led by layperson
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
s, to include all denominations. A Presbyterian minister working in Knoxville
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
was engaged to conduct weekly services, and about 150 people representing 13 Protestant denominations became charter members of "the United Church". Governing boards of laypersons elected to lead the new congregation took up their duties on October 24, 1943.
When the Chapel-on-the-Hill was completed that same month, the United Church and the local Roman Catholic Church were given control of the building, as the only two churches then officially operating in the Manhattan Project
Manhattan Project
The Manhattan Project was a research and development program, led by the United States with participation from the United Kingdom and Canada, that produced the first atomic bomb during World War II. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the US Army...
community. During the war, when Oak Ridge's Manhattan Project facilities were operating around the clock, the chapel building was also in use nearly 24 hours a day as a venue for worship services, wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
s, and other occasions for local workers of various Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish religious backgrounds.
At the peak of wartime activity in Oak Ridge, when the population exceeded 70,000, the United Church employed four ministers and conducted worship services in the Chapel on the Hill, East Village Chapel, and the Jefferson Theater, as well as Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
classes in several local schools and a trailer
Mobile home
Mobile homes or static caravans are prefabricated homes built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied...
camp. By 1951, the United Church Chapel-on-the-Hill consolidated as a single interdenominational congregation, making its home in the Chapel on the Hill building.
The United Church congregation purchased the chapel and 3.72 acres (1.5 ha) of land from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission on May 11, 1955 for a price of $17,116. An adjoining educational building was added in 1956-1957. The facility continues to operate as a nondenominational Protestant church under lay leadership, employing ministers with backgrounds in mainstream Protestant denominations. Since 2007 it has been affiliated with the Center for Progressive Christianity
Center for Progressive Christianity
The Center for Progressive Christianity was founded in 1996 by, retired Episcopal priest, James Rowe Adams in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is possibly the most progressive established Christian group within American Christianity...
. The church's motto is "Where People from All Denominations Meet in Their Differences, but Are One in Their Search for God."
The Chapel-on-the-Hill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1993 as a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
in the Oak Ridge Historic District
Oak Ridge Historic District
Oak Ridge Historic District is a historic district in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
.