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Fridav.March 26.1976
University Daily Kansan
Quiet Danforth Chapel a peaceful KU oasis
Sunlight glistens on the stained glass. The solid, well-crafted wooden door opens smoothly. The foyer is dim, but one gale is cage in light, glowing aura of Christ's face against a napping.
This is Dapforth Chapel.
It it s unpretentiously near Oread Avenue, dwarfed by Fraser Hall. Its atmosphere is far removed from the busy activity of university life.
The chapel, open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, is used for worship services and weddings. It also is a quiet place to study, or wray or take time for reflection.
"A lot of people just come to look," says刨宾雷, custodian at Danforth. And"forth" is a word from Danforth.
BUT MANY people just want to stop and reflect for a moment. That's the purpose William H. Danforth had in mind when he made the first donation to a building fund he found on the campus of the simple design reflects Danforth's idea of the chapel as a quiet place of meditation.
丹forth, who founded the Ralston Purina Company of St. Louis, insisted that the nondenominational chapel be small and intimate. The building was designed by Edward W. Tanner, the first graduate of the University of Kansas department of architecture.
Although the original plan was to build Danforth out of native limestone from the campus, stonemasons were unable to properly shape the rock. Because of this, a stone fence west of Lawrence was purchased for building material.
GERMAN PRISONERS of war, who were working at the University in 1945, hauled the stone to Lawrence and helped build the chapel.
The Danforth Foundation, begun to provide student financial aid, donated $5,000 to the building fund. Danforth wanted the students raised by students and faculty members.
The original construction cost of the chapel was $13,632. The altar, pews and lectern cost an additional $10,000 and the exterior walls were added utilities, sidewalks and landcraf
The stained-glass windows cost $3,500 of which $2,000 was donated by the Patrons' Association.
A painting entitled "Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane," a baptismal font and a handmade, limited-edition Bruce Rogers World Bible were other gifts.
The painting of Christ was stolen in 1949, and the Bible, a gold cross, candlesticks and flower vases have since been taken, Beers said. These thefts, coupled with minor incidents of vandalism, forced the locking of the chapel overnight in recent years.
Baptist church forced to close part of building
The First Baptist Church of Lawrence, built in 1870 and the oldest Baptist church in continuous existence in Kansas, has been apparently because of structural weaknesses.
The Rev. M.C. Allen, pastor of the church, which is at 810 Kentucky, said last week the structural problems were in the sanctuary, which is part of the original building.
Services are now in the church's educational
instruments and are educational in
1958. See p. 63.
The original building was built from 1865 to 1870. It has been remodeled several times since then, most recently in 1962, when the sanctuary's interior was entirely redecorated and the fellowship hall beneath the sanctuary was renovated.
Alen said he couldn't discuss plans for a new future because no decisions had been reached.
"This thing has struck us like a bolt," he said, "and I am not prepared to issue any formal statement. The church building council is at work with advisers and architects with regard to the church building's future and location."
Allen said he thought that some definite plans would be made by the end of Anrill.
Donald Montgomery, chairman of the board of trustees of the church, said he wasn't prepared to issue a formal statement about the building.
He did say, however, that the church's board of trustees closed the building to protest.
"We may decide to build a new building elsewhere," he said, "but then again we may remodel the old one. We just don't know yet."
AT THE 1946 dedication ceremony, former Chancellor Deane W. Maliot said that, in keeping with the conors' wishes, the chapel would always be unlocked and lit. He said it was "the chapel remained committed that "the chapel has not and will not be locked or darkened."
"No act of malicious vandalism will change that policy, nor can such action deprive the students of KU of the privilege to study there," he said for personal meditations. "be announced."
The stolen painting was never found, although its hand-carved frame was discarded behind the building. A copy of the painting was later placed in the foyer.
Beers said minor vandalism also occurred a few years ago during a period of campus unrest. She said people slept in the chapel and brought animals inside. Pages were ripped out of a Bible in the lectern, and the carpet was soiled.
"Now there is a real nice group of people coming in," she said. "The paul still gets her money and takes the money."
A study group meets before noon three times a week, a Quaker group has services on Sundays and the Campus Crusade for Christ has meetings there.
BEERS SAID there no longer were such problems.
Memorial services, particularly for former faculty members, and baptisms are sometimes held in the chapel. But Danforth's predominant use has been for weddings, with an average of 80 each year for the last 30 years.
Winfired Gallup, an organist who has played for ceremonies in Danforth since 1947, said, "It's a very beautiful place to have a wedding."
"Anything you can imagine in the way of a wedding has taken place then." she said.
Gallup said some couples "come quite a distance" to be married at Danforth. She has never heard of any brides or grooms being stood-up at a wedding there, she said, but many couples who reserve the chapel are never married.
SHE SAID that, although the number of weddings in Danforth had remained fairly constant, the types of weddings had changed. Ceremonies vary from "walk-in, street clothes" affairs to very elaborate weddings.
Gallup said that because of the many years she has been an organist for chapel weddings, she had played for couples and children. He said that for their children's ceremonies years later.
"THEAT KND of thing makes it kind of interesting." she said.
The peak times for weddings, according to Gallup and Beers, are May, August and December. Beers said she prepared the weddings as many as 13 weddings in a weekend.
Gallup said the number of weddings at Dunbar far exceeded what the planner of her district had planned.
"On commence weekends the pews don't even get cool between weddings," she said.
Darfort can be "a very unhairy place"
for a wedding, however, because of its size.
Staff photo by DON PIERCE
Danforth solitude
Dunfort Chapel, built in 1845, serves as a quiet place for meditation for KU personnel and students. It is surrounded by Dunfort and as many as 13 a cappella performances per season in May, August and December.
"There's absolutely no place for the bride's party to wait before the wedding starts," Gallup said. "There's a tiny hallway in the back, but it's extremely crowded. The bride must time her arrival-in fair weather or foul-to-get there right on
GALLUP she believed that if a donation was asked from every couple who had a wedding there, that an additional wing might be built for more room. A patio outside the church is also used of the chapel in 1967 and sometimes is used during wedding ceremonies, she said.
Danforth may be reserved by anyone associated with the University at no charge except a junior's fee. Peggy Bocquin, room reservations secretary of the Office of Admissions and Records, schedules reservations for the chapel.
And through the wooden doors of the
100 newly married couples will pass this
Others will seek its solitude to help them find inner peace.
Witnesses told police that a man entered the restaurant at 10:30, shoved one of the customers waiting for service at the cash register and asided with a .45 automatic pistol from his coat pocket. The man ordered an employee to give him the money
A masked gunman robbed the Taco Tico restaurant, 2540午夜. Wednesday night and evening.
Witnesses described the man as a Mexican or Indian male, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-8, old and weighing about 130 pounds. He was wearing a ski mask and an army field jacket.
from the register, then left through the south door of the restaurant. The robber apparently escaped on foot, running east after leaving the restaurant.
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Masked gunman robs restaurant