The History of VA’s Oldest Chapel

On October 26, 1870, the first chapel building in VA’s history was dedicated at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Dayton, Ohio. It was similarly the first church building constructed at any branch of the National Home.

The advent of chaplains and chapels was adopted from the military by the National Home system when they hired their first chaplain in 1866. The National Homes operated under military rules to provide continuity, structure, and order for the Veterans, most of whom were not career military men. Most Americans at the time, including Veterans, had specific religious affiliations, and Protestantism and Catholicism were among the most widely practiced belief systems. Consequently, providing churches and religious services was part of meeting the daily needs of Veterans.

The chapel at Dayton was authorized in December 1868 and formally dedicated on October 26, 1870. The building was made with limestone that had been quarried onsite, and the Veterans living at the Home were heavily involved in both the quarrying of the stone and the construction of the chapel. Reverend Henry Hill of New Hampshire was appointed as the Home’s first chaplain in April 1867. After a short tenure, Hill was replaced by Reverand William B. Earnshaw, former chaplain for the Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Earnshaw was appointed as chaplain in September 1867 and served for nearly 25 years.

Beginning in 1880, three types of religious services were held in the Dayton chapel: Protestant, conducted by the Reverend Earnshaw; Catholic, conducted by the Reverend Charles Kemper; and German Baptist (in the German language), provided by the Reverend H. Gellert. Over half of the Dayton Home’s residents in 1880 were of German or Prussian nativity.

Dayton’s chapel had gorgeous stained-glass windows, its floor was covered with “handsome carpet,” and the seats were upholstered in crimson satin. The woodwork was of walnut and ash and “on the back of each seat there [was] a rack containing a Bible and hymn-book.”[1] One record describes the frequent use of the chapel by the Veterans at the Home: “Morning and evening services are held in the church each Sunday, and in the hospital building every Sunday afternoon. Weekly prayer meetings are held and Sabbath-school is also held in the morning and well attended. The Catholics also hold services in the church semi-monthly, on Thursday mornings. On these occasions the Catholic altar is placed where the pulpit usually stands.”[2]

The chapel was also used for funerals, weddings, baptisms, and other events. However, some of these services were later moved to other buildings. A separate Catholic chapel was erected in 1891, and a mortuary chapel was built in 1908.[3]

The National Homes’ managers considered moral and spiritual services vital for the holistic treatment of discharged soldiers. Chaplains, like surgeons, were key staff present at each of the Homes. “Liberal expenditures have been made to provide chapels, libraries, reading rooms, amusement halls, and other facilities for recreation and for intellectual and moral culture … to prove to the disabled soldiers that the asylums were in no sense almshouses … but homes which they have earned for themselves by their sufferings and sacrifices.”

All National Homes had a chapel of some sort, although it was typically just a large room until a separate building could be constructed. In 1870, Dayton was the first and only National Home to have a church/chapel building. However, contrary to several local and regional newspapers articles at that time, Dayton’s National Home chapel was not the first Government-funded chapel; that honor belonged to the U.S. Military Academy’s chapel (Old Cadet Chapel) built in 1836.

Since World War I, the role of chaplains and chapels has assumed a broader interdenominational role to meet the needs of all Veterans, regardless of their religious affiliation, beliefs, and spiritual or personal needs. A bit of ingenuity in design over the years has enabled VA to make use of limited space in some of its chapels by building moveable altars that could be changed for different religious services and purposes.

The chapel in Dayton was rededicated in 2012 following an extensive renovation, and it is still standing today, over 150 years after it first opened its doors.

This story was originally published in VA News in December 2015.

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[1] J. C. Gobrecht, History of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (Dayton: United Brethren Printing Establishment, 1875), 71.

[2] Gobrecht, History of the National Home, 72-74.

[3] Report to the Board of Managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30 1916 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1917), 84.