I’m sorry to hear that the Children’s Chapel on the Walnut Grove Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum grounds is coming down. I’m sorry to hear about this, but I certainly understand. Building upkeep is a major cost for museums and with the pandemic shutdowns museum income is down all over. (Although it sounds like across all the Laura sites giftshop sales are up. Good job! Keep it up, they need the money.)
Going to the Chapel
When I posted about this online some people seemed unclear on what building this is. It’s the weathered brown building on the other side of the Laura building which is set up in the old Revere Depot building. (Revere is the next town to the east.) It’s the first building you walk by.
When the Little House on the Prairie (NBC) TV show started a tidal wave of visitors to Walnut Grove they decided they needed a museum to give people a place to see when they came to “visit Laura.” At first the museum was in a small former gas station and then they moved the depot and building took off from there. While they were building up the museum grounds in the 1970s they wanted a chapel. I think they wanted one because of the importance of Pa’s church bell to people and because they had one bench from the original church that used to be displayed in this building. The original Congregational Church building that is discussed in On the Banks of Plum Creek was torn down about 70 years ago. The bell that Pa donated to (and the Minnesota State Historical Society now has the records of donations to that church) is now in the Lutheran church building.
Builders of Men
From the fat captions of the Walnut Grove Tribune listed below it sounds like the museum had gotten a chapel in the 1970s and this was a replacement and hopefully an improvement. The previous chapel would be moved and became a storage shed on the grounds. Being familiar with the grounds I can’t guarantee it, but there isn’t a shed there I’m familiar with that could be it. It must have been moved again or torn down at some point.
The current chapel was moved to the museum grounds in 1983. It wasn’t actually ever used as a regular church. However, over the 38 years it has been on the grounds it has hosted 9 weddings and 4 baptisms.
It was moved by Greg Hansen using the Sell Brothers flat bed truck with Harold Gordon and Wilber Oberg helping from the Marie Goettig property. The chapel was made over by the building trades class from the Walnut Grove High School from a garage. (See Note) It was still a pretty small building. The Gothic windows used were from a local church and I’m sure other parts were local donations.
Display Spot
Besides providing a spot for rest and reflection, the chapel also served as a display. One of the few things to remain from the original Congregational Church in Walnut Grove is a bench that used to live in this chapel. Painted red, the bench is now above the display cases in the Laura building in the old depot. I’m not sure where they are going to move the pump organ to. I hope somewhere because it’s a lovely old organ or at least it was a few years ago. I don’t know if they are going to add anything in its place. I once spent a lovely afternoon listening to Shirley Knackmuhs play by ear. I wish I had more than a photo.
I’m including several photos I have of the chapel and I’ll be very sorry to have it gone when I go back. I’m unsure if the space will just be empty or if something else will fill the spot.
Walnut Grove Museum
Museum Facebook announcement:
“It is with a heavy heart that we announce the Chapel will no longer be a part of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum after this fall. Due to the overwhelming cost of upkeep and renovations, we have decided to take it down.
Our Chapel started out as a garage and was transformed by the building trades class from the Walnut Grove High School. Laura’s life was rooted in faith, and our Chapel has served as a reminder of this. In the thirty-eight years it has been here, we have had a total of nine weddings, and four baptisms. All of the artifacts currently housed in the Chapel will be preserved, and stored at the Museum for future displays.
The building is currently set to be taken down after October 8th, so stop in and take a look!”
Following quotes from the Walnut Grove Tribune are courtesy of Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove:
Another Moving Day – Extra activity was observed last Saturday at the museum, when Greg Hansen the the Sell Brothers flat bed truck assisted Harold Gordon and Wilber Oberg in moving the garage from the Marie Goettig property. The building will be renovated and converted into a chapel. The Children’s Chapel building that has served tourists for many years will be moved behind the museum and will be used for a storage shed. – Walnut Grove Tribune – October 22, 1983
Building at the Museum – The High School Building Trades Class has been busy the past few weeks at the Wilder Museum. Students, under the instruction of Leonard McLaughlin, are renovating the old garage recently moved to the museum site and are converting it into a chapel. The class will gain experience in exterior construction and interior finish work by the time the project is completed. – Walnut Grove Tribune – October 1983
Continued Next Spring – The Walnut Grove High School building trades class and their instructor, Leonard McLaughlin, would up work for the winter on the Wilder Museum Chapel last Friday afternoon. They put finishing touches on the roof and boarded up the windows, securing the building for the winter weather. Next sprong they will return to finish the interior of the building, install the frosted glass windows and complete the finer trim work. – Walnut Grove Tribune – November, 1983
Note: Now at some point I heard it was an FFA group responsible for the rebuild, but it says building trades class in the newspaper quotes above. The FFA bit I heard may be a misremembering on someone’s part or it may just be on a guess that both groups were made up of a lot of the same people.
Sarah S. Uthoff is a nationally known Laura Ingalls Wilder authority and has presented at five of the Wilder homesites, many times at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum, many conferences and numerous libraries, museums, and events around the Midwest. She is the main force behind Trundlebed Tales fighting to bring the History, Mystery, Magic, and Imagination of Laura Ingalls Wilder and other greats of children’s literature and history to life for a new generation. How can you help? Attend one of her programs, schedule one yourself, watch her videos, listen to her podcast, look at her photos, and find her on Facebook , Twitter , LinkedIn , SlideShare, and Academia.edu . Professionally she is a reference librarian at Kirkwood Community College and former director of the Oxford (Iowa) Public Library.
Sarah's Notebook 