Holy rollers ride the rails

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/08/2016 (3428 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Churches come in an infinite variety of sizes, shapes and styles. Big, little, tall, low, square, rectangular, majestic, simple, stone, wood and more. Some are located in upscale neighbourhoods and others in abandoned grocery stores. Years ago, we drove by a tiny roadside chapel near Austin, Minn., in which it would have been difficult to shoehorn more than a dozen worshippers. In Europe we strolled into huge cathedrals that welcome thousands. From Navajo hogans in northern Arizona to St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican, the world is home to a wide range of places of worship. During decades of travel, we thought we had seen just about everything. Then we visited Green Lake, Wis.

Green Lake is a small community in Central Wisconsin with elaborate summer homes and friendly, full-time residents who appreciate a quiet lifestyle near the state’s deepest natural inland lake. Winter months can be pretty cold in Green Lake, but most summer days are like heaven to someone accustomed to the heat and humidity of a July in Georgia. We were happy to be there, and not only because of the weather.

It was in Green Lake that we stumbled across an unusual type of church we had not previously seen or even known about: a railway chapel car designed for worship. The chapel car is on permanent display at the Green Lake Conference Center. Being train buffs, we were interested in learning more about not only this chapel car, but the history of chapel cars in America. We weren’t the only ones, for we noticed nearly everyone who walked by was fascinated by this unique relic of religious history.

Getting the gospel on track

Inspiration for the first American chapel car is usually credited to Episcopal Bishop William David Walker of North Dakota. During a trip to Russia in the late 1880s, Bishop Walker came across three connected train cars that served as chapel cars on the Siberian Railroad. The cars carried printed materials and sacraments to the thousands of people in sparsely populated Siberia. Instead of bringing people to the church, the chapel cars brought the church to the people.

Upon returning to the States, Bishop Walker contracted with the Pullman Palace Car Company to build a train car to his specifications. The car was to have a meeting room and small areas for cooking and sleeping. Church of the Advent: Cathedral Car of North Dakota, was completed in November 1890, at which time it began being used in mission work for men working on the railroads in North Dakota. The service was discontinued after a year when Bishop Walker moved out of state.

Following completion of the transcontinental railroad May 10, 1869, the trickle of people moving west turned into a mass migration as easterners and immigrants sought a better life in the West. The migration resulted in new towns springing up along the tracks. Many, if not most, were populated with numerous saloons but no churches.

Message on the rails

Dr. Wayland Hoyt, a Baptist minister from Minnesota, travelled west on more than one occasion with his brother, train executive Colgate Hoyt. During these trips the two men experienced an up-close look at what was becoming the Wild West. In previous years, the minister had observed Sunday school classes held in train cars along rail sidings in Minneapolis. Dr. Hoyt was able to convince his brother, along with John D. Rockefeller, James B. Colgate, E.J. Barney and several other wealthy businessmen to cover the expense of constructing the first Baptist chapel car. The car, built to Dr. Hoyt’s specifications by the Barney & Smith Car Company of Dayton, Ohio, was completed in spring 1891.

From 1890 to 1915, three existing train cars were refitted, and 10 new cars were built following specifications for use as chapel cars. The Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan used two refitted rail cars between 1891 and 1898 to reach people in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The Catholic Church Extension Society acquired three chapel cars, the first of which was a reconstructed Pullman car named St. Anthony after the saint of the lost and was in service until 1919. The Catholic Church’s two other chapel cars were build as chapel cars, the St. Peter served in the Midwest and Northwest from 1912 to 1930, and the St. Paul, built in 1915, traveled mostly in the South. These two chapel cars are now property of a private railroad in Wells, Mich.

The American Baptist Publication Society acquired seven chapel cars between 1891 and 1915: Evangel (1891-1924), Emmanuel ((1993-1942), Glad Tidings (1894-1926), Good Will (1896-1938), Messenger of Peace (1898-1948), Herald of Hope (1900-1935) and Grace (1915-1946). Chapel cars visited most of the states with the exception of those in the northeast.

Life and times of Grace

The car we happened upon was the last chapel car constructed by the Barney & Smith Car Company for the American Baptist Publication Society. Money for its construction was donated by the Conway/Birch Publication Family in memory of their daughter and sister, Grace, for whom the car was named. This was only the second chapel car made of steel, and its interior has the appearance of a tiny church. Grace is fitted with a golden-oak interior, pews and Gothic arches. Like previous chapel cars, it has an Estey organ, donated by Colonel Estey, owner of the Estey Organ Company of Brattleboro, Vt.

Grace was considered the nicest of the chapel cars, in part because it contained a full-size bed (the others had bunk beds), a bath and a kitchen equipped with a two-burner stove and an icebox. The car included a free lending library that proved a big hit with citizens of the small communities that were visited.

Three passenger cars full of eastern Baptists accompanied Grace on a cross-country journey to her dedication ceremonies at the American Baptist Publication Society Convention in Los Angeles. From there, Grace travelled to the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco to be placed on display and seen by thousands of visitors. Following the exposition, the chapel car spent a number of years in areas of California populated by railroad workers, lumbermen, oilmen and members of the military.

In 1923, Grace travelled to Las Vegas where she remained for two years before moving on to communities in California, Utah and Wyoming. While in Rawlins, Wyo., the missionaries helped build the First Baptist Church of Rawlins, into which they incorporated the retired American Baptist Publication Society chapel car Evangel.

The end is near

During the Second World War, Grace travelled to southern Utah to offer religious services to war-plant employees. Once the war ended and the plants closed, employees moved elsewhere, and there was little need for Grace or the other chapel cars. Chapel cars had once travelled the rails with free transportation provided by the railroads, but by 1942, the railroads had started assessing transportation costs. By this time, new and better roads allowed missionaries to travel in vehicles, for which no rails were required. In addition, many new churches had been constructed in the early 1900s, resulting in chapel cars serving mostly as living quarters for their missionaries, not as places of worship. Chapel cars were no longer needed.

In 1946, the American Baptist Assembly in Green Lake, Wis., decided to establish a memorial to honour the work of chapel cars and their missionaries. Assembly members wanted an actual car for the memorial and made a special request for Grace. After 31 years of service, Grace was moved to what is now the Green Lake Conference Center, where she is open to the public and still used, on occasion, for services.

Green Lake Conference Center

The Green Lake Conference Center was founded in 1944 as the American Baptist Assembly. It is now a Christian conference and leadership training centre available for retreats and conferences for all Christian groups and organizations, schools, universities and non-profit companies. It also welcomes individual families for reunions and vacations.

A wide range of facilities is available including a campground, cabins, lodge rooms and rental homes, some of which are lakeside. The 900 acres of lakeside property contain fields and courts for most sports and includes two golf courses. Bicycles, boats, canoes and kayaks are available for rent. A craft centre has instructors for a variety of crafts including pottery and stained glass.

A Pleasant escape

East-central Wisconsin, in which the conference centre is located, is a scenic area of small towns. It is an excellent choice for a relaxing vacation that includes good food, outdoor activities and an unhurried lifestyle. The nearest major airport is at Appleton, which is served by Delta with direct flights from Atlanta. Appleton is about 80 kilometres from Green Lake, a small town that is 10 km from the conference centre.

Three other nearby towns, Princeton, Berlin and Ripon, offer boutiques, antiques, restaurants and additional golf courses. Ripon is home to Ripon College, a liberal arts college with a beautiful campus. During our own visit, we stayed at the Heidel House Resort and Spa. During our first evening, we enjoyed cheese curds and a local beer. This is living!

David and Kay Scott are authors of Complete Guide to the National Park Lodges. Visit them at www.valdosta.edu/~dlscott/Scott