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Home > Dacus > Pettus Archives > Galleries > Building Exhibits > Little Chapel

The Little Chapel Images

The Little Chapel, built in 1823, was designed in the Federal style by architect Robert Mills, a South Carolinian famous for his design of the Washington Monument, the US Treasury Building, Landsford Canal, and numerous SC public buildings. Erected as a stable and carriage house for Ainsley Hall mansion in Columbia, SC, it eventually became the property of the Presbyterian Church and was used by the Columbia Theological Seminary. In the Little Chapel Woodrow Wilson’s father taught classes and there the future United States president was confirmed and accepted Christ in 1873. In 1886, David Bancroft Johnson requested the use of the Little Chapel as a classroom for the inaugural academic year of Winthrop Training School. Permission was granted by the Presbyterian Church and the Little Chapel became the birthplace of Winthrop as an institution. With pleas from Winthrop Alumnae, the Seminary Board of Directors presented the Chapel to Winthrop on May 7, 1936. Plans were then set into motion to transport the building, brick by brick, to the Winthrop campus in Rock Hill, SC. On the morning of September 29, 1936, a long procession of cars and trucks set out from Columbia with 36,000 numbered bricks, massive hand-hewn timbers, and other building materials. Chaperoning these materials along its route to Rock Hill were such Winthrop dignitaries as Winthrop president, Dr. Shelton Phelps; former Winthrop president, James Pinckney Kinard and his wife, Lee Wicker Kinard; Mrs. D. B. Johnson, widow of Winthrop’s first president; and 55 representatives of Winthrop’s numerous alumnae chapters. The reassembling of the chapel on campus took several months and was completed in the early spring of 1937. A formal dedication of the Little Chapel was held on May 29, 1937 with numerous prominent South Carolinians present, including Archibald Rutledge, S. C. Poet Laureate and 4 of 5 living members of Winthrop’s first graduating class of 1887. The Little Chapel remains a historical focal point on Winthrop’s campus as a reminder of the institution’s beginnings and as the final resting place for David Bancroft Johnson and his wife, Mai Rutledge Smith Johnson.
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  • Exercises Celebrating the Little Chapel's move to Rock Hill September 29, 1936 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Exercises Celebrating the Little Chapel's move to Rock Hill September 29, 1936

  • Little Chapel 1986 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel 1986

  • Little Chapel ca 1948 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel ca 1948

  • Little Chapel ca 1950s by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel ca 1950s

  • Little Chapel ca 1955 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel ca 1955

  • Little Chapel Drawing ca 1917 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel Drawing ca 1917

  • Little Chapel in snow with Mrs. D.B. Johnson's House in Background ca 1948 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel in snow with Mrs. D.B. Johnson's House in Background ca 1948

  • Little Chapel Interior Facing South October 1983 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel Interior Facing South October 1983

  • Little Chapel Plaque n.d. by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel Plaque n.d.

  • Little Chapel while still in Columbia, SC ca 1900 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel while still in Columbia, SC ca 1900

  • Little Chapel while still in Columbia, SC ca 1900 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel while still in Columbia, SC ca 1900

  • Little Chapel while still in Columbia, SC ca 1920 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel while still in Columbia, SC ca 1920

  • Little Chapel with Mrs D.B. Johnson's house in Background ca 1948 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel with Mrs D.B. Johnson's house in Background ca 1948

  • Little Chapel with Sign in Foreground March 1973 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel with Sign in Foreground March 1973

  • Little Chapel with Tree in Foreground ca 1964 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chapel with Tree in Foreground ca 1964

  • Little Chaple Interior Facing North ca 1956 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chaple Interior Facing North ca 1956

  • Little Chaple with Tree in Foreground ca late 1950's by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    Little Chaple with Tree in Foreground ca late 1950's

  • The Little Chapel ca 1937 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    The Little Chapel ca 1937

  • The Little Chapel ca 1937 by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    The Little Chapel ca 1937

  • The Little Chapel while it was still in Columbia, SC ca 1890s. by Winthrop University and Clarence H. and Anna E. Lutz Foundation

    The Little Chapel while it was still in Columbia, SC ca 1890s.

 
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