View of Morrill Hall Chapel seen from the back row facing towards the stage and pipe organ.
Morrill Hall chapel, ca. 1891

Morrill Hall: The Chapel

Although the two foremost reasons for building Morrill Hall were to house a museum and a library, a chapel was quickly added to the list. Its completion allowed for some changes in Old Main, including the conversion of the old chapel into a dining room.

Close-up image of the words Iowa State College Chapel on a book cover.
Iowa State College Chapel

Daily chapel was held in Morrill Hall at 7:45 Monday through Friday until 1918. Sunday chapel, which was held in Curtiss Auditorium at 11:00, was continued by Iowa State’s Chaplain, Dr. O.H. Cessna, until his retirement in 1929. Cessna, an ordained Methodist minister, also served as Head of the History and Psychology Department from 1902 to 1922.

Cover of a hymnal called Hymns of Worship and Service, Chapel Edition.
Hymnal

By 1910, conditions had become so crowded that the Chapel was being used for class work. The Music Department used the Chapel as a choir room until the new Music Hall was completed in 1980. The organ was donated to a local church and was in use until very recent years.

Two men sit at a table onstage in the Morrill Hall chapel in front of the pipe organ. Another man on the stage holds his hand up and gives an oration. A fourth man stands offstage next to a piano.
Oration in front of the Morrill Hall chapel organ, ca. 1900

For more information on the history of the Morrill Hall organ, please see organ.