On your right stands a commanding red brick structure built in the shape of a cross, anchored by a soaring bell tower with four large clock faces and fronted by a classic portico of six towering white columns. This is the Ira Allen Chapel.
It is a magnificent structure, but its very name carries a touch of historical irony. Ira Allen, the founder of this university, actually left behind a rather damaged reputation. He never followed through on his initial founding pledge of four thousand pounds, a massive sum meant to construct the original campus buildings. For over a century, his fiduciary lapses cast a shadow over his legacy.
Yet here stands his monument. The existence of this chapel is the result of private wealth single handedly reshaping a public institution. It is entirely thanks to James Benjamin Wilbur, a wealthy businessman who made his fortune in ranching and banking before retiring to Vermont in 1909. Wilbur became deeply fascinated by Vermont history, and specifically by Ira Allen. He amassed a massive collection of documents and ultimately decided it was his sacred duty to restore Allen's reputation.
In 1924, Wilbur offered the university board an extraordinary two hundred thousand dollar endowment, roughly three and a half million dollars today, on the condition that they build a chapel named after the founder. Watch the iconic Ira Allen Chapel transform from a scaffolding-clad construction site in 1925 into the stately Colonial Revival landmark that anchors the university green today.
The renowned architectural firm McKim, Mead, and White designed the chapel. The building forms a classic Latin cross. If you were to walk inside, you would stand in the nave stretching one hundred and thirty-five feet and intersecting with shorter perpendicular wings. Take a moment to check your screen, where you can see the bronze statue of Ira Allen that Wilbur commissioned and donated just a few years prior to funding this building.
Over the decades, this space has constantly adapted to the needs of its students, reflecting a community always pushing forward. In its early years, chapel attendance was actually compulsory. But by 1957, the university realized that as a state funded institution, they could not legally mandate religious worship. The chapel evolved into a secular gathering space. Its pews have seated thousands who came to hear luminaries ranging from poets and Supreme Court justices to civil rights activists. It even watches over the ashes of the renowned American philosopher John Dewey, who is interred just north of the building.
The campus grounds and the exterior of the chapel are open twenty-four hours a day, all week long. As we prepare for our final destination, we will leave the realm of private fortunes and turn toward the democratization of learning. Please continue to Morrill Hall, about a six minute walk away.
