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The history behind the United Church, Chapel on the Hill, helped to formulate who we are today. The Manhattan Project, of World War II, brought a great diversity of people and ideas to what would become Oak Ridge. In this born over-night, military town, religious pursuits became a melting pot of ideas which occurred inside and outside of our chapel walls, the only chapel in Oak Ridge at that time. This ecumenical process brought many people to the conclusion that there is no need for so many segmented denominations and denominational creeds. This group of people stayed at the Chapel on the Hill to continue the ecumenical experience, while many other members left the Chapel on the Hill to develop other denominaltional churches here in Oak Ridge. Here you can find more detail about the History of the United Church, Chapel-on-the-Hill.
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1943
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When
the City was still a place of mud, without a store, a post office, or
even a name, a group of thirty earnest and devout Christians from
several denominations met on July 18, 1943 for morning worship service
in the only available space—the west wing of the old Town site
cafeteria. Following the service, conducted by a young electrician from
the Y-12 Plant, several members of the congregation remained to discuss
the possibilities of holding services in the weeks ahead and of
founding an interdenominational church. In meetings that followed, all
agreed the new church should have a name that would include all
denominations and would in no way tie it to any single denomination.
The name finally decided upon was the “United Church.
A United
Church Board and Board of Trustees were elected and assumed their
duties on October 24, 1943. Also late in October of 1943, the US
military completed construction on the chapel that houses this church
near the main business district (Jackson Square) in Oak Ridge,
Tennessee. The standard Army chapel was soon known to those who worked
on the Manhattan Project as the “Chapel-on-the-Hill.” On September 30,
1943, it was dedicated for Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant worship.
Once completed, the Chapel-on-the-Hill was turned over to the Oak Ridge
churches - the United Church and the Roman Catholic Church, the only
two then operating in Oak Ridge.
In the Chapel-on-the-Hill, the
Protestant, the Roman Catholic and the Jewish faiths held services. As
the various denominations began to organize, the Chapel was used by all
of them for weddings and practically every hour, day and night, was
used for organ practice. The United Church had congregations in four
locations and Sunday Schools in seven. More than 4,000 weddings were
celebrated in this ecumenical chapel during its first 50 years.
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A
crisis faced the United Church in December 1946 when 5,000 Tennessee
Eastman Corporation employees, among them forty percent of the members
of the United Church, were terminated. In addition, Rev. B. M. Larson,
capable leader and organizer of the United Church, received a call to
organize a new church. Soberly the matter was pondered—at board
meetings, in the homes, on the street corners—had time come to disband?
The final decision to maintain the United Church was based on: (1) the
experience of worshiping, studying and serving with people of various
denominations was enriching and challenging; (2) there would never be
enough people in Oak Ridge from some denominations to form a strong
church and these people could find a “church home” in the United Church
without having to give up their own particular religious beliefs; (3)
those couples where the husband was from one denomination and the wife
from another could find a common “church home” within the United
Church—without giving up their particular denominational beliefs if
they preferred to retain them—thus our motto “Where People from All
Denominations Meet in Their Differences, but Are One in Their Search
for God.”
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On
May 11, 1955 the United Church purchased the Chapel from the
Government. The Chapel was renovated, an education building was
constructed and a Nursery School was established. Today, the United
Church continues as a non-denominational Christian Community of Faith.
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Because
of the historic significance to Oak Ridge’s religious community, the
Chapel-on-the-Hill was placed on the National Register of Historic
places in 1993.
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See the following links for more information about the history of our church.
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History 