Chapel and Gate to Arlington National Cemetery, Fort Myer, Virginia.
“The Quartermaster Corps of the Army designed and constructed this
chapel at Fort Myer and also built the new entrance gateway. The chapel is
used for religious services at the post and also for rites in the cemetery.
It is a brick building with wood cornice, an entrance porch of four stone
columns, and a wood spire which rises to a height of 97 feet. The gateway
with its brick posts, wide iron gates, and iron lamps ties into the wall
surrounding the cemetery. The chapel was completed in May 1935. The
P.W.A. Allotment for it was $101,724 and the allotment for the gateway was
$3,514.50.”[1]
“It was late April of 1935, Easter Sunday was on the 21st and the
dedication of the Post Chapel that would bring a formal place of worship to
Fort Myer. The project was begun and carefully watched over by then Maj
George S. Patton, Jr., another of his legacies to this historic US Army
Post. In an Oct 1933 report to then Post Commander, Col Kenyon Joyce,
Patton outlined the specifics of building a principal chapel and nixed the
idea of a separate mortuary chapel on Fort Myer. His conclusions were drawn
after a field trip to Walter Reed Hospital in Washington DC where he
surveyed the chapels on the grounds. Highlighted within the book
‘Images of America - Fort Myer’ among the other historical
photographs and images are images of the chapel and Patton Hall which was
first used as a chapel before the ‘Old Post Chapel’ was
built. Ground-breaking for the construction of the chapel began on 04 Feb
1934 and then cornerstone was placed both of which without much fanfare or
ceremony. Over time, this one building would become the iconic
representation The Old Post Chapel on Fort Myer Virginia when one thought
about Fort Myer. It was the focal point proudly occupying the center of the
garrison's insignia. In addition to providing a place for worship for the
Fort Myer Military community, it hosted many weddings and also provided the
starting place for many of the final honors which would end in adjacent
Arlington National Cemetery. It is also known for its unique stained glass
windows.”[2]
Today, this building is called the Old Post Chapel at Fort Myer and it is
still in use for military funerals.[3] It is only one of a series of New
Deal buildings at Fort Myer.[4]
References
- Short,
C.W., and R. Stanley Brown, Public Buildings, A Survey of
Architecture of Projects Constructed by Federal and Other Governmental
Bodies between the Years 1933 and 1939 with the Assistance of the Public
Works Administration, United States Government Printing Office, Washington
(1939), page 572.
- Michael, John, Images
of Fort Myer, Arcadia
Publishing (2011).
- Army
Funeral Services: Chapel Services, Arlington National Cemetery website,
accessed 15 June 2017.
- Batzli, Samuel A., Fort Myer, Virginia:
Historic Landscape Inventory, US Army Corps of Engineers, USACERL
Technical Report, June 1998. “New Deal programs of the 1930s resulted
in a construction boom on Army installations. Installations increased in
size as training areas expanded. At Fort Myer, new officer housing
resulted. The NCO housing on Sheridan Avenue represents the effort to
improve installations nation-wide. The Georgian and Colonial Revival
elements of the buildings are typical of the construction on Army
installations during this era.“