2001 Terry Winner - Speer Memorial Chapel, Longview, TX

The Speer Memorial Chapel
LeTourneau Univeristy
2100 Mobberly Avenue
Longview, Texas 75607
(903) 233-3675
Contact Person: Bill Gibbs, Director Public Relations
Hours: M-F, 8:00-5:00 Contact Mr. Gibbs for entry

OTHER AWARDS: Registered Texas Historic Landmark; National Register of Historic Places

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: A chapel was built in 1942 as part of the Harmon General Hospital, a U.S. Army medical facility for military personal injured in World War II. Nearly 30,000 patients were treated in the hospital during its three years of operation.

Following the War, Harmon General Hospital, including the chapel, was donated to the LeTourneau Technical Institute, now LeTourneau University.

The chapel is one of the few remaining structures left from the 232 original hospital buildings, and the only one which is designated as a permanent memorial to Harmon General hospital.

Since 1942, Speer Memorial Chapel has played a significant part in the history of Longview. It served as a place of worship for servicemen of all faiths and was a source of encouragement to thousands of G.I.'s. It is very fitting that it should be commemorated with a historical marker.

Today the Speer Memorial Chapel is used for special events, weddings, and worship services. Each fall the faculty and staff gather in the Chapel for an. opening convocation and campus communion service.

HISTORY OF STRUCTURE: It was through the efforts of a1umnus Don Landis, a 1962 graduate of LeTourneau, that the Chapel was preserved for future generations. When Landis arrived at LeTourneau in 1957, he found the chapel in disrepair, and being used as a warehouse for surplus engines. He secured permission to move the engines, repair the damage and renovate the building for use as a chapel once more. From 1958 to 1965 it was used for student chapel services.

RESTORATION: In 1982, LeTourneau began a major renovation of the Chapel. At that time Dr. Dorothy Speer, a retired college professor and former missionary, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, gave a gift to cover the cost of the renovations and to provide an endowment for its upkeep and maintenance. The Board of Trustees decided to name the building Speer Memorial Chapel in her honor.

Historical Information for this sketch is drawn from LeTourneau University's First Fifty Years by Dr. Kenneth Durham. (The Donning Company, Virginia Beach, VA. 1995)

An interior view of Speer Memorial Chapel