Reid Chapel
A. H. Reid Chapel was erected in 1960 as the principal place of worship on the new Shades Valley campus of Howard College (since 1966, Samford University). It was designed to sit 800 worshipers and until 2020 regularly used for chapel services (also known as "convocations") twice a week. Like the rest of the campus, the building was designed by Van Keuren & Davis. The steeple was patterned after the 1775 building of the First Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, known as the First Baptist Church in America.
The chapel is named for Avery Hamilton Reid, the executive secretary of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.
In 1962 a pipe organ built by Aeolian-Skinner was installed in the chapel. In 2011 it was expanded and refurbished by Quimby Pipe Organ Company and named the Jane Laroque Slaughter Hardenbergh Organ in memory of Jane Laroque Slaughter Hardenbergh who taught organ at Howard at the time the organ was planned.
The chapel building also includes two wings used for academic purposes Chapman Hall and Burns Hall. The entire building was extensively rennovated in academic year 2017-18.
Given the growth in the university's undergraduate enrollment, twice-weekly convocation services have not been held in Reid Chapel since the university resumed normal operations after the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead a once-weekly service is held in the Wright Center. Thus, the chapel does not play as large a part in university life as it did from 1960 to 2020, but it is still used for some lectures, occassional worship services, concerts, admissions programs, and other events.
In February 2023, the chapel witnessed an student-led extended period of prayer and praise inspired by a similar "revival" occuring at the same time at Asbury Univerisity in Wilmore, Kentucky.
References
- Flynt, Sean (September 15, 2011) "Sept. 18 Event To Celebrate Hardenbergh Organ" Samford University press release.
- Hyde, Becky (August 25, 2016) "Reid Chapel" Samford University Library blog post.
- Smith, Ruth Serven (February 17, 2023) "Samford campus revival, inspired by Asbury University, reaches third day" AL.com