Feb 13, 2024 By Mark Hofmann 3 min read

All Hope Hughes-Legendre wanted to do was paint a fence at Christ Chapel at Chalk Hill.

The 129-year-old chapel means a lot to the Uniontown woman. She attended services there in her youth, and has family members buried in the three-acre cemetery on the chapel’s grounds.

She called painting the fence last year “my project, a way to help beautify the place that held such significance in her life.

When she approached someone in the church about it, she learned there was talk of demolishing the small chapel.

So, Legendre found a new project.

“I wanted to save it,” Legendre said. “It’s an iconic treasure, but it hadn’t been used for a while.”

Dedicated for worship on Oct. 11, 1895, the chapel served congregants of the Lutheran faith. It was admitted to the Pittsburgh Synod one year later, and at its height, 85 members worshiped there.

While the number of congregants may be small, the chapel’s impact was large.

In 1969, the Chalk Hill church merged with St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Uniontown, and later became the mother church to Jacob’s Lutheran in Masontown.

The chapel became a place to celebrate both joyous and somber occasions, providing a place for weddings, baptisms, funerals and sunrise services on Easter.

“It was home to a worshiping congregation until the 1960s, but it has also been a landmark in the community,” said Pastor Kevin Anderson of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. “It’s not at all uncommon for someone to stop on the road to take pictures or walk the grounds because that church is going to grab your attention.”

However, the chapel hasn’t been used in five years due to various repair needs, with the most pressing being the bell tower.

“The bell tower is learning and is in need of reconstruction,” Legendre said.

Other needs include a new roof, refurbishing the pews, making it accessible to all visitors, painting and the installation of a water line because the chapel relies on a well.

Legendre said it will take about $90,000 to do all of the work. She estimated $40,000 of that amount would go toward the bell tower and the roof.

“Then we’ll do it little by little,” Legendre said.

With persistence and hard work, Legendre has faith the chapel can be restored and again used as a place for special occasions.

Anderson is hopeful too.

“I wish we still had the worship services there; maybe we will again,” Anderson said. “It’s part of our worship life.”

Anyone interested in donating to the campaign to save the Christ Chapel at Chalk Hill can send their donation to ATTN: Glenna, St Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, 71 North Gallatin Avenue, Uniontown, Pa., 15401. Checks can be made out to Christ Chapel.