This Week in Texas Methodist History   April 19

Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Perkins Announce Gift to Construct Lois Perkins Chapel at Southwestern University April 1943

One of the outstanding architectural treasurers in Texas Methodism is Lois Craddock Perkins Chapel on the campus of Southwestern University in Georgetown.  The Chapel was funded by well-known philanthropists Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Perkins of Wichita Falls.   Their generosity also benefitted SMU, the Methodist Home in Waco, the Superannuate Endowment Fund, First Methodist Wichita Falls, and numerous other schools.  Their gift to SMU that resulted in the name of the Theology School being named “Perkins” had not yet occurred. 

The gift was announced at a banquet of the Williamson /County Southwestern University Ex-Students Association.  The chapel was designed by Cameron Fairchild who was not in attendance because he was in military service.  Fairchild had already been the architect for West Gymnasium and Cody Memorial Library.   An architectural drawing of the proposed building released at the banquet showed a traditional design, including transepts, to be built with native limestone, the same materials already in use in other campus buildings. 

The banquet was held in the University dining hall.  Harold Egger of Dallas, President of the Ex-Student’s Association, introduced the keynote speaker, Bishop A. Frank Smith of Houston.  SU President J. N. R. Score introduced the distinguished guests.   The guests included the Perkins’ pastor Paul Marin (who would be elected bishop in 1944) and Dr. Claude Cody, Jr. of Houston, the Chair of the SU Trustees.  Cody, an ENT with a practice in the Houston Medical Center, was the son of long time SU mathematics professor, Claude Cody, Sr.   

The chapel would be constructed on the site where the science building stood.  That siting decision meant that a new science building would be built.   The new science  building would also be named in honor of another well-known Texas philanthropist, W. W. Fondren of Houston. 

Where had SU students worshiped before the chapel was built?   The auditorium in the Administration Building was called the Chapel, and services were held there.

One of the events in that space was Dr. Score’s inauguration on October 6, 1942.  A. Frank Smith presided, and Mrs. Smith sat with her SU classmate, Lois Craddock Perkins.  They joked about the poor facilities in which the inauguration was occurring.  As Mr. and Mrs. Perkins drove back to Wichita Falls, Mrs. Perkins said, “Joe, I wish they had a nice chapel at Southwestern.”  That same night when they got home, Joe Perkins called Score to talk about building a chapel.  He followed up via letters on October 28 and Nov. 24 in which he pledged $75,000 for the project.

Naturally the project had to wait until the end of World War II, and Joe Perkins realized that war time inflation meant that his original $75,000 would not be enough so he doubled that figure.  The eventual contact, let in 1948 was for $189,821.  To reach that figure, the transepts in the original design were eliminated. 

In his April 1943 remarks, President Score related that very soon after his becoming President, Dr. Cody and told him that the first major building project needed to be a Chapel in the center of the campus where religious life could be focused.  Alas, President Score did not live to see the completion of the Chapel.  He died in September 1949 art the age of 53, and his ashes were buried under the altar in Lois Perkins Chapel. 

Footnote:  Lois Perkins Chapel was the site of Commencement in 1969 when I received my degree.