Jones Chapel is located in the front of campus, adjacent to Johnson Hall. It was built in the early 1980s, and is now used for weekly non-denominational services, weddings and campus events.
Jones Chapel is named in honor of Christina and Seby Brown Jones. Mr. Jones was a member of Meredith’s Board of Trustees and a mayor of Raleigh (1969-1971.)
Plans for a chapel on campus go back at least to 1948 when the Board of Trustees voted to ask for contractor’s bids and had tentative architectural drawings made. Since 1949, chapel services had been held in Jones Auditorium.
In 1978, President John Weems announced a fundraising drive for the still hoped-for chapel by announcing two generous gifts, one by the Class of 1928 in honor of their Golden Anniversary, and the other by a private donor. Christina and Seby Jones helped break ground at the July 13, 1981 ceremony, even as appeals for sponsorships were announced and grants were awarded. Ultimately, the needed additional funds were raised with special subscriptions and the fund-raising efforts of the alumnae.
Jones Chapel was dedicated on September 24, 1982.
In addition to the sanctuary, the building includes the campus minister’s office, the receptionist’s office, a kitchen, a commons room, and a bride’s room. Today, the chapel is used for non-denominational weekly services on Wednesday mornings, and campus events, like concerts, lectures and orientation, as well as for weddings.
Shortly after ground was broken for the chapel, a contract was signed for the construction and installation of an Andover Organ Company custom instrument. The mechanical organ, named “Opus 91” by the manufacturer, was dedicated in Jones Chapel on April 10, 1983. The instrument was named in honor of Estelle Johnson Salisbury, one of the “Immortal Ten” Class of 1902. The dedication ceremony included a program of organ music played by W. David Lynch, Chairman of the Department of Music and Performance Art.
F. Carter Williams was the architect and Davidson and Jones was the builder.
President John Weems observed that "the building of this chapel is the fulfillment of a dream that has been cherished for more than 80 years by all associated with Meredith."
The Chapel Programming Committee, made up of the Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students and alumnae, kept as their guiding principles the historical, theological, aesthetic, and functional
Estelle Johnson Salisbury, in whose memory the chapel organ dedicated, was a member of the "Immortal Ten," the first graduating class of Baptist Female University. Funds for the organ's purchase were donated in part by Estelle Salisbury's daughter, Martha Salisbury Smoot, herself a graduate of Meredith College in 1933.
Robert Reich, president of the Andover Organ Company and W. David Lynch discuss the installation of the new organ.
W. David Lynch, chairman of the Department of Music and the Performing Arts, played a program of music on the new organ on April 10, 1983 to a standing-room-only audience.
Martha Salisbury Smoot (Class of 1933), who donated the funds for the organ to honor her mother, Estelle Johnson Salisbury, said of the instrument that is was “a thing of beauty” and that it was “her wish and prayer that it be a means of joy and blessing to generations to come.”
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