The Kane Memorial Chapel - situated in the rolling green hills of northwestern Pennsylvania in the Allegheny National Forest - was rededicated by Church leaders June 21 following a year of renovation work on the 114-year-old building.
The chapel, a memorial to Maj. Gen. Thomas L. Kane, a Pennsylvania war hero and a friend and advocate of the Mormons, was purchased by the Church in 1970 and has been a Church visitors site since then.The Kane Branch of the Dubois Pennsylvania District meets in the chapel and the Dubois District family history center is located in the basement of the building.
Pres. Lowell R. Tingey of the Pennsylvania Pittsburgh Mission was assigned by the North America Northeast Area presidency to rededicate the branch building. An open house was held June 20 and rededication services and a special sacrament service were held June 21.
The Kane Memorial Chapel, finished in 1878 by Gen. Kane, had its beginnings as a Presbyterian church when an aunt, Ann Gray Thomas, provided the funds for Gen. Kane to construct the chapel as a memorial and museum of the Kane and Leiper families.
The building's walls are of sandstone quarried in the Kane area. Their natural color of light tan to buff with tints of pinks had been dulled over the years by pollution, but was restored to its original coloring in the past year by steam cleaning.
A new slate roof was added bringing the roof back to how it was originally. The inside of the chapel was also refinished to how it was in 1878. The ceiling (including the structural members) is of heartwood black cherry harvested in the area. Black cherry wood is still harvested in the forests here today, but is now sent to veneer factories.
Stained glass windows are from Philadelphia and are all original except for a few replacement panes. The pipe organ was added to the chapel in 1910 as a gift from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.
Showcases surrounding the chapel serve as a mini-museum of sorts with much of Gen. Kane's letters on display and items pertaining to the early life of the family.
The Church purchased the chapel when the Presbyterian church placed it for sale. Church officials had been looking for a memorial that would be fitting to Gen. Kane, a close friend and confidante of Brigham Young and early Church leaders.
Gen. Kane never joined the Church, but fought against early injustices faced by the Church, according to Sentinel in the East, a biography of Thomas L. Kane by Albert Zobell. Gen. Kane befriended the early saints when they had been driven out of Nauvoo and scattered across the plains of Iowa in 1846.
He also aided Utah territory residents who faced invasion by the 2,500-member army of Gen. Albert S. Johnston in 1857. Johnston's army was sent west by President Buchanan with orders to install Alfred Cumming as the new territorial governor to replace Brigham Young.
The biography states that Gen. Kane asked President Buchanan to send him to Utah as an official negotiator, but President Buchanan refused. He did, however, permit Gen. Kane to go as an unofficial representative. Gen Kane succeeded in winning the confidence of Mr. Cumming and in bringing about a meeting between Mr. Cumming and President Young to resolve differences.
In 1863, after organizing and leading the "Bucktail Regiment" in the Civil War, Gen. Kane brought his family to northwestern Pennsylvania to homestead in the area's last frontier.
He began to develop the area, which led to the construction of the chapel in 1876. Gen. Kane was buried at his request in an enclosure between the two front entrances to the chapel. His grave is marked by a simple marble slab.
When the chapel was purchased by the Church, the inside of the building was in poor condition, Pres. Tingey said. Most of the pews had been torn out by transients and used for firewood. The last pew was removed and sent west to a master craftsman who carved enough pews to replace the missing benches. Floors were replaced and other repairs were done.
A huge statue of Gen. Kane, a replica of one standing in the Utah State Capitol rotunda, was added to the site in 1972. The statue stands on the front lawn, looking toward the grave.
About 80 people come to visit the chapel and the family history center each month, Pres. Tingey remarked. A full-time missionary couple, Elder Herbert R. and Sister Margaret E. Welch, are currently assigned to work in the chapel's family history center and give tours at the historic site.
Kane Mayor Ed James, in remarks made at the chapel rededication services, said the community was pleased with what the Church had done with the building.
"It has been a real ensign to the community," Pres. Tingey added.