Centennial video series: The Rice Chapel

When the Rice Memorial Center was being planned and built in 1957, Rice alumnus and Board of Governors member J. Newton Rayzor was concerned that the new student center should include a nondenominational chapel that everyone in the Rice community could use. Rayzor was particularly interested in making sure the new chapel had a suitable organ. With a generous gift from Rayzor and his wife, the Rice Memorial Chapel was built and opened in 1958. Today, nearly 55 years later, the organ and chapel are undergoing a restoration.

Working with Centennial Historian Melissa Kean, video producer Brandon Martin takes a look at the Rice Chapel. For more information on Rice’s history, visit Kean’s blog at www.ricehistorycorner.com.

The chapel is open daily for interdenominational worship services and is available for “Rice weddings.” The bride or groom must be a current Rice University student, faculty or staff member, alumnus; the child of a current faculty or staff member or alumnus; or formally sponsored by a current faculty or staff member.

To help celebrate the university’s centennial Oct. 12, Rice University is producing weekly videos exploring the school’s unique history.

To see other stories in the centennial video series, go to www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL60D6D71E71B66B3D&feature=plcp.