Benjamin Brown Graham Chapel

Graham Chapel was named for Benjamin Brown Graham. The chapel was given to Washington University in St. Louis by his widow, Christine Blair Graham, as a memorial to him.

Dedicated in 1909, Graham Chapel is used for concerts, plays and the university’s lecture program, the Assembly Series, which has brought prominent figures in politics, academia, religion, the arts and the sciences to Washington University since 1949.


Benjamin Brown Graham

Fifteen years after his birth in December of 1840 in Ohio, Benjamin Graham moved to St. Louis and began his first job. After years of hard work and corporate advancement, he became president of Graham Paper Company. During his years as president, his company became the chief paper distributor for American, Canadian, Mexican, South American and Australian paper product factories. He was a director of Merchant’s National Bank and St. Louis Union Trust Company, the president of St. Louis Mercantile Library, active in the work of Christ Church Cathedral, and a charter member of the University Club, the oldest club of its kind in America.

An especially beautiful feature of the chapel is its stained glass window, which depicts the dedication of King Solomon’s temple. The window was designed by the firm of Clayton and Bell, London, England.

The inscription at the base of the stained glass window comes from 1 Kings, Chapter 8, verse 58 and reads: The Lord God be with us, as He was with our fathers, that He may incline our hearts into him, to walk in all his ways and to keep His commandments.

The inscription in the wood paneling beneath the stained glass window reads: 
To make undying music in the world