History of the chapel windows
The First Congregational Church in Great Bend dedicated its first building in 1879. The congregation continued to grow, and a new brick building was begun in May 1910. This new structure, finished in March 1911, cost $30,000 and included a new pipe organ.
In this new building were a large number of stained glass windows, many of which served as memorials to prominent church and community members.
By 1959 the church had again outgrown its facilities. After a new building was constructed at 21st and Polk, the windows from the old church were removed and sold or placed in storage.
In 1991, Dorothy Moses Morrison, great-granddaughter of one of the founding members of the congregation, donated five of these windows as a gift to the Barton Community College Foundation. The windows were restored in 2000, and then installed in the renovated chapel which was renamed in her honor.
Source: Barton Community College www.bartonccc.edu/community/artsentertainment/chapel/history.html
The number of stained glass windows in Barton Community College’s Dorothy Moses Morrison Chapel could grew from five to six, Darnell Holopirek told the BCC Board of Trustees on Thursday.
"We have agreed to accept another chapel window from Illinois," said Holopirek, Barton’s executive director of institutional advancement. The gift will be accepted by the Barton Community College Foundation.
Dorothy Moses Morrison donated five windows from the historic First Congregational Church in Great Bend in 1991, and another individual is interested in donating a sixth window from the same church, Holopirek said. "The first windows were restored in 2000, and installed in the campus chapel, which was also remodeled and renamed in the donor’s honor, in 2001. The chapel also houses an organ, upright piano and Steinway grand piano.
"It is in good shape," Holopirek said of the sixth window, adding there are some cracks but the gift will not require a restoration project, as the others did. The biggest expense would be the time or cost of having it delivered to the college.
Holopirek said she checked on both the condition of the proposed gift and its authenticity. "You always have to research a bit before you accept a gift."
Her report was part of a larger presentation on "personal enrichment" at BCC.
Also speaking was David Barnes, director of the Shafer Gallery; Diane Engle from the Office of Student Life; Coleen Cape, coordinator of the Silver Cougar Club; and Charles Perkins, Dean of Information Services.
Engle also gave a report on the college residence halls.
In action items, the board approved the hiring to two people: Raymond Kruse, as a coordinator and academic adviser in the Education Opportunity Center, Fort Riley area; and Denise Barnes as a nursing instructor on the Barton campus.
