United Church, The Chapel on the Hill
United Church, Chapel on the Hill, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
The United Church, Chapel on the Hill was Oak Ridge’s main church during World War II. It was dedicated on September 30, 1943, and finished later that month. The chapel was a multi-denominational space shared by Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish congregations. It was built as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 700-series chapel, a wood-frame building with a three-bay rectangular plan, a steepled bell tower, and a gable-entry porch. It was one of three similar chapels built in Oak Ridge during the war; the West Chapel was later demolished, but the East Chapel is still in use.
The Army built the chapel to support religious activities in Oak Ridge, a town created for the Manhattan Project. The dedication ceremony featured prayers and talks by a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest, an Episcopal priest, a Baptist minister, and the minister of the United Church. The name “Chapel on the Hill” came from a line in a prayer spoken at the dedication.
The United Church congregation began on July 18, 1943, with about 25–30 Christians from many denominations. Roughly 150 people from 13 denominations became charter members. Lay leaders took office on October 24, 1943. When the chapel was completed, the United Church and the local Roman Catholic Church were the two officially operating churches in Oak Ridge.
During the war, Oak Ridge’s population topped 70,000, and the chapel was used nearly 24 hours a day for worship services, weddings, and other events. The United Church had four ministers and held services at the Chapel on the Hill, the East Village Chapel, the Jefferson Theater, and in local schools and a trailer camp.
In 1951, the United Church became a single interdenominational congregation based in the Chapel on the Hill. The church bought the chapel and 3.72 acres from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission on May 11, 1955, for $17,116. An adjoining educational building was added in 1956–1957. Today it remains a non-denominational Protestant church led by lay members, with ministers from mainstream Protestant backgrounds. Since 2007 it has been affiliated with the Center for Progressive Christianity. Its motto is, “Where People from All Denominations Meet in Their Differences, but Are One in Their Search for God.”
The Chapel on the Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993 as a contributing property in the Oak Ridge Historic District.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:49 (CET).