Wait Chapel | |
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![]() Wait Chapel's distinctive edifice dominates the main quad at Wake Forest University | |
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36°08′06″N80°16′44″W / 36.13508°N 80.27885°W | |
Location | Hearn Plaza |
Address | Wake Forest University |
Denomination | Baptist |
Architecture | |
Completed | 1956 |
Wait Chapel is a building on the campus of Wake Forest University. The first building constructed on the university's Reynolda campus, in October 1956, it is named for Samuel Wait, the university's first president. Its steeple reaches to 213 feet. The chapel stands on the northeastern side of Hearn Plaza (Upper Quad), opposite Reynolda Hall.
The chapel, which seats 2,250 people, houses the Janet Jeffrey Carlile Harris Carillon of 48 bells and the Williams Organ, donated by Walter McAdoo Williams, namesake of Walter M. Williams High School.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Wait Chapel on October 11, 1962. [1] On March 17, 1978, president Jimmy Carter made a major National Security address in the chapel. [2] In 1988, it hosted a presidential debate between George H. W. Bush and Michael Dukakis and, in 2000, between George W. Bush and Al Gore. On September 13, 2007, it hosted a broadcast of National Public Radio (NPR) show Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me . [3] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spoke here in November 2011. A private memorial ceremony for Dr. Maya Angelou was held in Wait Chapel on June 7, 2014. Attendees included first lady Michelle Obama, president Bill Clinton, and Oprah Winfrey. [4]
The chapel is linked to a vast underground series of tunnels crisscrossing the campus carrying utilities. [5]
The congregation of Wake Forest Baptist Church once held regular Sunday services in the chapel; the church dissolved in 2022. [6] In the late 1990s the chapel became the center of controversy when members of the church decided to conduct a same-sex commitment ceremony; this became the subject of the documentary A Union in Wait . [7] Other events held in the chapel throughout the year include a Moravian lovefeast during the Christmas season.
Winston-Salem is a city in and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the fifth-most populous city in North Carolina, and the 90th-most populous city in the United States. The population of the Winston-Salem metropolitan area was estimated to be 695,630 in 2023. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina's Piedmont Triad region, home to about 1.7 million residents.
Wake Forest University (WFU) is a private research university in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1834, the university received its name from its original location in Wake Forest, north of Raleigh, North Carolina. The Reynolda Campus, the university's main campus, has been located north of downtown Winston-Salem since the university moved there in 1956.
Maya Angelou was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
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Richard Joshua Reynolds was an American businessman and founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Wake Forest, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Voted into existence on May 19, 1950, duri It was created in 1950 to meet a need in the SBC's East Coast region. It was voted into existence on May 19, 1950, at the SBC annual meeting and began offering classes in the fall of 1951 on the original campus of Wake Forest University in Wake Forest, North Carolina. The undergraduate program is called The College at Southeastern. The current president is Daniel L. Akin.
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Bowman Gray Sr. was president and chairman of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a major benefactor of the medical school of Wake Forest College which now bears his name.
A Union in Wait is a 2001 documentary film about same-sex marriage directed by Ryan Butler. It was the first documentary about same-sex marriage to air on national television in the United States.
Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, with two campuses located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, the academic medical center whose clinical arm is Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked Wake Forest School of Medicine 48th best for research in the nation and 80th best for primary care. The School of Medicine also ranks in the top third of U.S. medical schools in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The Reynolda House Museum of American Art displays a premiere collection of American art ranging from the colonial period to the present. Built in 1917 by Katharine Smith Reynolds and her husband R. J. Reynolds, founder of the R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the house originally occupied the center of a 1,067-acre (4.32 km2) estate. It opened to the public as an institution dedicated to the arts and education in 1965, and as an art museum in 1967. The house holds one of the country's finest collections of American paintings. It is located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Wake Forest Baptist Church was a Baptist Church located on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The church belonged to the Alliance of Baptists, Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Wake Forest University School of Divinity is an ecumenical divinity school located on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The School offers a Master of Divinity degree as well several joint degree programs in cooperation with other graduate programs at the university in bioethics, counseling, education, law, and sustainability. The school has 19 faculty.
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Washington Manly Wingate (1828-1879) served as the fourth president of Wake Forest College, from 1853 to 1862, and then after the Civil War from 1866 until his death in 1879. He is also the namesake for Wingate University, located in Wingate, North Carolina.
Samuel Wait was a Baptist minister and educator. He served as the first principal of Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He was also the Institute's first president, serving from 1834 to 1845. Wait Chapel, on today's college campus, in Winston-Salem, is named for him.
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Hearn Plaza is the main quadrangle at Wake Forest University's North Campus in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States. Completed in 1956, along with many of the surrounding buildings, it is named for Thomas K. Hearn, the twelfth president of the university. He served in the role for 22 years.