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Oakland Memorial Chapel
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
Mississippi Landmark
Main façade of the chapel, 1972
Show map of MississippiShow map of the United States
Location	Alcorn State University campus, Claiborne County, Mississippi
Coordinates	31°52′33″N 91°08′23″W / 31.87583°N 91.13972°W / 31.87583; -91.13972
Built	1838 (1838)
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP reference No.	74001057
USMS No.	021-ALC-0003-NHL-ML
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	December 27, 1974
Designated NHL	May 11, 1976
Designated USMS	September 26, 1985

Oakland Memorial Chapel is a historic church and academic building on the campus of Alcorn State University in rural southwestern Claiborne County, Mississippi. Built in 1838 as part of Oakland College, it is one of the oldest surviving buildings at Alcorn State, which took over that defunct school's campus after the American Civil War. Alcorn State was the first land grant university established specifically for the education of African Americans. The chapel was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976, and a Mississippi Landmark in 1985.

Description and history

The Oakland Memorial Chapel occupies a prominent position on the campus of Alcorn State University, on the southwest side of ASU Drive, one of the rural campus' circulation roads. It is a three-story brick building with a gabled roof. Its ground floor functions as a raised basement, with a colonnade of brick piers supporting a six-column Greek temple portico. The columns are of the Tuscan order, and support an entablature and full gabled pediment. A two-stage square wood-frame tower rises above the roof ridge, with an elaborate second stage featuring fluted Doric columns, and an entablature with trighlyphs, metopes, and mutules. It is crowned by a low balustrade.

Oakland College was founded in 1828 by Reverend Jeremiah Chamberlain as part of a Presbyterian mission to educate the white children of the region. In 1851 Chamberlain, an abolitionist, was assassinated by a supporter of slavery, and the school was closed during the American Civil War. It failed to recover after the war, and closed again soon after reopening. Its assets were sold to the state in 1871. That same year the state established Alcorn State, as the first land grant university specifically for the education of African Americans. It is also believed to be the first state-supported school in the nation to graduate a black woman.

At the time the state acquired the campus, three buildings were standing from the Oakland College period. Of these, the chapel is the best preserved and architecturally the most sophisticated.

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Mississippi
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Claiborne County, Mississippi

References

1. ^ "Mississippi Landmark—Oakland Chapel". Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
2. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
3. ^ "Oakland Memorial Chapel". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved October 13, 2007.
4. ^ Lynne Gomez Graves (October 30, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Oakland Memorial Chapel, Alcorn University" (pdf). National Park Service. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 2 photos, 1 exterior and 1 interior, from 1974. (521 KB)

• National Historic Landmarks in Mississippi
• Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi
• Churches in Claiborne County, Mississippi
• Churches completed in 1838
• 19th-century churches in the United States
• Alcorn State University buildings
• University and college chapels in the United States
• Clock towers in Mississippi
• Towers in Mississippi
• Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi
• Mississippi Landmarks
• National Register of Historic Places in Claiborne County, Mississippi
• Churches on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi
• University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Mississippi
• Greek Revival architecture in Mississippi