Danforth Chapel
In August 1950, Rev. George Dreher and his wife Kay moved to Bountiful after serving a little Congregational Church in Mountain Home, Idaho. This young minister and his wife had an inspiring missionary spirit and became the first really strong ministerial leadership that the Bountiful Church had ever had. Rev. Dreher was a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale Divinity School. Prior to her marriage, Kay was the secretary of the Student Christian Movement of New York State and was a graduate of the University of Georgia and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. The young couple elected to give themselves to the intermountain area. Knowing all the challenges Protestants faced in an overwhelmingly Mormon culture and fully aware of the low estate of the Congregational work, they turned down opportunities for more lucrative positions and assumed charge over the Bountiful Community Congregational Church.
In November 1954, through the efforts of Kay Dreher, the church accepted a gift of $10,000 for the building of this chapel. Kay Dreher had been a student in St. Louis, and through her acquaintance with William H. Danforth, the donation was acquired. Danforth was the founder of Purina Pet Food. Through the Danforth Foundation, he subsidized the construction of 24 Danforth Chapels at educational and religious institutions around the United States, and one in Japan. This Danforth Chapel was dedicated July 31, 1955.
The furnishings for the chapel were made by B. Orr Willhite and upholstered by Robert Whitmer as donations to the Bountiful Church. The statue on the west wall was purchased in Israel, and presented as a gift by Rev. Donald M. Proctor.
