The story of Annie Merner and Henry Pfeiffer reverberated with financial gifts all over the U.S.
By Ben Cox
MacMurray College, previously known as Illinois Women’s College, went through an era of massive growth that started during the years of The Great Depression that lasted until just after World War II.
Coinciding with the beginnings of the first wave of feminism in the 20th century came the attempt by women to gain equal rights to education in the United States and Illinois Women’s College was at the forefront of that movement.
Canadian born Annie Merner met and married Henry Pfeiffer in 1882. The Pfeiffers began their affiliation with the Methodist Episcopal Church when they moved to St. Louis in 1917. They were originally members of the Evangelical Church, but there were no such churches in St. Louis. When the couple again moved, this time to New York in 1927,
Annie Merner Pfeiffer became president of the Woman’s Home Missionary Society of the New York Conference.
One of the first institutions to which the Pfeiffers made a gift was the Ethel Harpst Home in Cedartown, Georgia. As their knowledge of and interest in the projects of the WHMS grew, they began to single out other institutions for financial assistance. Mrs. W.H.C. Goode, president of the national WHMS, directed Mrs. Pfeiffer’s attention to Mitchell Home and School in Misenheimer, North Carolina, in 1929 (now Pfeiffer University). Mrs. Pfeiffer gave that institution gifts totaling over 1.5 million dollars, including buildings, cash and stocks.
In 1939, Mrs. Merner Pfeiffer was given an honorary degree from the college, one of the reasons being a gift of $100,000 (approximately $2.3 million today) to build the Henry Pfeiffer Library in honor of her husband who died in 1939. The library was dedicated on May 24, 1941, with the clock and chimes (a gift from the MacMurray classes of 1941 and 1942) sounding for the first time. The library faithfully served the college, its literary organizations and the community for 79 years before the college’s closure in May 2020.
After the college’s library, Annie Merner Pfeiffer continued with her philanthropic efforts at MacMurray. She donated $125,000 (about $2.2 million today) in 1944 to help build a new chapel because she recognized that church services at the college were getting crowded in their current venue. Friends of the college provided an additional $75,000 gift to build the chapel.
For a time, the chapel services were held nearby at Centenary United Methodist Church, and then six blocks away at Grace United Methodist Church. However, the safety of 700 students walking to Grace for chapel every week became a concern, requiring a new venue be built on campus.
A citizens committee endorsed by the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce was formed with a fundraising goal of $50,000, and a call to action was given to the Illinois Conference of United Methodist Churches, who eventually gave more than $100,000 toward the building of the chapel. The administration and faculty pledged $10,000, and alumni donated $30,000 to provide an organ. Unfortunately, Annie Merner Pfeiffer would not live to see the chapel completed, passing away in January 1946.
Due to World War II and the reduced availability of materials, construction of the chapel was delayed by several years. The construction for the chapel eventually began in 1948 with the laying of the cornerstone on October 8. The plans for completion were to be sometime in 1949. At a cost of nearly $500,000 (approximately $6.5 million in today’s money), the chapel was finally dedicated on December 11, 1949.
In the northwest corner of the chapel building sits the DeMotte Meditation Chapel, given in honor of William D. DeMotte, president of the college from 1868-1875, by his family. Other notable donations include the pulpit, the lectern and the altar furnishings by Reverend McKendree Blair, professor of religion.
The Bible on the altar was given by Mr. and Mrs. George J. Carpenter of Jacksonville in memory of their daughter Alice Ada, MacMurray Class of 1944; she gave her life for her country during World War II.
Ultimately, the Opus 1150 Aeolian-Skinner four-manual organ was built in the chapel in 1952 and was provided by alumni of the school. The Donald Harrison signature organ is world-renowned in the realm of organ performance. G. Donald Harrison was a pioneering organ tonal director for the Aeolian-Skinner company from 1933 until his death in 1956. The model currently housed in the chapel was one of the last organs he helped construct.
Harrison had a connection with MacMurray organist Catherine Crozier, who played the dedication recital of the organ at the chapel on October 10, 1952. Crozier and world-famous organist and former MacMurray College music professor Dr. Robert Glasgow were instrumental in bringing the organ to Jacksonville.
It has long been said that trustees of the college agreed to never build anything between the library and the chapel on Rutledge Lawn. The lawn was a social greenspace for the college’s students. Between frisbee games, soccer and students simply lying on blankets to read or relax, the lawn was the space between. The belief among alumni was that nothing would be built between the two buildings, much like nothing came between Henry Pfeiffer and Annie Merner in their 57 years of marriage.
When the college closed in May 2020, the decision was made to auction the school’s properties as an attempt to recoup money for the college’s outstanding debts.
Tulsa, Oklahoma-based auction company Williams & Williams oversaw the auction on November 12, 2020, that brought many people — either bidders with hopes for the future of the buildings or sightseers who were curious about who would be the new owners. The auction brought in a total of $1.35 million.
Local real estate magnate Michael Hayes ended up with the highest bid on the chapel, the Putnam-Springer Arts building and the now-gone McClelland Dining Hall for $600,000. Otto Roman, an out-of-state businessman, purchased the library and Julian Hall, which was the former chemistry and science building.
In June 2023, the MacMurray Foundation and Alumni Association dedicated a historical marker at the corner of Clay and College avenues honoring the memory of the college.
Just a year after its sale, MacMurray College graduate Brian Reilly and his wife, Melissa, set up their catering business in nearby McClelland Dining Hall. Cured Catering served the Jacksonville area with use of the chapel for weddings and events for a little less than a year before a devastating fire destroyed the dining hall in June 2024. The dining hall was demolished this year and the property was bought by Our Saviour Parish and turned into a parking lot.
In March, chapel owner Michael Hayes announced a massive renovation plan to the building in hopes of making it more marketable as an event venue. Not long after, a couple stepped forward and announced they were purchasing both the library and the chapel in hopes of keeping the existing structures together and breathing new life into their future. Eric and Kayla Jokisch had acquired the library first just a few weeks prior and then went all in on the chapel.
Earlier this summer, both buildings were given new names. Annie Merner Chapel was dubbed The Chapel. After some extensive seating renovations among others, the chapel is once again hosting weekly church services led by the Case family’s ministry. Henry Pfeiffer Library is now Chapter II Events, and will serve as a before and after wedding space for couples. Kayla Jokisch says the business name was chosen to both honor the idea of the library and to also represent the second chapter of the building’s life.
Information sources: Jacksonville Public Library and Sarah Snyder; “A History of MacMurray College: The First Hundred Years” by Mary Watters; “Forward in the Second Century of MacMurray College A History of 125 Years” by Walter B. Hendrickson; Terri Benz, choral director and instructor at MacMurray College from 2001-2010; Christine Smith, director of performing arts for MacMurray College from 2017-2020; Craig Boyd of Boyd Music; Dr. Susan Weller; “Henry Pfeiffer Library, MacMurray College for Women, Jacksonville, Illinois” booklet found as part of the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana library collection; The Illinois Times; the obituaries of Henry and Annie Pfeiffer as a part of the Pfeiffer Junior College library collection; and articles previously published in The Source Newspaper.
