Missouri Crematory - The Chapel of The Missouri Crematory

The Chapel of The Missouri Crematory

A Chapel, at one time an example of the grandest of any of its use, composes the entire upper level of the building. The floors and ceiling are covered with intricate mosaic marble tile-work, and the walls are frescoed. Fourteen stained glass windows provide the space with natural lighting, and later, a drop-ceiling was added and fluorescent lights installed to light the area.

At the far end of the Chapel, opposite the entry doors, stands a small platform, two steps above the floor level. Three of the stained glass windows are above this area, and one on the left and right side walls. Above the three windows, in the arch of the ceiling, is a relief of the Alpha and Omega symbol. In the center of the platform is a catafalque, raised about three feet above the floor – which serves as a lowering device. Upon arrival of the remains at the Crematory Chapel, the pallbearers carried the casket or coffin into the Chapel and it was placed on the catafalque and covered with a black drape which reached to the floor. The casket or coffin was thence concealed from the view of those in attendance while it was quietly and discreetly lowered by hand-pulley to the crematory room below.

This chapel was used frequently while crematory operations were still performed at the Missouri Crematory, but when a new chapel was built on the grounds as part of a mausoleum addition, funeral and memorial ceremonies were held in the new chapel rather than the one that had served for so many years. Since then, the chapel has sadly fallen in disrepair – and like the crematory apparatus, it is no longer necessary for it to be kept up.