Located in the middle of Marquette University is a special and unusual building, which happens to be the oldest in Milwaukee. It’s called the Joan of Arc Chapel and has an interesting backstory.
Last weekend’s One Clue Mystery photo (shown below) featured this chapel. It was recognized by our talented travel sleuth, George G. Congratulations George!!

A Brief History of the Joan of Arc Chapel
This small chapel was built in medieval France around 1420, in a small village near Lyon. The chapel served as the community’s spiritual center for centuries but over the years became run down and in disrepair.
Enter Gertrude Gavin, the daughter of an American railroad baron. She was a religious woman and a devotee of Joan of Arc. When she heard about the chapel, she bought it, had it dismantled and shipped to her property on Long Island where it was reassembled. Here it joined a French Renaissance chateau (also purchased in and shipped from France).
(Note: Joan of Arc (1412–31) was a French heroine of the Hundred Years War. She was convicted of heresy and burned at the stake. She was later named the patron saint of France.)
Ms. Gavin named her chapel in honor of her heroine, St. Joan of Arc (even though Joan had never visited the chapel). In 1962, Gavin sold the chateau and chapel to Marc Rojtman and his wife Lillian. Five days before the Rojtmans were scheduled to move in, the house was severely damaged by fire but the attached chapel was undamaged. The Rojtmans offered the chapel to Marquette University, who accepted the gift.
Marquette workers spent nine months dismantling the chapel and marking each of its 40,000 lbs of stones before loading them onto semis and moving them to Milwaukee. Here it was reassembled, with some modernization (e.g. electricity, floor heating). The Joan of Arc chapel opened in 1966 where it has been at the heart of the campus ever since. Mass is regularly held here. It was my bad sense of timing that got us here an hour before the chapel opened, so we could not explore the interior (which is said to be quite nice)
A little information about Marquette University. This is a private Jesuit university, the largest private university in Wisconsin. The University was established in 1881 and has about 11,000 students enrolled. If offers undergraduate programs but also has over 68 doctoral and master’s degree programs, a law school and a dental school. The campus is quite beautiful and very pleasant to explore on foot.

The university was named after 17th-century missionary and explorer, Father Jacques Marquette. A statue on the campus depicts the namesake missionary:

Located a short distance behind the Joan of Arc chapel is a statue of Mother Teresa,

Marquette is located near downtown Milwaukee and is on a 93-acre campus. The campus stretches 12 blocks east to west and 5 blocks north to south. There are many lovely buildings on campus, but one of the most prominent is this Jesuit Church.
If you visit:
Chapel Hours (check before you visit)
Open most days from 10 am to 4 pm. Closed on Sundays.
There is no entrance fee.
Mass Schedule
Mass is celebrated during the fall and spring semesters. The small size of the chapel limits attendance.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: Noon
Tuesday and Thursday: 10 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m.
Parking is available on streets within the campus and in one of several parking lots

