By Tim Wenzl

Diocesan Archivist

Sixty years after World War II, several of the air base chapels that were located in southwest Kansas are still serving congregations as houses of worship.

The five Army Air Fields in southwest Kansas were utilized as schools for training student officers, French nationals and Women’s Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs). The student pilots trained in the B-26 Martin and A-26 Douglas.

Each of the air fields, located at Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Liberal and Pratt, had a chapel. Catholics made up a large percentage of the military personnel and priests living in the nearby communities celebrated Sunday Masses at the base chapels.

When World War II came to an end, the bases were dismantled and the buildings were sold as surplus. Three of the chapels were sold to Catholic congregations and two were sold to Protestant congregations.

The Pratt chapel was moved to St. John where it continues to serve as the home of St. John the Apostle Parish. It stands as a memorial to Henry Baier, Jr., Raymond Fehrenbacker, and Louis Hoffman, the Stafford County Catholics who died in the line of duty during World War II. A brick facade was added to the frame church in 1984.

The Liberal chapel was moved to Hugoton where it became the first home of St. Helen Parish. The chapel served the Catholic congregation there until 1977 when they constructed a new church and relocated the parish plant. St. Helen’s congregation was the last to use the building for worship. The pews were later acquired by the local 4-H Club. Paul O’Hara bought the chapel and the lot at Eleventh and Jefferson. O’Hara wanted to build a new pharmacy at the site and Dana Swan acquired the building in 1979 moving it to 305 Main Street where it remains today. In the 1980s the building was utilized as a recreation center for the youth of the community. It later housed an antique store. The building is currently for sale.

The Garden City chapel was sold to the Methodist congregation in Ingalls and is today the home of the Ingalls Community Bible Church.

The Great Bend chapel was sold to a Lutheran congregation in Rush Center and continues to be utilized as the Hope Lutheran Church.

All of these chapels had to be moved off the air fields and, if they could talk, each would have a story to tell.

The Dodge City chapel has a fascinating history. This chapel was sold to a Catholic congregation in Hoxie and would become St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Church, but not before an epic journey.

Everett Kemper of Dodge City and a crew of six men loaded the 150-ton chapel on 50 wheels in eight days. The chapel set out for Hoxie on Nov. 13, 1948. The first day only one mile was traveled before power and telephone lines needed to be cut. Five miles further on, American Telegraph and Telephone had a large lead line from Kansas City to Denver. Forty six wires were substituted and buried underground before the overhead wires were cut. About 15 miles from the air field a similar big lead was encountered.

On the third day the chapel traveled 24 miles. A blizzard struck on Nov. 17 when the crew was 15 miles north of Cimarron. This halted travel for three weeks and the chapel set along the side of the highway. When travel resumed, another day of travel brought the chapel within six miles of Dighton. Here the ring gear of the back axle on the house tractor broke, stalling the crew for four more days.

By Dec. 20, the crew reached Dighton. The chapel was parked in the center of town while many wires were lowered or cut along the main street. It took two days to move the building through Dighton.

On Dec. 22, the chapel was parked in a cane field about 15 miles south of Gove. Here another blizzard and sleet storm tied up travel for several more days.

The trip into Gove was torturesome, for the roads were unsurfaced, running over several hills, and five bridges that had to be reinforced.

When the crew finally reached Gove another blizzard struck. The chapel was parked south of the courthouse for four days before travel could resume.

The chapel finally made its way to Hoxie, 57 days from the start of its journey, on Jan. 8, 1949. It served the parish until Sept. 16, 1979, when a new church was completed. The old chapel was sold at public auction and later torn down.