The Chapel at the Prairie Grove Cemetery
The little Prairie Grove Cemetery in the Waynedale area of Fort Wayne, Indiana is home to one of the most beautiful old churches in the city. Unlike the old richly decorated brick Catholic and Lutheran churches downtown, this 19th century building is simple in the extreme. No one can remember exactly when it was built, but a recent newspaper article said that the little chapel is more than 150 years old, making it one of the oldest buildings in Allen County. I began photographing it in 1998, when I made a photograph of it for my senior project in art school. Since then I have returned many times over the years, even getting the cemetery caretaker to let me inside to photograph the interior. The church has been unused and empty since the early 1990’s, when it was last used by a small non-denominational congregation.
This is my latest photograph of the building. The sign once had a statement of faith in the Christian Gospel spelled out with moveable plastic letters that have since fallen into a jumbled pile in the bottom of the sign frame.
See the rest of my photographs of the Prairie Grove Cemetery Chapel
