Willow River Cemetery Chapel Project
Willow River Chapel
Restoration Project
Please help us preserve this part of Hudson's history.
In 2006 Hudson Vintage Neighborhood Alliance began restoration of the Chapel at the Willow River Cemetery. We have invested $1,700 of our own money and have completed Phase I and II.
Phase I ( $300)
-Repair and paint lower exterior doors
Completed
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Phase II ($8,000) (100% complete)
- Replace Plexiglas windows with tempered glass
- Restore stain glass windows
- Replace missing round stained glass window in Gable
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Phase III ($400)
- Remove false ceiling
- Remove rubber-backed carpeting
- Patch, repair and paint walls and ceiling
- Wash or refinish wood floors
Phase IV ($300)
- Replace ceilings in back halls
- Patch, repair and paint back hall walls
Phase V ($1,000)
- Rewire building
(Projected completion of Phases III-V - June 2009)
Projected Total
Restoration Cost
$10,000.00
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Hudson Star Observer
May 16, 2008
Cemetery chapel restoration is under way
The Humbird Chapel in Willow River Cemetery could be a public place again if the community rallies around a restoration project sponsored by the Hudson Vintage Neighborhood Alliance.
Members of the Neighborhood Alliance, a group of homeowners committed to preserving Hudsons historical character, thought it would be a rather modest community service project when they started it in 2006.
Their initial plan was to fix the chapel doors, paint the exterior trim and replace the yellowed Plexiglas over the stained-glass windows.
But the deeper they got into the project, the more work they discovered and the greater their goals became.
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Their aim now is to return the chapel to the use for which M. Kate Humbird paid to have it built in 1921.
Until sometime in the 1970s, funeral and memorial services were held in the solid red-brick chapel with white trim and a Greek revival-style portico.
The chapel has gone almost unnoticed in recent years, partly because of two overgrown arbor vitae trees that hide much of the front of it. The dull, yellowed Plexiglas hides the splendor of the stained-glass windows.
We could see there was stained glass because some of the Plexiglas panels were missing, said Karen Neset, past president of the Neighborhood Alliance and one of the leaders of the restoration project.
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We thought we could do some of it with our own elbow grease, our own volunteers. And we thought we had enough money to replace at least the Plexiglas with tempered glass.
So far, Neighborhood Alliance volunteers have replaced the lower level basement doors at the rear of the building.
The alliance also has hired Jim Smeed of Willow Stained Glass & Framing in New Richmond to restore the stained-glass and cover it with clear tempered-glass windows.
The Willow River Cemetery Association Board, headed by Jim Steel, recommended that the stained glass be restored at the same time when the alliance came to it with the plan to replace the Plexiglas. Board members were concerned about broken pieces of stained glass and some panels that needed new lead to hold the glass in place.
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Smeed has restored the half-rounds for the tops of the four front windows, so far, as well as the larger half-round that goes over the front doors.
The Neighborhood Alliance hopes that repairs to the stained glass for the two most-visible windows at the front of the chapel also will be completed soon.
The plan is to have one or two of the repaired windows installed before the Memorial Day service on Monday, May 26. The Neighborhood Alliance hopes community members will appreciate the improvement and contribute money to complete the project.
Neset said the alliance is out of funds to have Smeed repair any additional windows.
The chapel has 13 stained glass windows in all, plus the half-rounds over the front and back upper-level doors.
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Neighborhood Alliance president Wayne Haut said it will take an estimated $10,000 to complete the window repairs and restore the interior of the chapel to its original condition.
He said most the most expensive part of the project is reconditioning the windows. The goal is to have that phase of the project completed by September.
Alliance volunteers plan to do most of the worked needed to the inside removing a false ceiling and carpeting, repairing and painting the walls and ceiling, and washing or refinishing the hardwood floor.
The chapel has a beautiful cove ceiling, and the original light fixtures, above the drop ceiling that was installed in the 1970s, according to Haut and Neset.
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Haut said the mechanism that was used to raise and lower caskets from the basement also is still in place. So are the basement racks where bodies and caskets were stored when the ground was frozen too solid to dig graves.
It is interesting, but very spooky down there, Haut said.
The Neighborhood Alliance also plans to rewire the building. Members would like to have it ready for public use again by the summer of 2009.
M. Kate Humbird was the wife of David Humbird, who was treasurer of the Western Wisconsin Railroad.
The Humbirds were a wealthy and prominent Hudson family in the late 1800s and the early 1900s. Davids father, Jacob Humbird, was a railroad company president and helped bring the railroad to Hudson.
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The Humbird Chapel was designed and built by Arthur Lee.
It adds great dignity to the premises, local historian Willis Miller said of the chapel in his 1955 book This was Hudson.
The St. Croix Valley Community Foundation has agreed to act as fiscal sponsor of the chapel restoration project so that donors can claim a tax deduction for their gift.
Checks should be written to the foundation and mailed to: St. Croix Valley Community Foundation, c/o HVNA, 726 Fourth St., Hudson, WI 54016.
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Please browse the book and follow our story and progress on the restoration of the Humbird Chapel at Willow River Cemetery.
© 2010 Hudson Vintage Neighborhood Alliance. Designed by Pegasus Publishing.
