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Chapel Car "Emmanuel" visits Tulare

It was in 1887 that the Baptist Home Mission Society sent a missionary from Nebraska to our town to start a new church called Tulare First Baptist Church. With missions in our community a hallmark of our fellowship since that time, it was no surprise that in January of 1900 Tulare First Baptist Church sponsored and supported a ministry that is unique in evangelism and railroad history.

It begins with the Saturday, January 6, 1900 local newspaper, the Tulare Register, printing the following in the community news section:

Followed by the Wednesday, January 10 paper:
Let's talk about what chapel cars were and what they did. Before the Baptists introduced the chapel cars to the West in the early 1890s, their missionaries had always traveled on foot. Colporters (from the French word "colporteurs," meaning those who carry from the neck), carried Bibles, tracts, and other reading materials strung by yokes across their shoulders to wilderness homes.
One of those colportors, Boston Smith, came up with the idea of chapel cars. While ministering in a small Minnesota town, he noticed that the Northern Pacific Railroad left a passenger car on a siding every weekend. Since his congregation was outgrowing any of the towns's existing facilities, Reverend Smith asked the railroad authorities if he could use the car for church on Sunday. To everyone's surprise, the railroad agreed. Church in a railroad car? The sheer novelty of it drew the largest crowd in the town's history. Smith later wrote: "I dreamed of the day when a missionary car would be built for the purpose of carrying the gospel to communities in the Far West." Smith would have to wait several years for his dream to come true. But finally, in 1890, with the help of railroad executive Colgate Hoyt and a syndicate headed by John D. Rockefeller, a car christened "Evangel" was built at the Barney & Smith Car Company of Dayton, Ohio.

A small paragraph in the Thursday, January 11 paper gives us this:
It was a miracle that chapel car visiting us in Tulare, the "Emmanuel" was even built. It was dedicated in Denver May 24, 1893, for work in the West and Northwest, but times had changed since 1891. Because of the financial panic of 1893, Barney & Smith Car Works, like most of the nation's businesses, found itself in deep trouble and were barely able to complete it. "Emmanuel" was the second of seven eventually built, because chapel cars were in much demand by now.
All Baptist chapel cars were pretty much of the same configuration. They were sixty feet long, with an open vestibule at both ends, built of wood, and resembled a Pullman sleeper. The car was divided into two parts, the one part being the living quarters and was 10 x 16 feet or 160 square feet. In this sumptuous space was packed an upper and lower berth, a kitchen completely equipped with a copper lined sink connected to a tank overhead, an Adams Westlake improved Stove, a sideboard, a china closet, a linen press, and lavatory. The living quarters contained a study, dining room, writing desk, book shelves to the top of the car and a large wardrobe and locker; all this in 160 square feet. The missionary's wife would often have to busy herself in the chapel proper or step outside, if her husband were counseling someone. I should, also, point out that if the missionary had any children, they were often left with friends for several years.
Additional cars-"Glad Tidings," "Good Will," "Messenger of Peace," "Herald of Hope," and "Grace"-were put into service. At one stop, the Messenger of Peace caught the attention of a young farm boy. "Now what kind of a car do you reckon that is?" he asked. When he learned it was a church car and that a minister and his wife lived in it, the fellow marveled, "I've seen cattle cars, hog cars, smoking cars, baggage cars, passenger cars, and sleeping cars. But I'll be blessed if I ever saw a car like this. If that don't beat the devil!" Overhearing the conversation, the young minister appeared at one of the car windows and said, "Yes, that's exactly what the car was built for-to beat the devil."

The Tulare Register continues its coverage in the Monday January 22 paper:
On Saturday, February 3rd that Register reported that the car had left town with its next stop being Coalinga. Tulare witnessed a piece of American history and had supported our Baptist ministry for almost four weeks.

The beginning of World War I, for the United States, effectively marks the end of the Chapel Car era. The United States Government issued orders that Chapel Cars had to be side tracked, and no more free passage allowed. We may assume that the Baptist's cars being sidetracked were put to good service as churches in the communities where they were needed. Amazingly enough, the chapel car "Emmanuel" exists today and is being restored at Prairie Village in Madison, South Dakota.

For more in depth reading, there is a book published on this subject, "This Train is Bound for Glory: The Story of America's Chapel Cars", by Wilma Rugh Taylor and Norman Thomas Taylor.  

 Click here to purchase the book from Amazon.com

Or visit the website www.chapelcars.com for more information.