By Kathie Sutin, Healthy Planet Staff Writer
Photo: A metal likeness of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill greets visitors to America’s National Churchill Memorial in Fulton.
I am always amazed at the number of hidden gems we have in our beautiful state.
Take America’s National Churchill Memorial in Fulton, an easy drive from St. Louis.
Who would expect to find in this small midwestern town a stunning 17th Century Christopher Wren designed church with a world class museum honoring Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister who led his country through World War II?
But there it is nestled on the campus of Westminster College, part of America’s National Churchill Museum.
How the museum was created and how the church, devastated by bombing during the war, came to a small town in Missouri where it was rebuilt is a fascinating story.
In 1945, Churchill lost his bid for re-election. The next year, the small private college in Fulton decided it would ask Churchill to speak at a campus event.
The question then was: How do you get a world leader of Churchill’s stature to deliver a speech at a small little-known college in the middle of America?
It turns out that one of President Harry S Truman’s aides was a graduate of Westminster College. So, the college president at the time asked him to request the president appeal to the former prime minister to accept the invitation.
Today visitors can view the personal note Truman hand wrote at the bottom of the official invitation sent to Churchill: “This is a wonderful school in my home state. Hope you can do it. I’ll introduce you. Truman.”
Churchill, who it is said, initially wanted to decline the invitation, accepted. A factor influencing his decision could have been the fact that he knew his speech would attract a large audience.
And it did. The speech marked the first time Churchill used in public a term he had coined when he remarked that, following the war, an “Iron Curtain” had descended across Europe. According to some experts, that speech heralded the beginning of the Cold War.
Formally named “The Sinews of Peace,” Churchill’s address drew worldwide attention.
That explains why Churchill came to this off-the-beaten-path town in the middle of the country to speak at the college but how and why and how did the church get there?
Almost two decades later in 1961 the college was looking for a way to commemorate Churchill and the speech that forever linked the British leader with Westminster College and Fulton. Inspired by a Life magazine article about Wren churches bombed out during the war and still awaiting demolition 20 years later, college officials decided to try to secure the remains of such a church, bring them to the campus and rebuild the structure.
The church selected was St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury, damaged during a German air raid on Dec. 29, 1940.
Originally built in the late 11 century or early 12th century in London, St. Mary served as a medieval parish church. The Great Fire of London, which ravaged the city for five days in 1666 destroyed the church and its entire parish.
A few years later King Charles II commissioned noted architect Christopher Wren to rebuild 52 churches destroyed in the fire including St. Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury. The church contains Renaissance Classical elements as well as those of Wren’s English baroque style.
The path to “import” the church was lengthy taking four years to obtain church and government permission to move it. In 1965 workers began the process of removing each of 7,000 stones, cleaning them and labeling them. They were shipped via boat and rail to Fulton where, in October 1966, 300 years after the Great Fire destroyed the church, the foundation stone was laid for its second rebirth.
According to America’s National Churchill Museum’s website, the meticulous recreation of the church’s interior took another two years and a “multinational effort.” An English woodcarver, working from pre-war photographs, carved the pulpit, baptismal font and balcony to look like the original. An American company made the glass for the windows, and a Dutch company made the tower’s five new bronze bells. A fire warden who witnessed the church burn in 1940 built the organ and helped make sure the interior details were authentic.
The church was officially dedicated May 7, 1969 and has stood in regal elegance on the campus ever since.
Visitors can see exhibits on the church’s history and its move to Missouri as well as extensive exhibits on Churchill, World War I and World War II at the memorial.
The church is currently closed while maintenance work is being done. The museum remains open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily, closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
For more information, go to the memorial’s website.