Ford Motor Company Memorial

In May 1961, the Ford Motor Company Fund announced a $370,000 grant to Washington and Lee University for the restoration and preservation of Lee Chapel. Built in 1867 under the supervision of President Robert E. Lee, the chapel had served generations of students and become a historic shrine attracting more than 30,000 visitors annually. The grant followed the chapel's designation as a National Historic Landmark in December 1960.

Restoration work began in June 1962 and included replacing deteriorating wooden supports with steel, installing modern fire protection and climate-control systems, restoring historic furnishings, and renovating the chapel museum. Historic artifacts, paintings, and other objects were removed for safekeeping, catalogued, and conserved before the museum's exhibits were reorganized.

Lexington residents previewed the restored chapel in August 1963, followed by its formal rededication on October 11. Benson Ford, president of the Ford Motor Company Fund, joined President Fred C. Cole and Robert E. Lee IV, the general's great-grandson, for the ceremony. Speaking of the chapel's restoration, Lee declared, “It is comforting to me, and I know it is comforting to all members of the Lee family that Lee Chapel has been so beautifully restored and that its future preservation is assured.” This commemorative plaque recognized the restoration and was displayed in the chapel vestibule alongside the National Historic Landmark plaque.

University officials removed the plaque alongside other memorials from the chapel sanctuary in 2021. In June 2026, the University returned the inscription to public display in the newly renovated “Foundations and Frameworks” gallery of the chapel museum.

THE LEE CHAPEL
SEEKING TO HONOR FOR ALL AMERICANS
THE IDEALS AND NOBLE PURPOSES
EXEMPLIFIED BY THE LIFE OF ROBERT E. LEE,
THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY FUND GRANTED
TO WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERITY IN 1961
THE SUM OF $370,000 FOR THE
RESTORATION OF THE LEE CHAPEL AND
FOR ITS FUTURE PRESERVATION AS A
SHRINE OF THE AMERICAN HERITAGE.
THE CHAPEL WAS BUILT IN 1867 UNDER THE
SUPERVISION OF LEE, WHO SERVED AS
PRESIDENT OF WASHINGTON COLLEGE FROM
1865 UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1870. HERE HE
ATTENDED DAILY WORSHIP SERVICES, AND FROM
HIS OFFICE ON THE CHAPEL’S LOWER LEVEL
LEE DIRECTED THE AFFAIRS OF THE
INSTITUTION IN A MANNER THAT IS REFLECTED
TODAY IN THE CHARACTER OF THE UNIVERSITY
AND ITS STUDENT BODY.

On June 4, 2021, the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees announced plans to rename Lee Chapel and restore its auditorium to an “unadorned design,” physically separating it from the Lee family crypt and memorial sculpture. As part of these changes, university officials removed twenty historical plaques and memorials from the chapel sanctuary.

In a July 21, 2022, update, the university announced that “most of the other plaques will be moved to the galleries in the building or to the new institutional history museum, where they can be displayed with more historical context.”

When the renovated chapel galleries reopened in June 2026, six memorials removed from the chapel sanctuary in 2021, including this one, were returned to public display. These plaques were installed together in a display case in the Foundations and Frameworks exhibit of the chapel museum, without accompanying descriptions, interpretation, or historical context.

Eleven memorials removed from the chapel in 2021 have still not been returned to public display. The university has not responded to recent TGR inquiries concerning the whereabouts and future exhibition of removed plaques. However, in September 2026 correspondence with The W&L Spectator, Museum Director Matt Davis stated: “Our storage facility is not open to the public, nor do we make a list of our collections inventory available to the public.” He further explained that “the size and weight of some of these artifacts are not conducive to public viewing.” Regarding their future exhibition, Davis wrote: “It is possible that some or all of these artifacts will eventually be incorporated into temporary or permanent exhibits once the new museum is open, and we hope to have online databases and viewing rooms in the future.”

1. https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=LG19610524.1.3

2. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/ring-tum-phi-may-30-1961

3. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/ring-tum-phi-october-11-1963

4. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/alumni-magazine-washington-and-lee-university-fall-1963

5. https://www.wlu.edu/about-w-l/leadership/board-of-trustees/messages-from-the-board-of-trustees/message-archive-2020-2023/the-future-of-washington-and-lee-university

6. https://columns.wlu.edu/update-on-university-chapel-renovations/

7. https://columns.wlu.edu/university-chapel-renovations-nearing-completion/