Medical University of South Carolina. St. Luke's Chapel.

The building which is now used by the Medical University of South Carolina (hereafter MUSC) as St. Luke's Chapel was built between 1825 and 1830 by the United States' government for use as an arsenal and stable. Several times the United States' government discussed enlarging the arsenal, but those plans never materialized. On November 7, 1860, the arsenal became the first Federal property taken by the Confederacy during the Civil War. Confederate forces used the arsenal as a weapon and munitions factory. After the Civil War the property was occupied by the federal troops until 1880 when Congress gifted the arsenal to Porter Military Academy for educational purposes. Rev. Dr. A. Toomer Porter, founder and headmaster of the Academy, converted the old artillery shed into a chapel by raising the walls, adding a Gothic roof, and placing stained glass windows in the building. Rev. Porter dedicated the chapel to St. Timothy; the Chancel window is dedicated to Rev. Porter's son John Toomer Porter. In 1965 St. Timothy's Chapel and the entire Porter campus were sold to the Medical University of South Carolina. At that time the Porter Military Academy relocated west of the Ashley River and became Porter-Gaud School. MUSC renamed the chapel St. Luke's after Saint Luke, the patron saint of physicians. In 1989, St. Luke's Chapel was severely damaged by Hurricane Hugo; the roof collapsed and the stained glass windows were smashed. Rather than bulldoze the ruins, the University formed a committee charged with overseeing the restoration of the chapel. Five years later, in 1994, the chapel was reopened. MUSC continues to use St. Luke's Chapel for campus events; it also rents the facility for weddings, funerals, religious services and other events.