
Davidson Memorial Methodist church
LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA
Located at 710 Jefferson Blvd in Lafayette, Louisiana, the Camp Claiborne Regimental Chapel, also known as the Davidson Memorial Methodist Church, was constructed in 1941 as a World War II-era regimental Colonial Revival chapel at Camp Claiborne in Rapides Parish. When Camp Claiborne was closed and deconstructed in 1946-47, all of the buildings at the camp were either dismantled and moved or sold for scrap. Of the 12 original chapels constructed in November of 1941, two remain today – Davidson Memorial Methodist Church and Clarence Baptist Church in Clarence, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana.
The chapel today retains a high degree of integrity, including almost all of the original details found on the chapel plans from the Quartermaster General (who designed all army chapels) as well as those seen on original photos of the chapels on site at Camp Claiborne. Davidson Memorial is significant on the local and statewide level as an excellent representation of building technology used in World War II military mobilization construction and as a surviving example of a 700 series CH-1 regimental chapel. The chapel retains a high degree of architectural and historical integrity, despite having been moved over 70 miles in 1947. The period of significance for the chapel is 1941-1947, encompassing the years that the chapel was constructed at Camp Claiborne and moved to Lafayette.