Camp Reynolds, Chapel, Angel Island State Park, Angel Island, Marin County, CA

Significance: Camp Reynolds was established on Angel Island in 1863 to enhance the coastal defenses of San Francisco Bay during the Civil War. In 1866 Camp Reynolds became the army's general depot for receiving and distributing new recruits in the West. From the 1860s through the 1880s a village of wood frame buildings including a chapel, officers' quarters, barracks, and various support structures was constructed and expanded. Now part of Angel Island State Park, Camp Reynolds features a remarkable collection of surviving late nineteenth-century army structures.
Construction of this chapel with an attached school room dates to the expansion of Camp Reynolds in the mid-1870s. Establishment of recruit depot and a growing population of Army families on Angel Island created a need for community buildings such as this combined religious/education structure. The modest one-story building is also a good example of vernacular church architecture from the 1870s. The chapel is prominently located on a hill behind officers' row, a highly visible location overlooking the whole camp at a time before the site became overgrown.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: N903
Survey number: HABS CA-1841-F
Building/structure dates: 1876