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Whether it's for religious services, weddings or just students playing Frisbee, Hubbard
Park and Danforth chapel are part of the University of Iowa's historic landscape. Danforth Chapel
was one of the first buildings opened in the wake of the 2008 floods. Danforth Chapel was
built to represent of people of all beliefs, and it is deliberately non-denominational.
When it was constructed it was the wish of William Danforth and for those who proposed
the project that it not subscribe to a particular dogma or belief or religion and if you look
at the chapel today you will see no reference to a specific religion. But you will see a
building that welcomes anyone. The plans for the chapel came from a pioneer church which
was constructed in a township in northern Johnson county back in the 1870's by the 1930's
the church itself had fallen into disrepair however it served as a model that Grant Wood
made not of. Hubbard Park the home of Danforth Chapel has its own interesting history. Named
after former University Dean Phillip Hubbard the park was almost turned into a parking
lot in 1988 but it was saved from this fate by the several University students and faculty
who loved the park. It was known as Union Field up until 1991 and that year it became
renamed and dedicated in the memory of Philip Hubbard who was for a good number of years
the dean of students here at the University of Iowa. The first African American dean in
the big ten and also the first African American professor at the University of Iowa. He joined
the faculty of the college of engineering in 1947. He had a very long and distinguished
career and it was fitting that the park be named in his honor in 1991. Though Iowa City
and the University of Iowa Have both changed tremendously, the school still preserves its
historic buildings and the communities rich history