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Dwight L. Moody had his sights set on a chapel since founding Mount Hermon in 1881. He called the site, with its expansive view of the Connecticut Valley, "Temptation Hill," hoping that students, alumni and friends would be "tempted" to donate to its construction. In the end, donors from across the United States and Great Britain funded this evangelical place of worship. Moody rejected the initial designs for the chapel, which was to serve as a site for daily and Sunday services, because it only left room for 500 worshipers. The revised plan, supported by all, had a seating capacity of 1000 and a central pulpit. It was built in 1898 of local granite hauled by eighteen teams of horses, and dedicated with much fanfare in 1899.

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