101.550.2

On Monday, October 31, 1921, evangelist Billy Sunday, a native of Ames, was in route from Sioux City, Iowa, to Des Moines to conduct a series of revival meetings in this large wood-frame tabernacle, built especially for his appearances. Because Sunday was to change trains in Ames, Parley Sheldon, the "perennial" mayor of Ames and a boyhood friend of Sunday's, persuaded Billy to speak at a Rotary Club meeting in the Sheldon Munn Hotel before he continued on to Des Moines. It was customary for towns and cities to build temporary, but elaborate "tabernacles" such as this one for Sunday's meetings, though one was never built in Ames. This photograph is courtesy of the Iowa Historical Society in Des Moines.