Other restoration endeavors in the chapel at the cemetery north of Brown Street near the University of Dayton campus include infrastructure improvements, exterior masonry work and the replacement of the HVAC system.
The Woodland Chapel has not been open to the public since the mid 1980s.
Sean O’Regan, president of Woodland Historic Cemetery and Arboretum, said the project has been going on for four years now and they have raised half their fundraising goal.
“It’s critical for the community to help,” said O’Regan. “We want (the chapel) to be fully functional and operating as a public resource.”
O’Regan said the building is deteriorating quickly and only has 20 years to last if the funds are not raised to restore it.
The chapel was designed in 1884 and then redesigned in 1904 to house the Tiffany window.
Ohio is home to 66 sites of Tiffany works and Woodland is one of 1,472 sites in the United States that houses Tiffany designs, according to a study by the University of Cambridge.
Over $2 million of Woodland’s $5 million goal has been raised through individuals and different organizations.
O’Regan said the fundraising needed a broader reach.
“The Dayton area has been hit hard with a number of challenges within the last year, so the fundraising dollars have had competition with worthy causes,” O’Regan said. “We want to expand outwards and educate people on the chapel.”
The efforts focus on the Woodland Chapel, but also include some restoration to the administration buildings and the entry gates to the cemetery.
“This (project) is not only to restore, but to endow the structures,” O’Regan said. “We’ve got a lot more work to do.”
Many of Dayton’s famous natives like Paul Laurence Dunbar, Orville and Wilbur Wright are buried in Woodland cemetery
The Woodland Arboretum and Cemetery has set up an online GoFundMe page where people can make donations.
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