Rich Hatfield, facilities manager for the Diocese of Davenport, displays a chair that several bishops used over the years and which was restored this summer.
By Anne Marie Amacher
The Catholic Messenger
DAVENPORT — When St. Ambrose University prepared to sell its Alumni House on Brady Street, it invited the Diocese of Davenport to look at items that might be of interest to keep. Among the items was a chair that several diocesan bishops once used.
The Alumni House previously belonged to the diocese, which purchased the former F.H. Miller House in 1907. It became the home to Bishop James Davis and Bishop Henry Rohlman. The diocese sold the building in the 1940s. In 1995, St. Ambrose University purchased what had become a bed and breakfast place and rented it out before renovating it as the Alumni House. In 2023, the university sold the house to the Hilltop Inn of the Quad Cities.
Diocesan Facilities Manager Rich Hatfield visited the Alumni House prior to the sale with Emily Pries, executive secretary to the bishop’s office, and Barb Butterworth, diocesan archivist. One item that stood out was an antique chair, Hatfield said. They recognized the chair from portraits at the Chancery of Bishops Ralph Hayes, William Franklin, Martin Amos and Thomas Zinkula. Each one, except Bishop Zinkula, sat in the chair. He stood beside it.
“This chair is a part of the history of the diocese,” Hatfield said. Although it was in rough shape, he brought it to the Chancery for restoration. When Bishop Zinkula posed for his portrait, he could not sit in the chair, which had springs hanging from under the seat.
The original springs were reattached and the seat’s fabric cleaned up. Woven Chair Seat Repair in Colona, Illinois, replaced the original, ripped caning on the back of the chair with new caning. Workers filled in minor breaks and parts of the chair were re-stained to match. Many smaller chips and the original stain remain to retain the chair’s character, Hatfield said.
The restored chair is now in the bishop’s office. Ropes surround it as a reminder to visitors not to sit in the chair. The chair’s exact age is unknown, but it predates the 1940s when Bishop Hayes was photographed sitting on it.
Deacon Dan Huber, who has researched the history of Sacred Heart Cathedral in Davenport where he serves as deacon and pastoral associate, reviewed a photograph of the restored chair. Although he is not certain the chair was in the original St. Marguerite Church (now Sacred Heart Cathedral), “it seems to mimic similar pieces that we have.”
