Twenty-odd years after Tufts College was established, its fourth president, the Reverend Elmer Hewitt Capen, Arts Class of 1860, G60, stated the school's need for a proper chapel. In 1881 Mary T. Goddard, widow of trustee and benefactor Thomas A. Goddard, offered $25,000 to build a chapel, plus $15,000 towards the gymnasium.

Built of bluish Somerville slate in Romanesque style capped with a red slate roof, Goddard Chapel was considered an architectural masterpiece. Its 100-foot tower still dominates the landscape and can be seen for miles around. The original College Bell, which stood atop Ballou Hall, was melted down and recast as the second bell of the chimes of Goddard Chapel. Many a Tufts couple who met in college were married in this chapel.