ST. LOUIS — The dedication of a century-old chapel Sunday afternoon at Bellefontaine Cemetery was as much a celebration of St. Louis history as it was a tribute to the cemetery's pre-Civil War origins.

About 125 people attended the ceremony marking both the cemetery's 160th anniversary and the completion of a more than $2 million restoration of the 100-year-old Hotchkiss Chapel.

The chapel was officially named Sunday after the cemetery's first two superintendents: Almerin Hotchkiss and his son, Frank Hotchkiss, who succeeded him. Together, they served as Bellefontaine's superintendents for about 65 years.

The chapel was used to store bodies during winter months until the mid-1940s, when modern equipment made it possible to dig graves in frozen ground. After World War II, the chapel sat vacant for more than 60 years until the restoration began about 18 months ago.

The renovation preserved much of the chapel's original woodwork, including the front and side doors, pews and decorative wall sconces. The rear of the chapel is a new columbarium, featuring 665 wooden and glass niches designed to hold cremated remains.

The keynote speaker Sunday was William Danforth, former chancellor of Washington University, who called Bellefontaine Cemetery "a gift to our era from our past." It provides opportunities to "draw inspiration from those who came before us," he said.

The 314-acre cemetery holds nearly 87,000 graves and is the final resting place of Gen. William Clark, (of Lewis and Clark), Anheuser-Busch founder Adolphus Busch, wealthy brewer and financier Ellis Wainwright and Sara Teasdale, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet.

Bellefontaine is also redesigning land connecting its two lakes by building an outdoor lakeside plaza with space for more than 400 niches. The project is expected to be finished by spring.