The chapel was built in 1851 as a Presbyterian church, using slave labor, in the Greek Revival style.

During the Civil War, the building briefly served as a Confederate hospital for wounded soldiers, and later in the century was temporarily divided into classrooms when the main building of the nearby Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College burned in 1887.

[3] Between 1973 and 1976, the structure underwent a significant renovation for conversion to the Auburn University Chapel, an interdenominational, multipurpose building, a function it still serves today.

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Auburn Players Theater on May 22, 1973.

The Troupe Theatre group took over in the 1920s, soon audience members began noticing orbs near actors, during state productions.