A historic church located on Hardy Street in St. James has been restored by a local couple, and is beginning a new chapter as Heart + Soul Chapel, a wedding venue.

When real estate agents Jared and Danielle Jordan saw the church go up for sale, they said they knew they had to have it and, in October of 2024, made the purchase. Then began the year-long process of restoring it.

“Being in real estate, seeing property change is exciting for us,” Jared Jordan said. “I like taking something from what it was.”

The church, which was built in the early 1900s, was a fixer-upper. The large stained glass windows throughout were in bad shape, and saving them required a little help. Peacock Stained Glass in Rolla was able to replace specific panes and seal cracks, breathing new life into them while leaving their original beauty intact. 

The stones on the exterior come from creeks that run through a farm in Rosati. Jordan said when they bought the church, the owner reached out to let them know he still had more of the same stones should they need them.

“The community has been awesome,” Jordan said.

The original wooden pews were still in good shape and able to be polished up. All of the flooring was redone and the basement was converted into a reception space with a bar. The courtyard area outside is also available for receptions. The church can hold up to 150 people and the basement can hold around 125 people.

A day after restoration was complete in November of 2025, a couple from Rolla tied the knot at Heart + Soul, marking the chapel’s very first wedding. Jordan said it was rewarding to not only finish up the long restoration process, but to also see it be used.

“The church aspect is a big thing for us,” Jordan said. “When we saw it, we were excited. There’s a lot of farm weddings, there’s not a lot of church weddings as much because some of the style and stuff is just different than what most people want now. So I’m hoping this space helps people have a little bit of both – have the church, if that’s important to them, and have the simplicity of the space.”

As lifelong St. James residents, Jared and Danielle Jordan are looking forward to seeing the venue serve local couples from the area and beyond on their special day. They’ve booked 15 weddings for this year so far, more than Jordan said he anticipated.

“We’ve had tons of people say ‘I used to go to church there,’ ‘I remember getting baptized there,’ ‘I had a wedding there.’ Just them talking about it being saved, or being brought back to what it was – we enjoy (that),” Jordan said.