Friona was founded in 1906 by the George G. Wright Land Co. of Kansas City, an agency employed by the XIT Ranch owners to sell their range lands in small tracts. In 1908, religious-minded settlers organized the Union Congregational Church, whose charter members included Mr. and Mrs. C.L. Fergus, Charles Karr, Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Karr, Walter Kell, William McCandlish, Mr. and Mrs. D.W. McMillen, Mr. and Mrs. Ross V. McWilliams, Mr. and Mrs. C.B. Oleson, Mr. and Mrs. John Orbaugh, Mr. and Mrs. Seth Roush, Bert Shattuck, Mrs. Nellie Shattuck, and A.N. Wentworth. George G. Wright donated six lots at this site, and the Congregational Church Building Society of New York made a $770.00 construction grant. Friona's first church building, a frame structure with hand-painted, arched windows and a belfry, was completed and dedicated on May 23, 1909. A basement added in 1916 served as a center for social activities. After that meetinghouse burned in 1921, an adobe chapel was built here and was used until the congregationalists erected a sanctuary on a new site in 1969. In 1973, the building was given to the Girl Scouts for use as a meeting hall and activities center and for a "Pioneer Heritage Chapel and Museum".