After record numbers of travelers passed through Mitchell International Airport in the fourth quarter of 2009, a group of Milwaukeeans decided to install a new airport commodity — an interfaith chapel.

Suzanne McKinney, a 10-year Milwaukee resident, is spearheading the effort to bring a peaceful place to the bustling airport.

McKinney said she was inspired by chapels in airports across the country. Both Chicago O’Hare International and Midway International Airports already have chapels like the one proposed for Mitchell.

She said Milwaukee travelers used to visit St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, which many visitors simply knew as the “small church by the airport.” According to McKinney, a St. Stephen’s parishioner, people would often stop at the church to say a quick prayer before catching their flights.

In 2008, the 162-year-old St. Stephen’s broke ground for its new church in Oak Creek, Wis. It was then that McKinney started a grassroots effort to bring spirituality not just nearby, but actually inside the airport.

The process began more than a year ago, and great progress has been made, she said.

“It is really coming together great,” McKinney said. “We’re working on starting fundraising, and there are a lot of legal things, but in the political and religious arenas it’s moving along.”

Because the airport is Milwaukee County property, the proposal for the chapel has to be approved by the county board, according to airport spokeswoman Pat Rowe. There is currently no estimated timetable for approval, she said.

According to Rowe, the plans for the chapel include a stipulation that no specific religious symbols can be displayed in the area.

“We have to look at the fact that people with and without religion travel, and that certainly people of many faiths and many views pass through the airport and must be able to use (the chapel),” she said.

But the finished chapel, if approved, will hopefully maintain some hints of the old St. Stephen’s Church, McKinney said.

An architect has drawn up sketches for the 600 square foot vacant space in the airport. McKinney said the proposed chapel will have a Gothic style, but no crosses will be present. Stained glass in the chapel will also have no religious symbolism.

She said she hopes services of different faiths can be held, as they are at the Chicago airports.

The chapel would be open to anyone passing through the airport, and two Marquette students said they might poke their head in the chapel if and when it opens up.

Taylor Rausch, a freshman in the College of Communication, said visiting the chapel would be a good way to spend time when flights get delayed.

Rausch travels to Mitchell from his home city of Seattle between four and six times each year.

He said he sometimes becomes anxious before traveling, and he would use the chapel as a synagogue because he is Jewish.

Ryan Brennan, a freshman in the College of Business Administration from Loudon, Tenn., is also a regular at Mitchell.

“It’s a great idea except I’m always in a rush,” he said. “I don’t really, but I’m sure some people need a prayer before they leave.”