 A Presbyterian minister working in Knoxville was engaged to conduct weekly services, and about 150 people representing 13 Protestant denominations became charter members of "the United Church".Governing boards of laypersons elected to lead the new congregation took up their duties on October 24, 1943.When the Chapel-on-the-Hill was completed that same month, the United Church and the local Roman Catholic Church were given control of the building, as the only two churches then officially operating in the Manhattan Project community.