Messenger of Peace, a 118-year-old rolling chapel at the Northwest Railway Museum, took ninth place among historic Puget Sound properties in the fifth annual Partners in Preservation online grant vote.

The number nine spot puts the chapel car in for a share of $1 million in grant funds from American Express. The chapel car beat out the Kirkland Arts Center, Seattle’s Museum of History and Industry and a number of other well-organized groups.

“Results suggest a lot of community support for the project,” said Museum Executive Director Richard Anderson.

Schooner Adventures and Washington Hall in Seattle were joint winners in the online vote.

“We’re very proud to be recognized,” said Railway Museum Marketing Manager Sue Van Gerpen. “We got in there and held that position.

“We’re very thankful to everyone who voted,” Van Gerpen added. “They realize the importance of that artifact to this museum, to the area and to the nation.”

The Chapel Car will eventually be brought inside the museum’s Conservation and Restoration Center for renovation. Work is expected to start this summer, subject to approval from the Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation.

Funding will be announced by the National Trust on June 15.

“It will be the difference between finishing the car and not finishing the car,” Van Gerpen said.