Preservation Update: Farmington, NM Ward Damaged in Fire

Note: Preservation Updates are a regularly occurring series of posts where I round up recent information on historic LDS buildings and their futures. Depending on the age of the post, there may be newer information available. Click here to see all Preservation Updates.

On June 1, the historic chapel in Farmington, New Mexico was damaged in a fire that was mostly in the building's main lobby. The building sustained smoke and fire damage.

(Image Source: Farmington Daily Times)

The fire is still being investigated and services have been relocated. This chapel houses a stained glass window of Christ in Gethsemane. I can't find any word on the status of the window. My hope is that the building will be saved, and if not, that the window will be moved to another chapel.

Farmington (New Mexico) Ward

Farmington, a town in the northwest corner of New Mexico, is close enough to the Mormon corridor to have a strong Mormon influence, which meant an early establishment of congregations. This also means that it had the chance to have some unique architecture, although not as much as central Mormon settlements.

(Image Source: Church History Library)

You can see that the building itself really isn't that unique, and it hasn't changed too much over time.


However, in conversations with the members, I learned that the chapel itself has a nice stained glass window, which was funded by a few members who got special permission. The window itself is still in very nice condition, although it was threatened in the 1980s when one of the bulbs burned out, and the Church's building department wanted to remove the window instead of fixing the bulb. After the ward and stake protested this decision, the window was allowed to remain.

It's a fine window for this chapel.