Wellsville Tabernacle: Details

The chapel has an old cry room at the back:

The pulpit appears to be original to the building:

The large, painted glass windows are really beautiful. Several panes had holes, which invites other problems, but it appears they are actively working to fix them.

Wellsville Tabernacle: Interior

It's been a long time since I posted about the Wellsville Tabernacle. Ground was broken on the tabernacle in 1903. The building was sold by the Church to the city in 1979, but in the 1990s, the city felt the upkeep was too much to handle. In 1994, the Wellsville Foundation was formed, and they still actively work to preserve the tabernacle. In the mid-2000s, they found structural problems and they had to close the building. They were recently able to raise $150,000 to secure the structure, which was completed in 2020. It's nice to have a success story.

They are now working on doing plumbing, HVAC, and other updates on the building. This was the first time I was able to document the building's interior. They anticipate that it will be usable again in Spring 2023.

The chapel interior is a square floor plan, with the pulpit being at one corner of the building, and an alcove on one wall. Nearby Clarkston's building has a similar floorplan, which makes me wonder if they copied this one in some ways.

Here's a panoramic view from behind the pulpit:

Looking from the pulpit over the pews:

 

  The building does need some work, but fortunately, it's mostly cosmetic at this point.

Wellsville Tabernacle: Door/Window Detail

Wellsville Tabernacle

Constructed at the beginning of the twentieth century, the Wellsville Tabernacle still dominates the town's landscape.

The tower used to be taller and more ornate, but because of structural problems, it was reduced. The old one really fit the building better.

(Image Source: Church History Library)

The tabernacle is closed while the Wellsville Foundation seeks to raise $150,000 "to repair overstressed roof girders, reinforce with steel angle members, support the sagging arched sealing framing system in the attic space, and add new wood posts and beams to support the girder trusses." It has been closed for several years, now, but the foundation recently received a portion of tax revenue to aid them in this cause. I hope it reopens soon. It is a stunning building.

 

(Image Source)

Preservation Update: Montpelier Tabernacle Rededicated, Tabernacles Map & Series

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.
 
I recently had the opportunity to present at the BYU Religious Education Student Symposium regarding the destruction and preservation of LDS Tabernacles. My research will be published in the symposium journal; however, I am going to take the opportunity to post a series on the history of LDS Tabernacles on this blog over the course of the summer. It won't be as detailed as my original research, but I look forward to also delving into some more details that I couldn't fit into my original paper.

Until then, I've created a Google Map that includes all of the tabernacles listed by Richard Jackson in his book, Places of Worship. I'll try adding more details to the map later, too. Green markers indicated tabernacles used by the Church; orange ones are tabernacles that have been sold but are still standing; red ones are tabernacles that have been demolished. I look forward to working more on this project.

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The Montpelier Idaho Tabernacle's renovation is complete. It was rededicated on Sunday, April 26.

 

(Image Source)

 For more information on the renovation, including the restoration of the two Minerva Teichert paintings, see my earlier post on the tabernacle. I'm glad to see that it has been wonderfully preserved. If I find more details on the rededication, I'll post them here.

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The Wellsville Tabernacle is still closed as the Wellsville Foundation raises $150,000 to repair the roof. This article provides an update--they have about $50,000 so far, and should receive another $13,000 in grant funding shortly. That still leaves quite a bit of money to go--not all groups are as persistent as the Wellsville Foundation is, but thank heavens they are!

(Image Source)

As always, I'll keep checking for updates on the historic chapels and tabernacles in Wellsville, Manti, and other locations, and provide updates here.