Been a while since I posted on here. Occasionally I drive by the church I was raised in. Recently I noticed the lettering was removed from the entrance and new decals were on the glass doors indicating it is some sort of preschool I’m guessing.
Anyhow, my first impression was The Morg closed it down due to a deteriorating ‘hood. Then it dawned on me that this was clear evidence of the exodus of members and not enough converts to keep the boat afloat.
My how the times they are a changin…

My fave repurposed chapel is a 1960-style building in Driggs, ID (a very Mormon town) that is now a carpet store (last time I was there).

I've also seen some in the SL Valley that were sold to other churches.

Sounds like California may be the canary in the coal mine, as far as how the church is doing with life-long TBMs, and it is not looking good.

It occurs to me, having been inspired by BoJ, that the church should announce that the Gathering of Israel has entered a preliminary stage, wherein the Saints in certain heathen places are to consider abandoning those places and moving to 'holier' ground, starting with California, and any other areas where the church is taking a hit.

Then as the numbers tank for those areas, church leadership can take credit rather than look like losers.


(It's okay with me if the SCMC guy in charge of my file pretends he came up with this idea on his own... The poor guy deserves a break!)

In my home town in Idaho (Blackfoot) the former stake tabernacle (what nowadays would be called the stake house) is today a mortuary.

https://www.hawkerfuneralhome.com/

It seems the church might be moving away from selling used buildings somewhat

They recently tore down one on highland drive, across from Crown Burger. Part of the sale requirement included that the building be torn down and not be repurposed.

If you recall the movie Brigham City, the sacrament scene was shot in a sold LDS chapel as the church doesn't allow filming in its in-use chapels. Maybe they have concerns if the area is in a zone of likely anti-mormon re-use or other commercial use depicting mormons that the church is not in control of?

The one on Highland Dr. was damaged by an earthquake I believe. and it was declared unsafe. Hence the requirement that it must be torn down.

But I may be wrong.

DaveinTX Wrote:
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>
> But I may be wrong.
>

RfM'ers are never wrong!

It's just that some of us
just aren't quite right...

I know it was in use after the earthquake. And that they've combined wards in that area quite a bit. I think if it was just unsafe they wouldn't have had to stipulate its destruction as you couldn't get an occupancy or use permit.

I can't pull up the Millcreek newsletters that discussed this in more detail though. They don't seem to be archived?

There's a beautiful historic 1926 building TSCC is selling in Salt Lake area that they *require* the new owner to tear down. Granted, it's earthquake-damaged and boarded up but that seems a bit extreme.

So I stand corrected about the chapel on Highland Dr. The chapel I read about is this 1926 era one. It is the one that has earthquake damage.

I guess the church does not another chapel sold that will turn into something like the old chapel where SLAC does its production of Saturday's Voyeur. I assume they still do it annually?

They are going with new writers and had to change the name to SLAC Cabernet, but yes, same basic format.

Chicken N. Backpacks Wrote:
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> There's a beautiful historic 1926 building TSCC is
> selling in Salt Lake area that they *require* the
> new owner to tear down. Granted, it's
> earthquake-damaged and boarded up but that seems a
> bit extreme.

They have no respect. Blocks of homes from decades ago disappear so developers can build more crapola apartments. For a group so focused on "history" they bulldoze it all the time. Next will be an amusement park. Halter tops and 501s not allowed.

They should build a temple in your neighborhood! Yeah, that's the ticket!

In Longview, WA, the old building was sold to the Catholics, who used it for a while to house sisters who were nurses at the adjacent Catholic hospital. This made ward members very angry, not only because Catholics, but because they then had to meet in the old Montgomery Wards building for the time it took to build a new building -- some three or four years. Meeting in the old MW building was humiliating. Today, the old building still stands as a main feature of a large parking lot serving the hospital, and is used for some kind of hospital admin. But it is, and always will be, obviously a Mormon meeting house.