OCR Text |
Show I L.D.S. Church fortunes reflect Park City News Thursday, February 24, 1983 Page A7 Park City's rocky history The dedication a few days ago of the new Mormon church at Lucky John and Monitor Drives brought to the attention of the community com-munity the prominence of the Mormon culture in Park City. The impressive new facility which cost nearly $1.4 million is merely the latest chapter of the Mormon Church's history in Park City. It is a history which extends back to the very beginnings of the town itself. The first Mormon Church in town was organized July 9, 1877 and was dubbed Parley's Par-ley's Park ward. Membership Member-ship included many converts from local mining camps. A few years later, the Mormon community had grown to the extent that a second ward was necessitated. neces-sitated. In 1886 the idea was approved by local church leaders. But it wasn't until 1895 that plans had solidified solidi-fied to the point of actually choosing a site for the first Mormon church in Park City proper on the east side of Park Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets. The following year the whopping whop-ping sum of $1,136.19 was collected from the faithful to get construction underway. When completed, the building consisted of a chapel, several classrooms and an amusement hall and kitchen. The first meeting was held in the building on March 1, 1897. But like much of frontier Park City, that first Mormon church was fated for an unusually short lifetime. On June 19, 1898 a major fire gutted a good portion of Park City. The inferno totally destroyed the just-completed just-completed church. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Park City Mormons conducted their services in the Jefferson School which the Board of Education offerered for their use. In 1900, a new church was built on the same site where the original one had burned. Throughout the early part of the 20th century, the church continued to prosper and grow. At around the time of World War I, there were about 1600 ward members in Park City, about the same number there are today. In 1925, the Park City ward house was enlarged and remodeled at a cost of $17,000. Work was completed by the summer of 1927. Continued growth resulted in the creation of a second Park City ward in October 1935. Park City's first ward retained the building on Park Avenue, while the new second ward purchased property on Woodside Avenue. Ave-nue. Before construction funds were raised to build another facility, from 1935 to 1938, the members of the second ward met at 100 F Hall and in private homes. In May of 1938, groundbreaking ground-breaking ceremonies were held to commence the construction con-struction of the second ward's facility on Woodside Avenue. By late December 1938, meetings and services were being held in the facility, which still stands today on Woodside. Despite the growth boom experienced by the church in the first part of the 1900s, there have been some oc- Ski conditions With our weather currently in a fairly unstable pattern, pat-tern, it's hard to say exactly what it's going to be like on the slopes the next few days. But regardless of the weather, the snow's still good that's something to be thankful for in itself. Speaking of snow, the storms of a week or so ago have left all the local resorts in good mid-season shape. Deer "Valley reports a six foot base, ParkWest has a half foot more and Park City has an eight foot base. As for that unsettled weather, Utah is currently experiencing ex-periencing a split jet stream. So, even though there are storms on the horizon on the Pacific coast, it's difficult for meteorologists to say for certain where the storms are going to wind up. Anyway, according to the National Weather Service, Thursday should be mostly cloudy with scattered snowshowers. High temperatures should be in the 30s and ridgetop winds which will shift from the South to the Northwest by the end of the day will be 15 to 30 miles per hour. Predictions for Friday are calling for unsettled conditions. con-ditions. It will be generally cloudy, but the sun could pop through. But then again, it could snow. Such unstable un-stable patterns should persist right through the weekend. It's just like the song Chuck Berry used to sing: "C'est la vie, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell." f ' Jf". . "! mp.w that tiprea grand fai her i house w I This isn't a rule. ) y 1 required in linking -M ' ft ' ihi juti read one- 'jPl ,'er happened nd davt nf .hinr Wdt shone p-rf nd trmtii -e. jT.da tlue lW 'id a colleague iviw, miwei Wsar . eni nr naive I . j,,.;.. e. ,u preferred, but xhim TREES CAN GROW FROM NEWSPAPERS bat-ame hrmwn as a .tpstr ilk the that's h even today prankk and playful d ten i mane hav J r (Winnie: Mine i V( definition (if M a anl J (ricks arl U.lt 111 TWOliUM MmSELL For theKJ0 long run Only J DunlopSP i Steelmax 70 j rtaaiai Dunlop Generation IV Radial $60.21 FETS1.66 SP Steelmax 70 Radial Blackwall Only $51. 79 FETS1.52 P15580R13 Generation IV Steel Belted Radial Whltewall Hours: M-F 7:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Happy Tire Co. 1833 S. State Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84115 801-484-4418 casional rocky times since. In 1958, due to mine shutdowns which left the area's economy severely depressed, many Mormon families moved out of the area. As a result, there were eventually not enough Mormons Mor-mons around to justify two separate Park City wards. Accordingly, the two wards were combined at that time. The original ward house on Park Avenue was sold. It was eventually renamed The Blue Church Lodge and used for overnight accommodations accommoda-tions until it burned in January, 1982. In 1959, additional construction con-struction was undertaken on the Woodside building. A new chapel was added, plus a Relief Society room, kitchen, foyer and offices at a cost of $114,000. The additions were formally dedicated on Dec. 9, 1962. Since then, Park City's economy has recovered nicely nice-ly as sking and tourism have helped take up the slack which resulted when the mines shut down. With the town again booming, in recent years the church has once again divided its Park City faithful into separate wards. On April 15, 1973, the Park City ward was divided, creating the Snyderville ward. On August 24, 1980, the old ward house on Woodside Avenue was vacated and a new building, located on Kilby Road between Kimball Junction and the summit of Parley's Canyon, was dedicated. dedi-cated. For the last couple of years while the new facility by the Racquet Club was being completed all the Mormons in the Park City area have shared the use of the ward in Parley's. During that stint specifically, speci-fically, on Sept. 20, 1981 the Park City's congregation was once again divided into two wards. Ralph E. Springer Spring-er was sustained as bishop of the first ward while L. Roy Tatten was appointed bishop of the second ward. Shortly thereafter, the groundbreaking ceremonies for the newest church at Lucky John and Monitor-was Monitor-was conducted. The new facility was formally dedicated dedi-cated on February 13 with Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the church's Council of the Twelve presiding. Input urged for Snyderville study Citizens are invited to voice their concerns about the Snyderville-Park City area in an informal discussion session Thursday at Parley's Park Elementary School It is the first input session hosted by a study group from Utah State University. The group will form recommendations recom-mendations for a Snyderville Basin Master Plan. Residents are invited to drop into the school anytime today from 4 to 6 p.m. and 7:30 to 9 p.m. The planners are seeking answers to questions like: Can the area grow as both a bedroom community and a resort area? How important is the entrance corridor to Park City? What is the future of wildlife here? The group two faculty and six students is from Utah State's Environmental Field Service. Coordinator Coor-dinator Lee Nellis said they have already assembled a large amount of natural data on the area. "This will be useful for years even if the county makes no planning changes," said Nellis. Three Generations of Superb Quality and Service in Carpeting. Individual residences and builderdeveloper services. 1370 South 2100 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84108, (801) 581-0578. fine carpet fashion by (Armstrong LETTERHEADS BUSINESS CARDS FLYERS BROCHURES FORMS POSTERS ADVERTISING PMT A DO ESETTING DESIGN BUSINESS CARDS BROCHURES FORMS FLYERS LETTERHEADS POSTERS ADVERTISING LABELS LOGOS MAILERS PMTS TYPESETTING DESIGN BROCp DESK R I N T I N CTERS SING LETTERHEADS BUSINESS CARDS FLYERS BROCHURES FORMS POSTERS ADVERTISING LABELS LOGOS MAILERS PMTS TYPESETTING DESIGN FLYERS BROCHURE 6 4 9 - 9 0 7 4 ERHEADS POSTERS MAILERS PMTS ADVERTISING DESIGN LOGOS LABELS TYPESETTING At the Solamere Information Center in Deer Valley "Where on Earth" is a highly acclaimed color, multi-image presentation in full stereo ... a 12 minute capsule of Park City recreation, development and real estate. A must for the serious home buyer and investor interested in a comprehensive overview of Park City, its environs and opportunities. FREE REFRESHMENTS AND AREA INFORMATION. Follow the Solamere Information Center signs in Deer Valley to the international flags. Continuous showings 1-5 p.m. daily. Presented by AN 649-1600. in cooperation with iilii lit. i in r. |