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Show Church still stands By QUIG NIELSEN The oldest Protestant church in Utah still stands in Corinne. Built at a cost of $4,000, the Methodist church was dedicated Sept. 20, 1 870. In the 1860s, non-Mormons were working hard to make Corinne, first known as Connor City, a "gentile" capital, and were entertaining thoughts of having a new settlement which would outshine Salt Lake City. So energetic were the gentiles that they tried by rail, wagon and even steamboat across the Great Salt Lake to get control of all the hauling in the Utah Territory supplying sup-plying the rich Idaho and Montana mines. And they almost did. The town's leaders welcomed all the non-Mormon religious denominations. de-nominations. Records show that Corinne attracted the first Presbyterian Presby-terian and the first Episcopalian churches in Utah, in addition to the Methodist church. Attendance at the various churches was sparse, however. In 1874, a visitor to Corinne, which Mormons called "Burg on the Bear," noted he found one church with two members, one with one and a third church with but 1 1. Ministers Min-isters often prospected for ore or found other pursuits to keep occupied. oc-cupied. The general atmosphere of the new community wasn't particularly religious. Corinne boasted 29 saloons and two dance halls. Of course, women came to Corinne to supply the feminine touch. The town's first newspaper editor at one time reported that he "counted 80 soiled doves in Corinne' s sinful cote." Johnson and Underdunk, Corinne lawyers, came up with a scheme to grant mail order divorces. Any married mar-ried couple could be separated by paying $2.50, and they didn't need to be present If he wanted, a petitioner peti-tioner could even get alimony arranged ar-ranged through the mail. Corinne was a typical boom town of the Old West (Sources: Ogden Standard Examiner, Ex-aminer, Stegner, Mormon County. Quig Nielsen is an Information Officer for the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City.) |