Demolition
After serving the Summit Stake and greater Coalville community for over 70 years, church administrators went through with plans to demolish the tabernacle. The building was listed on the Utah State Register of Historic Sites in 1970 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1971 shortly before demolition as attempts to preserve the building. [3] There were other attempts to preserve the building, including a group of residents that tried to place a restraining order on the church, which garnered much media attention, including reports from the New York Times . [4] However, two days after a judge struck down the restraining order, and amidst much controversy, church leaders removed some historically significant items from the tabernacle before bulldozers arrived. On March 5, 1971, the building was razed.
Allen Roberts reports that Milo Baughman, then the head of the Brigham Young University Department of Environmental Design, tried to organize a demonstration by students from the department against the demolition. The University blocked these plans, and soon closed the entire department. [5]
Albert Ernest Bowen was an American lawyer and Mormon religious leader who served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Abraham Owen Smoot was an American pioneer, businessman, religious leader, and politician. He spent his early life in the Southern United States and was one of seven children. After being baptized a member of the Church of Christ, predecessor to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Smoot served as a missionary in Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, and England. He received no formal education, but learned to read as a child and later attended the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. Like other early members of the LDS Church, Smoot practiced plural marriage, eventually marrying six women and having 24 children. After migrating west to Utah Territory, he was elected as the second mayor of Salt Lake City and maintained this position from 1857 to 1866. He was then assigned by Brigham Young to move to Provo, where he served as stake president and mayor from 1868 to 1881. He assisted financially in the construction of the Provo Tabernacle—today the Provo City Center Temple—as well as that of the Utah Southern Railroad. Smoot was the first president of the board of trustees of Brigham Young Academy (BYA)—which later developed into Brigham Young University (BYU). He was an early financial supporter of the institution and was nicknamed the "foster father" of the academy. His goal was to make education available to young Latter-day Saints. Today, the Smoot Administration Building at BYU is named after him.
The Church Educational System (CES) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints consists of several institutions that provide religious and secular education for both Latter-day Saint and non–Latter-day Saint elementary, secondary, and post-secondary students and adult learners. Approximately 700,000 individuals were enrolled in CES programs in 143 countries in 2011. CES courses of study are separate and distinct from religious instruction provided through wards. Clark G. Gilbert, a general authority seventy, has been the CES commissioner since August 1, 2021.
Joseph Angell Young was an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Young is one of the few Latter-day Saints in history to have been ordained to the office of apostle without ever becoming a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency.
The Church News is a multi-platform supplement and subdivision of the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City, Utah newspaper owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is published daily online, and weekly as tabloid-sized. Deseret News also provides the news site Of Good Report. It is the only publication by the LDS Church that is entirely devoted to news coverage of the LDS Church.
James Brown Allen was an American historian of Mormonism and was an official Assistant Church Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 to 1979. While working as Assistant Church Historian, he co-authored The Story of the Latter-day Saints with Glen Leonard. After Ezra Taft Benson dismissed the book as secular new history, other events led to the dissolution of the LDS Church History department in 1982. Allen resigned as Assistant Church Historian in 1979, returning to work at Brigham Young University (BYU) full-time.
Richard Douglas Poll was an American historian, academic, author and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His liberal religiosity influenced his notable metaphor about "Iron Rod" vs. "Liahona" LDS Church members.
Mark Leroy Grover is an American expert on Mormonism in Brazil and an author on religion in Latin America.
Grant Revon Underwood is a historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU). He is also the author of The Millennial World of Early Mormonism and the editor of Voyages of Faith: Explorations in Mormon Pacific History.
Eugene Edward "Gene" Campbell was an American professor of history at Brigham Young University.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a tabernacle is a multipurpose religious building, used for church services and conferences, and as community centers. Tabernacles were typically built as endeavors of multiple congregations, usually at the stake level. They differ from meetinghouses in scale and differ from temples in purpose.
Richard S. Van Wagoner was an American historian, audiologist, and author who published works on the history of Utah and the history of the Latter Day Saint movement.
The Malad Second Ward Tabernacle is a tabernacle and meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located in Malad City, Idaho. It is significant for its large scale and unorthodox adaptation of architectural styles, as well as its historical importance to Oneida County, which once was among the most populated counties in Idaho. It is, along with six other buildings in Oneida County, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Bear Lake Stake Tabernacle, or Paris Tabernacle is situated on main street in Paris, Idaho, is a Romanesque red sandstone meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints designed by Joseph Don Carlos Young, the son of Brigham Young, built between 1884 and 1889. The tabernacle was built by Mormon pioneers of Bear Lake Valley who used horse and ox teams to haul rock quarried from Indian Creek Canyon, nearly 18 miles away. After completion of the Logan Utah Temple in 1884, workers began construction of the tabernacle, which was supervised by William Budge. It cost $50,000 to build and seats around 2000 people.
The current Box Elder Stake Tabernacle, also known as the Brigham City Tabernacle, is a neo-Gothic tabernacle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints rebuilt in Brigham City, Box Elder County, Utah by Mormon pioneers in 1897 after being gutted by fire a year earlier. The tabernacle continues to function as a meetinghouse for congregants of the Box Elder Stake and seats approximately 1,600. It also hosts concerts and other special events and is open for tours during the summer. Given its unique architecture and importance to the community, the tabernacle was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 14, 1971. The temple, built in 2012, stands across from the tabernacle.
Harold William Burton was an early 20th-century architect with architectural works throughout the western United States and Canada. Burton was one of the most prolific architects of chapels, meetinghouses, tabernacles and temples for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1910 he opened an architectural firm with Hyrum Pope in Salt Lake City, Utah. They particularly appreciated Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School architectural style. As young architects, Pope & Burton won design competitions for two of their better-known works, the Cardston Alberta and Laie Hawaii temples of the LDS Church. Burton moved to Los Angeles, California in 1927 to set up another office in the firm with Pope. After Pope unexpectedly died in 1939, Burton established a new firm with his son Douglas W. Burton. Together they continued to design many buildings, including some for the church, and in 1955 Harold Burton became the chief supervising architect for the LDS Church. One of his final works was the Oakland California Temple. Aside from places of worship, Burton designed civic buildings and homes. Many of his works exist today, some of which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Lorenzo Snow Young, nicknamed "Bing", was a 20th-century architect in Utah. Young practiced for 40 years in Salt Lake City, Utah and is credited with having designed over 700 buildings.
William Henry Chamberlin Jr. was an American Mormon philosopher, theologian, and educator. His teachings and writings worked to reconcile Mormonism with the theory of evolution. He taught philosophy and ancient languages as well as science and math at several Latter-day Saints (LDS) institutions including Brigham Young University in the early 20th century. He was one of four educators at Brigham Young University whose teaching of evolution and attempts to reconcile it with Mormon thought, although strongly popular with students, generated controversy among university officials and the LDS community. Chamberlin has been called "Mormonism's first professionally trained philosopher and theologian."
General Conference is a gathering of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held biannually every April and October at the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. During each conference, church members gather in a series of two-hour sessions to listen to the faith's leaders.
The Smithfield Tabernacle is a historic Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) tabernacle and present-day recreation facility in Smithfield, Utah. It is one of 42 surviving LDS tabernacles out of 92 built. The building was a notable construction for a settlement of Smithfield's size, and it served as a geographic and symbolic center for the early town, functioning as an important religious and public space.
