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.
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