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ST. GEORGE — A year ago on a chilled Saturday morning, residents of St. George awoke to find the nearly completed East Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a smoldering, smoking husk. The night before, a large fire believed by authorities that have been an arson had gutted the building.
Despite the loss, church leaders told members that the stake center, located at 449 S. 300 East, would be rebuilt. And rebuilt it was.
Located across the street from the St. George Temple, the new stake center was completed and opened for use in early January when it was dedicated by the stake leadership. The meeting, held Jan. 5, was packed with Latter-day Saints as then-Stake President Art Troyer shared a few words before dedicating the new stake center with a prayer.
“How grateful we are to have this building,” Troyer said, noting how fast it was rebuilt following the fire.
Wanting to celebrate the new building with the community, the St. George East Stake leadership chose to hold a two-day open house where the public could come and tour the building while also learning about its purpose.
While the open house tours are Friday from 3-8 p.m, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., the media, civic officials, members of the St. George Interfaith Council and others were invited for a special tour of the building Thursday evening.
