Manti Tabernacle restoration project underway


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MANTI — As Utah pauses to celebrate the arrival of the pioneers, we get a rare look at some pioneer craftsmanship in one of the oldest LDS chapels still in use.

"You know you can't drive on Main Street and see this beautiful building without thinking of the pioneers," said Scott Hintze, an LDS stake president in Manti.

Since 1879, the Manti Tabernacle has been a landmark in this small town. Now an effort to preserve this edifice is revealing how the pioneers built it.

"It's fun to see how they built it and how well they built it,” Hintze said.

The tabernacle is one of just three 19th century Mormon buildings in the world still used for weekly Sunday services.

The congregations are meeting elsewhere now, as the 135-year-old building gets a seismic upgrade, including tying the exterior and interior rock walls together and strengthening the original rock foundation.

Crews are digging down by hand — exposing the floor that was built using logs taken from the canyons.

“So they took these trees and on the bottom they are full except right here they trimmed them a little to get them level,” Hintze said.

Doug Barton has attended church in Manti since he was 12 years old, and is now a bishop of one of the wards. He says appreciation for the tabernacle has grown as people watch the renovation and consider how the pioneers had no power tools to build it, with materials they made themselves.


I think restoring these old buildings helps to connect the generations together. We remember the hard work and sacrifice they put forth — it helps us to take courage and be strong when times get difficult.

–Scott Hintze, Manti LDS stake president.


"We always thought we were really special to be able to attend church in the tabernacle," he said. “Our ward, they love this building, there is so much heritage here — so much sacrifice by the pioneers.”

Emily Utt, a historic sites curator, is overseeing the historical aspects of the project for the LDS Church, including restoring the exterior as it was in 1879 and the chapel as it looked after it was remodeled in 1927. She sees the tabernacle as a reminder of the faith of the early pioneers.

“We don't have the (pioneers') journals, we might not even have photographs of them, but we have the place where they went to church every week and so these few, very few buildings that are still standing — it's important to keep them so we don't forget those memories and that story,” she said.

It’s a glimpse into the past that is giving hope to future generations.

“I think restoring these old buildings helps to connect the generations together,” Hintze said. “We remember the hard work and sacrifice they put forth — it helps us to take courage and be strong when times get difficult."

The restoration of the tabernacle is scheduled to be a 15-month project. Work began in April, and it should be finished sometime next summer.

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