Bulletin for May 15, 2014

1st South and 1st West in Provo 130 years ago


University and 1st South as it will appear in 2015

Upcoming Rotary Programs

May 22, 2014: Greg Maas, UVU Men's Soccer Coach will discuss his team

May 29, Chief John King, Provo City's new Police Chief will speak

Report of Provo Rotary Meeting Held May 15, 2014

President Glen Zaugg conducts the meeting

Todays meeting was conducted by President Glen Zaugg with Ron Roberts playing the piano and Jill Moon leading the singing of the National Anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. The opening prayer was given by Greg Hudnall.

Announcements included Jill Moon announcing the Zions Bank Art Show that will be held Friday, May 15, 2014 at the Zions Financial Center in Provo. Jill's husband Gary Moon will be featured with other artists. There was also a reminder that our Rotary District 5420 Conference will be held this weekend in Logan. And a final reminder was given that our 2014 Polio Plus drive will end this week. If you would like to participate, give or send your donations to Pete Pletsch. Checks should be made payable to the Provo Rotary Foundation and mailed to 3336 Cherokee Lane, Provo, Utah 84604.

Linda Pemberton handles Sergeant Duties

Today's guests included Tyler Vigue attending with Ray Beckham. Tyler is a potential new member of the Club. Genelle Pugmire from the Daily Herald attended as a guest of Carol Walker and Susie Gardner attended with her father, Frank Gardner. Gary Moon and Gill Hatch attended as guests of Jill Moon, and Aaron Sabins attended with his dad, Steve Sabins. Steve it is good to meet another member of the family. Also Anna Bates, wife of deceased member Quent Bates and their daughter Christy attended with Scott Kirkland. Christy is also Scott Kirkland's wife.

Prospective Member Tyler Vigue

Gary and Jill Moon

Genelle Pugmire of the Daily Herald

Frank and Susie Gardner

SPEAKER

Clark Merkley introduces the LDS Chruch Team

Clark Merkley began today's program by introducting the members of the team from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that came to present information about the new Provo City Center Temple being constructed in downtown Provo. He introduced Emily Utt, a historian with the Chruch History Department who began the presentation talking about the history of the buildings located between Center and 1st South, and University Avenue and 1st West in Provo.

Emily Utt from the Chruch History Dept.

Emily talked about the architecture of the Provo Tabernacle. The Architect was William Folsom, the architect that designed the Manti Utah LDS Temple. Some resemblance can be seen in the design of the two buildings today. The tabernacle, actually the second tabernacle built on the block was know to be in use as early as 1886 but was not dedicated until 1898. The building originally had a cupola on top in the center of the building. However, it was removed in 1917 because the roof began to sag. The renovation of the building to be a temple includes putting a cupola back on the building.

When the fire destroyed the temple in December of 2010, the Church of Jesus Christ immediately began work to sore up what remained of the building and started work on designing a renovated building using what was left of the old shell of the building. Originally it was to be remodel as an updated tabernacle, but later the concept was changed to make the building into a Temple.

Project Manager Andy Kerby spoke about the challenges of rebuilding the building. After the fire, the rubble that filled the basement of the building turned into a solid block of ice because of the water used to put out the fire. He described the challenges and intricate work required to sore up the exterior walls, excavate the area under the basement going down 60 feet, propping up the building on piles, building a new foundation with a two story basement with a 5 foot thick bottom floor, and rebuilding the interior structure of the building from the ground up inside the existing shell. It was quite a project and continues today. Things are coming together and the area is beginning to look like it will when the project is completed sometime next year.

The new temple and grounds will be a very nice addition to the downtown area and will maintain the character of the old building in a very beautiful new setting.