Pioneer tabernacle to be renovated
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PARIS, Idaho — The historic Paris Tabernacle in this Bear Lake Valley community is scheduled for renovation in 2005, said Scott Lystrup, the Church's Utah North area project manager.
The edifice, which was built from 1884 to 1889, is still in use for stake conferences and "a number of other things," said President Frank K. Crawford of the Paris Idaho Stake. He said this southeastern Idaho town of some 600 residents, even many of those who are not members of the Church, values the tabernacle.
"I think it gives us a sense of identity. (The pioneers) built it while they were in the process of getting their homes and farms established. I think they expressed their testimonies in their work on the tabernacle as well as in their lives."
President Crawford's great-great-grandfather, Apostle Charles C. Rich, settled Paris in 1863. Don Carlos Young, the architect who completed design work on the Salt Lake Temple, designed the striking red sandstone tabernacle with its 80-foot tower that looms over this high-altitude valley.
