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This is the unofficial website of the Provo Tabernacle, an edifice at the corner of First South and University Avenue, Provo, Utah. The site is dedicated to the significance and beauty of a building that transcends its religious usage and belongs in many ways to all of Provo, Utah County and the State of Utah. This website is unauthorized and has no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or Provo City. Any opinions or views expressed by this site are not necessarily those of the Church, which owns this edifice, or the City, home to this edifice.
The Charles Redd Center for Western Studies at Brigham Young University is conducting oral history interviews about downtown Provo and the tabernacle. Please share your stories with the Center. You can contact Jessie Embry at 801-422-7585 or you can e-mail historicdowntownprovo@gmail.com.
Following are articles in draft form containing the history of the Provo Tabernacle, its construction, grounds, the Old Tabernacle, the organ, etc.
An original 1934 painting by Minerva Teichert stands in the tabernacle now protected by a transparent shield. It wasn't so long ago that you could actually touch the painting. The subject is Joseph and Oliver receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood from Peter, James and John. Click to see larger version of this picture.
On 17 December 2010, sometime around 2am, a fire broke out in the roof structure near the west end of the building. By the time a security guard, specially employed by reason of material for an up-coming concert, noticed smoke and alerted the fire department, the fire had taken well hold of the roof structures.
The extreme difficulty of reaching the roof structure by hauling heavy hoses up to the gallery, then up corkscrew staircases not to mention handling them later filled with water combined with not knowing how much the fire had already compromised the structure and also the smoke and other hazards already present made it so that on a defensive firefight could be waged.
The historical notes are synthesized or excerpted from personal acqaintance, from interviews, from N. LaVerl Christensen’s Provo’s Two Tabernacles and the People Who Built Them (1983 by the Provo Utah East Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Provo, Utah) and from Anna Jean Backus’ Provo Pioneers and their Tabernacles (2004 by AJB Distributing, Hurricane, Utah). Most material from the two book referenced is attributed. Ephraim Hatch of Provo is responsible for most of the old photographs. He has acted as preservationist for those photos hanging in the Tabernacle and more.
Note: At this point, this site is little more than a repository of memorabilia surrounding the Provo Tabernacle. The original intent was that it would one day become a nice, even polished gathering point for the building, but it is not that yet. You are welcome to peruse or even use any and all content as all of it is in the public domain, but it is not presented in any cleanly organized fashion.
This site is looking for a content advisor. The site owner will do all the work, but someone with interest and ability is sought to design it. Please contact Russell Bateman.
