Taryn LeFevre
History 2700
December 6, 2002
The Parowan Rock Church
I remember when I was in elementary, and our second grade class went on one of Parowan’s infamous tours of historical places in town. Among the many places we visited was the Jesse Smith home, the Tithing House, the Old Opera house monument, and last but not least, the Parowan Rock church. The rock church is considered by several jovial townsfolk to be “the Jewel of Parowan.” While the Rock Church holds several family histories and artifacts of the 1800’s, the building has a story of its own.
The building was used as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for fifty-two years. In addition to that is served as a community recreation center, an LDS seminary, and for a couple years it was used as the high school. The proposal for the building was made in November 17, 1861, and the council approved the plans on November 19, 1861. The town’s people lives revolved around the rock church, literally. The council decided that the building should be put up in the middle of Town Square. The plans for the building were well thought out and satisfying, as visitors have experienced. In fact the building was patterned after the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
There are three levels the upper, the second level and the basement. The upper floor was used for private meetings and other purposes. The second level was used for public meetings, i.e. church purposes. The entrance to this level faces south and has two doors, one for the men and one for the women. The pulpit for these services is located at the northern end of the building. There was once a partition that separated the two genders. After a while it was taken down because several holes had been drilled so that the wall no longer served its purpose. A while later, a newly wed couple attended church services and the husband went a sat with his wife. It is said the bishop at the time nearly fell over. But after this episode more and more families began to sit together at church. When rock church was being built, the basement was completed enough that it became the most used room in the building. Parties, balls, farewells, homecomings, etc. were among the many things that the basement was used for. The building itself is fifty-four feet wide and forty-four feet long. It is made of yellow sandstone that was quarried in the local canyon. It is also made of the lumber from Parowan canyon. The estimated cost of this building was $8,000. In a meeting the locals subscribed a total of $7,495. Again the basement of the rock church was completed enough to use for services and other activities in the fall of 1867.
It would be three years (1870) before the rock church would be finally completed. A while later Brigham Young, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and others were traveling from St. George to Salt Lake City. They made a stop in Parowan and held a meeting in the upper level for the first time. The church served its use for over fifty years. So it is not that hard to believe that once Parowan began to grow, the rock church couldn’t hold as many people in the building as it once could. Another church was built in 1919, in the southeast corner of Public Square. Just a few feet from the now deteriorating rock church. In 1915 the church was abandoned, however, in 1916-1917 the building was used as the high school. After that is was officially abandoned. Because no one was using the building, no one paid that much attention to the poor condition that it was in. However, the young boys of Parowan found many uses of the old building as stated in the book, History of Iron County Mission by Luella Dalton. It seems that there were many pigeons roosting in the belfry. So the boys would bring their guns and sneak their way into the building a go pigeon hunting. Quite some
imaginative fellows.
By 1926, the Daughters of Utah pioneers decided that the rock church was so much of an eyesore to the community that they were going to repair it. The only problem was that the renovation would be very costly. The initial reaction of the town’s people towards the renovation was so hostile that one person stated they were, “afraid that someone would blow it [the rock church] up.” In an effort to find a way to get some support for the project, Amelia W. Burton, Captain of the D.U.P went to Salt Lake to ask Heber J. Grant to see if he would allow the D.U.P to take over and restore it. She came back empty handed. President Grant said it was too big of a project for them to handle. In another effort to get support for this project, the D.U.P went to the old Tithing House and asked for their assistance. But that offer was turned down. In one last act of desperation, the D.U.P sent their new captain, Ida Paxton to Salt Lake in November 1927. Ultimately, she got the upper hand. While she didn’t come back with the deed for the church, she had claimed a ninety-nine year lease on the rock church. They finally won after all their hard work. But now came the most difficult task, repairing their old rock church. Many of the windows were broken, the roof leaked every time it rained, and the belfry was it bad shape as well. Just when everything was looking good, the Depression halted almost any work that could be done for the building.
By 1939, the D.U.P. reorganized again and with the W.P.A. made the town square a park. With the help of W.P.A., the D.U.P. decided that they would continue to repair the building the way it was when it was first built. New windows were installed; the steps were built of cement as opposed to the wooden steps that were originally used. All of the woodwork on the outside was painted white, even the little Pickett fence. The roof stopped leaking thanks to the new asphalt shingles. By 1940, the rock church looked brand new and maybe a little better.
In 1949 the D.U.P. started the renovation of the basement in the rock church. The Sons of Utah Pioneers joined efforts in 1950-1951 to help with them. The kitchen area is completed with modern accessories, with electric stove, sink, cupboards, and tables. It was at this time that electricity was incorporated throughout the building. The rock church now serves as a meetinghouse for the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and as a museum. In the summertime, the doors are opened almost all the time for free tours of the entire building. Any other time of the year you can call for an appointment. The local ladies who run the museum are willing to share and spread the history of the rock church, all of which relates to the history of Parowan. Now the inside of the church is most fascinating. It holds years of family treasures that they were willing to donate. Many of the tools that helped raise the rock church are also stored in this building.
Now the project that I have done includes a ceramic replica of the old rock church, which is to be donated to the special collections department at Southern Utah University library, and a calendar, which has photos of artifacts that are inside the building. This is to be given to the Parowan Visitors Center. Carrie Shurtleff and Ardella Rohde were very helpful to my project. They offered more information than I thought there was about the Parowan Rock Church. Besides that they have the keys to get into the building. But mainly I don’t think I would have gained the understanding or the importance of the rock church or the history of Parowan.
Putting together the calendar was the most difficult part mainly because I am technologically impaired. I was surprised at how the end product turned out. The most fun part of the entire project was taking the pictures and determining which ones to use for each month. Each picture I chose has some historical significance to either the rock church or Parowan. And other photographs are ones I thought were appealing. First of all there is a picture of a plaque that is hidden behind some bushes. Next, is a sketch of a child that had died. The artist is Solomon Carracho. Apparently, he was traveling through Parowan and had notices that a family was grieving because their child had died. So he sketched a picture of the child and gave it to the mother. This was quite neat because there were no cameras available. Another picture was of Ida Paxton, the woman who helped save the building. There are four photos of the rock church. One of which is the earliest picture available, the other of when it was being used as a school. The third was a photograph of being abandoned. The fourth is of the Parowan Rock Church as it stands today. Another photograph is of the Adams piano. If the rock church is ever sold, the Adams family piano is the only thing that can be retrieved. Everything else inside the building goes with it. There are pictures of a safe that was donated by the county offices, a photo of a painting of the Parowan fort. The technology portion was a tad bit challenging however with the help of Robin in the copy center here at SUU I was able to finish it on time.
The next half of my project included the creation of the ceramic replica of the rock church. This was fairly easy because I’ve helped make ceramics with my mom and grandma since I was little. Making this is a very detailed project, but to make it simpler, there are three steps to make a ceramic piece. Step one, pouring the clay into the mold and empty it when it gets thick. Step two, is to fire it so that I can paint the object, which is the last and final step. That’s pretty much the entire process.
The Parowan Rock Church has stood for 132 years. You can say that it has stood the test of time, with the help of some great people. In the years to come their will be several reports, brochure, etc. to keep the rock church alive. But it will be nice to know that I helped contribute for future generations.