SALT LAKE CITY — A nonprofit organization based in Salt Lake City is working to restore the Fifth Ward meetinghouse in the Ballpark neighborhood and provide more housing and resources to those in need.
The Fifth Ward meetinghouse located at 740 South 300 West was partially demolished on Easter Sunday. The building was constructed in 1910 and has played many roles in its history, from church services to concerts by bands such as the Smashing Pumpkins.
"There's so much, a wide range of cultures, that have called this church home,” explained Skyler Baird of the nonprofit Salt of the Earth.
The organization was formed in hopes of returning the landmark to its former glory, with estimates showing repairs could cost upwards of half a million dollars.
“Once it's gone, you'll never get it back,” said Brandy Strand, executive director of Preservation Utah.
Efforts to keep the meetinghouse intact mean saving as many bricks as possible. So on Oct. 12, the community is asked to come out and help salvage the Fifth Ward bricks.
“When this building was built, we were using completely different materials than we are today," Strand said. "So the bricks that the community gets to come and help sort and help put into the right piles so that we can reuse them, we can't find that anywhere else.”
The hope is that the bricks that are salvaged and stacked can then be reused in the rebuilding of the meeting house.
If rebuilt, plans are to use Fifth Ward as a space for weddings and other events.
