The Wellsville Tabernacle in Cache Valley was a cultural center for private events for decades. It was first built in 1902 by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, then later sold to Wellsville City, and finally sold to the Wellsville Foundation in 1994.
In 2010 however, they discovered a structural problem in the ceiling, and were forced to close the building to the public.
“Phase one is basically, we just need to get the structural repair done, get some cleanup done in the building," said Same Windward, president of Winward Financial, a Wellsville-based company working to raise money to restore the building. "Phase two will include some other potential upgrades to the building, or bigger interior renovations as needed. And then we envision phase three as some exterior renovations or rehabilitations.”
The foundation is currently working through its first phase of renovation. Once open to the
public they plan on turning the space into what it used to be.
“So it’ll be Wellsville Community Center for Art, Education, and Entertainment," said Kaylene Ames, president of the Tabernacle Foundation. "The chapel is an amazing assembly hall, with incredible acoustics. We’ve had several concerts there."
“I look at how this building was built back in the early 1900’s," Winward said. "It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears of the pioneers, but it was built through volunteerism, everybody kind of had a stake in it. And I think we’ll all come together, and make this project very similar to what they did 116 years ago. It’s gonna take a community to do it, and it’s going to take a community to run it.”
They plan to have the building open to the public by Labor Day 2018.
