There's been some interesting church changes in Casper, some of which deserve note, or additional note, here.
Here's the first.
Luther Classical College dedicates chapel, launches into first school year
The church it is using, when we first published a photograph of it, is here:
First Baptist Church, Casper Wyoming
This is the First Baptist Church in Casper, Wyoming. It's one of the Downtown churches in Casper, in an area that sees approximately one church per block for a several block area.
This particular church was built in 1949, and sits on the same block as Our Savior's Lutheran Church.
I wonder if that's correct and I actually took that photograph with 35mm film?
Anyhow, it was a Baptist Church at the time, and then became a wedding chapel. Now, however, it belongs to Luther Classical College. Apparently changes will be made to something. “If you come back in a year from now, this will look very different,” according to the school's Professor of Theology. The church itself is being called a chapel, and will bear the name Wilhelm Löhe Chapel. Next to it is a school building, where the classes will take place. According to Oil City:
The school’s curriculum includes a heavy focus on Christian culture, mixed with classic liberal arts academic teachings similar to Hillsdale College. The four programs include a pre-seminary for future pastors, a classical school teacher program, a music major and a general Bachelor of Arts, he said. The school is also working with Casper College for two-year trade programs.
There's a lot of interesting things at work here, but they probably deserve comment in a different venue.
Another change occurred here:
Christ United Methodist Church, Casper Wyoming
Another one of the many Casper churches I hadn't gotten around to photographing, Christ United Methodist Church as photographed out my Jeep windshield.
I don't know the history of this church but it likely dates to the 1950s. It hasn't always been a Methodist church and in fact was part of a swap by this congregation for another building they had to another denomination as each of their respective buildings worked better for the other.
It's closed.
In both cases, I wonder what happened to the congregations of the churches that closed down.
In another change, the Ukrainian Catholic Mission to Casper now holds its services in the Anglican Church of the Resurrection.
Church of the Resurrection, Casper Wyoming
This church is of a very unusual style for this area, with the only church comparable to it, that I am aware of, being a Methodist church in Wheatland Wyoming.
I do not know the history of this building, but based upon its location, the church must have been built sometime between World War One and 1950. My guess is that it was built in the 1920s, but I do not know for sure.
Currently, this building is occupied by an Anglican Mission church, but it has not always been. Up until relatively recently the church was, I think, a Christian Scientist church. Christian Scientist structures seem to favor this Greek Revival style, as evidenced by the large First Christian Scientist church in Denver.
This is a really interesting decision on its part, and I'd like to know more of the background to it.
The Ukrainian Catholic Church is fully part of the Catholic Church, which makes me wonder why the Ukrainian mission doesn't hold its services in one of Casper's three Catholic Churches. It might simply be because those parishes are so busy already. The Ukrainian Mission seems to hold Divine Liturgy mid afternoon on Saturday's (which at least for the Latin Rite, wouldn't serve a vigil mass) and that would definitely conflict with the Reconciliation schedules for all three Latin Rite churches.
The choice of an Anglican Church, however, is interesting as Anglicans tend to believe that they're part of the Catholic Church as well, which they are not. It's not surprising that they'd offer their structure accordingly, and the architecture of this church would somewhat lend to an Eastern Rite service.
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