Tuesday, January 25, 2011

First United Methodist Church, Casper Wyoming


This church is located completely downtown, across from the Natrona County Public Library. It's exterior is deceptive in that the church is not as large as it might appear, as the church building includes interior rooms used by the church. The church itself is joined to a new meeting area off to the right.

Two tones of brick featured on the church suggest that it might have been built in two stages, or perhaps three, but I do not know this to be the case. The corner stone gives three dates, with the first being 1907, the second 1927, and the third 1951, so presumably this was the case.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Casper Wyoming


This traditionally styled Episcopal Church includes the office buildings for the church a meeting room, kitchen and a day school, so the interior space used for services is smaller than the large exterior might suggest.

The view featured on the bottom photograph could not be seen until recently, as a large house once stood in what is now an open area. The church is across the street from the former St. Anthony's Catholic School, which has moved to a new location across town. The church was built in 1924.

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.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Cathedral of the Madeline, Salt Lake City Utah















Some cell phone and compact digital photographs of the impressive Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeline in Salt Lake City, Utah.

This impressive Cathedral was started in 1900, and completed in 1909. In some ways, it is representative of the significant Irish presence in the area which started in this time period, as Irish immigrants arrived in the Salt Lake area to work as miners. As can be see, while it is now known as the Cathedral of the Madeline, the corner stone indicates that it was at least built as St. Mary's Cathedral, which of course is consistent. It's interesting to note, however, that this Roman Catholic cathedral was under construction at the same time that St. Mary's Cathedral in Cheyenne Wyoming was, so two Roman Catholic Cathedrals by that name were under construction in the same region, at the same time.

Post Church, Ft. Douglas Utah.




The post church located on the grounds of the former Ft. Douglas, Utah, now part of the campus of the University of Utah.

I am unsure of the denomination, but I suspect it was an Episcopal Church. I'm not sure if it is an actively used church at the present, but at least externally, it is well preserved.

St Peter and St. Paul Orthodox Church, Salt Lake City Utah


Salt Lake City, while commonly associated with the LDS Church, is a city that features a large number of classically constructed churches in the downtown area. This church, the Orthodox Church of St. Peter & St. Paul is one such surprising example, although it was not originally constructed as a church, but rather as a synagogue in 1903. In 1987 the building was sold to an Assemblies of God Congregation, and then later to the Antiochian Orthodox Church. In construction, it is remarkably church like the former Temple Emanuel in Denver which also is no longer used as a synagogue. Also like that building, the building has a strongly eastern character.

Located quite near downtown, the church features the quote, above the front door; "It was in Antioch that they were first called Christians." The Church itself is, as noted, an Antiochian Orthodox Church, a branch of the Orthodox Church, so perhaps that is not surprising. As the Antiochian Orthodox Church is the branch of the Orthodox Church associated with Orthodox Arabs, however, finding this church in Salt Lake City is a bit of a surprise.

Photograph taken with a cell phone.