Sunday we had an amazing Sacrament Meeting talk. A local sister spoke about the history of the "South Chapel." It was moving, inspiring, informative and everyone in attendance left feeling they were "part of the legacy." Recently, a man from out of town asked this sister the significance of the South Chapel. She replied, "It is the heart of our community." Not until her talk was finished, did I realize how really true this statement is. In 1904, the impossible and unlikely happened; 14 individuals moved to the top of "White Mesa" to a dry, desolate, waterless, barren spot of land. They were doomed; as "there would never be enough water to support a community." It was named
Grayson and the "
Grayson Branch of the Bluff Ward" was born. They convened in a tent just north of the current location of the South Chapel. Just a few years later with 96 members it became the
Grayson Ward. The South Chapel was constructed through the tremendous faith and sacrifice of early
Grayson/
Blanding members. It was always an act of faith on the part of these very humble and poor (as to things of the world) people to provide the means necessary to do build/remodel what is the South Chapel. The current edifice consists of 3 phases; the original part which was the chapel, balcony and cry rooms (which had folding wooden doors which opened for over flow) and stairs down to the "lower part." The lower part was a big room, a rec room of sorts. This is where "Jr. Sacrament Meeting" was held. Yes,
Blanding did it's own thing and under the direction of their Bishop, they had sacrament meeting in the lower part for the children and "regular" sacrament meeting upstairs for the adults. (In later years "Salt Lake" made it know that children needed to sit by their parents and learn to be reverent in Sacrament Meeting. In later years there was a kitchen, a few classrooms, a baptismal font added. (Prior to that the baptismal font was a cement font in the furnace room). The last addition was the gym we now know. Some interesting facts: Except for the gymnasium; all the materials and workmanship of the South Chapel were "home grown." The bricks were mixed, formed and dried in a kiln from local materials by local people - wow! The original rafters were being debated by the building committee of the church which ultimately settled on using 2 x 4's. One of the local brothers objected and said that 2 x 10's were needed, alas the building committee prevailed and the winter after completion, the roof began to sag. The local brethren then went up into the attic and one by one shored up the rafters attaching 2 x 8's to every 2 x 4. When the addition of the
kitchen and baptismal font and classrooms was done, the church required $2,500 up front from the
Blanding Ward in order for the Church to agree to let them begin. There was no money and the
Bishop went to the building committee and said, "Our members are too poor to contribute this kind of money but I promise, if you will allow us to go ahead with construction without this money, there will be money left over." Against policy, they allowed the building to begin. The Church paid for 80% of the project and the local ward paid for 20%. When the project was finished, the church found that the
Blanding Ward had contributed too much to the total project and refunded them . . . .$2,500. This building really became the center of the community. The "lower part" because the first local theater and they played silent movies for the
Blanding members. With the advent of "talkies" the ward purchased a projector and movies for some "good family entertainment" and the movies were moved upstairs to the chapel . . . .yes the chapel! The projector was in the balcony and the pews provided plenty of seating. This remained the community theater until after World War II when a local returning soldier suggested buying the equipment from the Church and opening what is now known as the San Juan Theater! When the need arose for a high school, the South Chapel and its classrooms fit the bill and San Juan High School was born. Basketball games took place in the "lower part." Opposing teams disliked playing in
Blanding as they couldn't "arch" their shots or make long passes due to the low ceiling! There was a bell tower and the bell rang on the hour and half hour as well as 15 minutes prior to church meetings and other events. Then some of the surprise information for me and that was there was "the
Blanding Ward" until the early 1950's when 1200 + members wouldn't fit any more and the North and South Wards were created. There were these two wards until the late 1960's. The South Chapel was the ONLY chapel in
Blanding until 1 year before we moved to the area - I had no idea! The 4
th Ward was created and the North Chapel was built in 1976. Here I supposed it had been around forever when we came on the scene! So I feel part of the legacy of that building. It has provided a place of worship for our family for some 27 years. Love, sacrifice, faith and testimony are part of this building and have been demonstrated to me and my family.
