LDS Church to revamp 'show stopper' in Idaho

PARIS, Idaho — While the LDS Church is accommodating growth with new temples in nearby Rexburg and in New York City, LDS leaders are not neglecting the historical roots of their faith.

An extensive restoration project is being considered for the Paris Tabernacle, a 118-year-old meeting hall designed by a son of church leader Brigham Young.

The tabernacle's steps are being restored this summer to their original condition, reusing the same rocks that were embedded in the original sandstone steps more than a century ago.

While that is considered ongoing maintenance, teams of craftsmen, engineers and professionals also are on scene, evaluating what work needs to be included in the project, like restoring windows to their original condition and shape.

The church has good reason to celebrate its history in Idaho, which would likely not exist as a state if it weren't for colonizing efforts by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said Idaho State University history professor Ron Hatzenbuehler.

"That's probably a distinct possibility," agreed Frank Crawford, the local stake president. "I think Brigham Young, with the settlement of this area and other areas as well, was pretty prophetic — pardon the pun — with his outlook on that. He was a very pragmatic colonist."

Mormon pioneers, led by Charles C. Rich , founded Paris in southeast Idaho on Sept. 26, 1863. Franklin, settled by Mormons three years earlier 25 miles to the southwest, was Idaho's first community.

Hatzenbuehler argues that Idaho likely would have never achieved statehood without these Mormon settlements, which were followed by large-scale Mormon migrations in the 1870s and then the railroad.

He said such settlement would have eventually reached what is now Idaho. However, had it been delayed in the southeastern part of the state by 10 or 20 years, there would have been a much less compelling reason for statehood.

Instead, Hatzenbuehler said the territory would have been divided up among its neighbors instead of becoming the state of Idaho on July 3, 1890.

"It certainly could have happened that way, 49 states," he said.

It didn't happen, though, and today the LDS Church is the largest religious denomination in the state with 366,900 members. Idaho ranks third in the United States for total LDS membership per state population after Utah and California; but second to Utah as to proportion of state population who are LDS church members, said church spokesman Coke Newell. (The Catholic Church is the second largest religious denomination in Idaho with about 120,000 members.)