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Show NPS B'orm 10-900a (Rev. 8-86) Utah Word Processor Format (02741) Approved 10/87 QMS No. 1024-0018 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service NATIONAL REGISTER OB' HISTORIC PLACES CONTINUATION SHEET Section number 8 Page Green River Presbyterian Church Green River, Emery County, Utah suppers. There was also a $1000 grant from the "Board of Church Erection" of the Utah Presbytery to assist with construction costs.1 Ware & Treganza, a prominent architectural firm from Salt Lake City, was hired at a cost of $125 to design the new structure.2 Work on the project probably started in the spring or summer of 1907. The building was dedicated on October 20, 1907, though it had been used for some time before its completion.3 Total cost of the facility, which included an organ and chairs, was almost $4500. The building functioned as a Presbyterian church until 1958, when the Presbytery of Utah was no longer able to provide a full-time minister. Since 1959 the church has been a nondenominational community church, though its historical role has always been that of a community church. The Green River Presbyterian Church was constructed at a time when the community of Green River was emerging as an official town. A makeshift settlement known as Blake City had been located at this site as early as 1879 along the newly established mail route connecting Salina, Utah, and Ouray, Colorado. The site of the settlement was at a favorable crossing of the Green River. In 1883 the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad established an east/west line along that route, helping ensure the existence of the settlement. The town took on the name Green River in 1895, but it was not until 1906 that the first town council was elected and a new townsite laid out. Green River was officially incorporated in 1910. This period of municipal growth corresponded with the local "Peach Boom," during which the peach industry was introduced and thrived. Other community advances at that time were the construction of a two-story brick school in 1910, the erection of a metal-truss wagon bridge across the Green River in 1910, the establishment of a Mormon ward (congregation) in 1904, and the formation of a Presbyterian congregation in 1906 and the construction of their building in 1907. The Green River Presbyterian Church represents a new phase of Protestant activity in Utah cities, a "community church" phase. The evangelical zeal that had sustained Protestant missionary efforts in Utah during the 1870s-~90s was extinguished by the turn of the century. Nationwide economic depressions during the 1890s greatly reduced donations from church contributors in the eastern U.S., and the perceived need for missionary work among the Mormons was significantly lessened with the 1890 Manifesto denouncing polygamy by Mormon church president Wilford Woodruff. The establishment of a viable Utah public school system in the 1890s also had a negative effect on Protestant missionary efforts in Utah. These efforts focused on providing Mormon children with schooling as a first step toward conversion. The combination of these factors in the 1890s brought an end to the Protestant evangelical missionary period in Utah. The community church phase of Protestantism in Utah represents a local desire for Protestant religious services and the willingness of the various churches to support congregations of mixed denominational background. Most Utah towns were at |
