May 1, 2008 7:05 pm US/Central
St. Paul Church On Endangered Historic Places List
ST. PAUL (WCCO) ―
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St. Matthew's Church is a Gothic Revival style church located near the intersection of Dale Street and University Avenue in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul. It was built in 1919.
Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
A group committed to preserving Minnesota's historic resources has put out its list of most Endangered Historic Places.
Preservation Alliance released the list on Thursday at Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis, which is on the list. They say the plaza has been neglected and had some ill-advised renovations. The group also says a planned expansion of the Orchestra Hall lobby threatens the plaza.
Other places on the list include the St. Louis County Jail in Duluth, Layman's Pioneer and Soldiers Cemetery in Minneapolis.
Also on the list, St. Matthews Rock of Ages Evangelical Lutheran Church in St. Paul, a church that has fallen into disrepair, but there are people trying to save it.
The small brick church sits on a noisy corner in the heart of Frogtown, and it holds a lot of history.
"Early on it was immigrant families from Europe, more recently from Africa and the Asian countries. And this is just a great testament to the changes in the neighborhood," said Jill Henricksen, of the Frogtown Community Development Corporation.
However, beneath its majestic steeple, there are plenty of problems.
"That's a real neighborhood landmark, and it's been here since the 1880s, and when you go inside and you see the damage, you just hope that it's going to be able to be saved," said Paul Sing, of Historic St. Paul.
The outside is in rough shape, with shingles missing and concrete disintegrating, but inside, it's much worse.
"We do have some beam problems, we gonna have to pull in our structure a little bit, but we have a company that says they can pull them in and slowly bring them in there," said Rev. Sylvester Davis of Rock of Ages Church.
Since the Rock of Ages congregation vacated the building a year ago, strong storms and bad drainage caused even more damage.
Its signature stained glass windows still shine bright but St. Mathews is a shadow of its former self.
After 12 decades, five different congregations, and so much neglect it will take more than prayer to save this church. It will cost at least $150,000 to fix the structural damage, and up to a million to restore its original luster.
"We have a committed group of people who loves this building, and they're willing to work hard to find a solution," said Bonnie McDonald with the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
The Rock of Ages congregation now meets in a building on East Como. They hope exposure on the endangered places list will lead to donors to help them save the Old St. Matthews Church.
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