Churches in Alaska
October 30, 2015
SVEN writes:
I was in Fairbanks, Alaska, the state’s second largest city the other day. Back before the Alaska Railroad was built, it was at the end of the earth as boomtown in the Klondike Gold Rush. Travelling there required a dangerous voyage from Seattle to Nome, and then a treacherous journey through the heart of Alaska by a Yukon riverboat.
I had an extra hour, so I stepped into the historic Church of the Immaculate Conception, which sits on the banks of the Chena River in the downtown area. It actually survived the 1927 flood when it floated down the street. In terms of architecture or decoration, it’s not too unusual. I’ve seen countless Lutheran churches in North Dakota that look a lot the same, although most are sadly abandoned, casualties to the automobile and declining church attendance. In a way, churches like these are special precisely because they used to be so unremarkable. Building churches was a form of sacrifice, and everyone pitched in to build the most beautiful church that they could afford.
What’s striking about this church is the effort that went into building it so far from the rest of the world. The stained glass windows would have had to be carefully imported from the states. The boards would have been made of very expensive and carefully milled local boards. Although there are many trees in Fairbanks, they tend to be stunted so it can be difficult to find sawmill quality timber. Any special hardwood items, such as the pews, would have been imported as well. All of the fancy wood work would have been done by local craftsmen.
Another really interesting church in Alaska is the church I grew up in, the United Protestant Church, also called The Church of A Thousand Trees. The first colonists to Palmer in 1936 were still living in a canvas tent city with mud streets when they began to clear the town site, using the logs to build the first church. It’s still in use today and I have spend a whole service marveling at the craftsmanship of the perfectly fitted logs in the sanctuary. Again, the first thought was to build a house of God that was as beautiful as possible, even if meant using primitive materials like logs.
There used to be a log Catholic Church across the street as well, but it fell into disuse and was rotten before anyone thought about saving it. The Palmer Catholics just built a new church that looks like a McMansion on steroids, similar in appearance to the amorphous Protestant church buildings that have sprung up everywhere.
If you asked the people who commision churches nowadays, I suppose they might tell you that vinyl siding and white sheet rocked interiors are the most practical way to build. They would probably tell you that modern building materials are cheaper too. But expense and practicality never really the point of church construction before, was it?
