Laradise says goodbye to one of its few skyline icons
The First United Methodist Church was demolished Monday as community members looked on. Photojournalist Ashton Hacke documented the final collapse of the building dubbed the "boat church."
Ask a Laramie resident about their city skyline, and they might mention the tallest residential building in the state, White Hall, the iconic railroad bridge downtown, the two visiting cranes working on the new UW dormitory project, or the massive 90-foot-tall church coined the “boat church.”
If that last one came to mind, you might have to scrub it off your list. A construction crew took almost a full day Monday — starting at 10 a.m., finishing close to 6 p.m. — to tear down the more than 50-year-old First United Methodist Church, using a combination of excavators to smash, pull and claw at the structure.
In an interview with This is Laramie, the church’s pastor explained that congregations haven't met in the church since 2019 due to the building's general old age and “rusty ducts, inefficient heating, and lighting woes.”
The church does not plan to build a replacement in the former boat church location and will continue to use its other facilities for its services.
According to the construction crew on site, attempting to remove the large wooden beams that supported the building proved more difficult than usual in the demolition process. This was due to built-up tension that had accrued over the past several years in the beams. This tension was released during demolition; the beams at times “exploded on impact” when making contact with the ground.
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