Sad stroll down 58th Avenue

Before
After
Before
After

(Apologies for the lack of photo of the old Maspeth United Methodist Church. It used to have a giant tree in front of it nearly blocking out the whole building, so a drawing was the best I could find.)

Parishioners of burned down church hold open-air service

From the NY Times:

With the acrid odor of loss still in the air, dozens of past and present members of the century-old Maspeth United Methodist Church, as well as neighbors, came together for a Sunday service five days after it was destroyed by fire.

They arrayed themselves in lawn chairs on the sidewalk and in the tiny yard of the parsonage, next to mounds of blackened rubble at the church site, at 66-35 58th Avenue in Maspeth, Queens. Two hoses still snaked from a dripping fire hydrant, and a giant orange earth-moving vehicle that was scooping up debris earlier Sunday morning paused for the service.

...those in attendance wiped away tears and tried to look beyond the fire, which broke out at 4:30 a.m. on Tuesday during a fierce lightning storm. Manuel Martinez, a spokesman for the Fire Department, said the cause “is still under investigation, but it’s not suspicious.”

The church was demolished the next day, but members of the congregation were allowed inside beforehand to salvage a few items, including a cross. Little remained, however.

Mr. Shklanko grabbed some bricks from the foundation, in the hope that something of the old church might be incorporated into a new one.

Hmmm... one historic Maspeth church building burned down while another historic Maspeth church building sits in a box waiting for funds to rebuild it.

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?