Major milestone

This photo documents the removal of the last piece of the original roof structure of building number 2526. This last beam was taken down this afternoon, September 19, 2008.

Masonry work begins next week. The contractor still anticipates that we will be under roof within four weeks.

Early Days

Did you know that in the early days of Seventh Avenue Mennonite Church there were two storefronts at 2526 Seventh Avenue, the first home of our congregation? The photo below was taken in 1956, shortly after services were first held there.

The photo below illustrates the construction milestone of 1960, which doubled the interior space of the church. This project involved removing the partition between the two stores and installing the brick exterior wall and more "church-like" doors and windows. Note: These photos were provided by John Kraybill, the first pastor of Seventh Avenue Mennonite Church. In the photo above he is seen standing in front of the window, wearing a traditional straight-cut suit. Other faces that some readers of this blog may be able to identify: Ethel Pannell; John Buckwalter, holding Rick (now the Chairman of the Board of Camp Deerpark); Dick Pannell; Harold Davenport; Florence Zeager; Lucy Vance. Are there other folks here that you recognize?

Beams, plywood, sand, and cement

Here's a glimpse into how building materials were delivered to our job site a couple of weeks ago. The delivery vehicle was equipped with a crane, which was used to place the exact amount of beams, plywood, sand, and cement needed on each individual floor.

This complex process, completed over two days, took only one half-day for each of the buildings.

Beams being unloaded into the third floor of 2524: