TUESDAY (MORNING) OCTOBER 2: The brickwork on the south and east sides of the building has reached four feet.  Welders are at work securing the barjoists to the beams and installing braces between the barjoists.  An another front, contractors for the city have removed the curbs and sidewalks along Walnut Street in the block behind the church and are cutting out the curbs along Oak Street behind the church as part of a general downtown renovation.  This will leave access to the temporary church office across temporary wood ramps for a day or so. This project, while briefly inconvenient, will enhance the area quite a bit.  It is not yet clear whether the project will reach to the front and sides of the church lot, where there is certainly a need for sidewalk and curb work.

THURSDAY (AFTERNOON) OCTOBER 4:  The brickwork on the north portion of the east side has reached about eight feet; the curved portion of the south wall has reached the top of the doors.  The north wall is bricked up to window sill level.  The equipment plaza walls are bricked up to the second story floor level.  The courtyard on the south side is bricked up to window sill level.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6:  The barjoists are in place over the rooms with the curved south wall.  Brickwork is up to full height at the north entrance. It appears that there will be fake windows to the right of both the north and the east entryways.  There, the brickwork abruptly drops in for about three feet, and there are two rows of brick left out at sill level.  Incidentally, the brickwork will stop at the second story level, and the building will have a sheetmetal skin from there up.  The exterior walls will be constructed with 16 gauge metal studs, and there will be a wood truss roof.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 8:  A small crew began laying corrugated sheetmetal on the barjoists this morning.  This will be the base on which the concrete second floor will be poured.  The first strip of this was along the north side of the fellowship hall.  By late morning they had a four-foot strip laid from the northwest corner to the north
entry.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 12:  Corrugated metal decking has been installed over the fellowship hall and as far east as to cover the ramp to the elevator lobby.  It appears, judging from the angle iron runners around the opening at the elevator shaft,  that the concrete floor above will be about 2 inches thick. The decking over the kitchen is of a different sort: That which is usually used as foundation for a flat roof.  On the ground, forming and dirt fill have been put down for the floor in most of the north side of the building.  Specifically, the north entrance foyer, stairwell, and ramp to the elevator lobby appear to be ready for pouring.  The ramp portion has been coverec with polyethylene sheeting as a precaution against predicted rains.  On the southwest corner of Acadamy and Oak Streets, a large (14" x 10" maybe) galvanized I-beam has been set vertically on a very solid foundation of poured concrete to serve as a guy pole to which the utility department can attach strain-relief guys when the overhead wires along Acadamy Street are taken down.  This will prevent deflection of the pole across the street, which has heavy lines going off to the east. This column is about 20 feet high.

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 16:  Forms are being installed to contain the upstairs floor around the perimeter of the building.  These are 1x6 wood members held in place by threaded rods welded to the barjoists and extended through holes in the form members themselves.  The rods have cone-shaped plastic washers on them which will allow them to be broken off behind the form line after the concrete sets. The remaining depressions will be filled with grout after the forms are removed; thus there will be no rusting of the iron members at the surface of the building.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17 EARLY AFTERNOON:  Electric utility crews have secured the guy wires to the column on the corner and have removed the 12,000 volt distribution line along Acadamy Street.  Workers continue to install forms for the second floor.  Inside, the floor of the north entry hall, stairwell, and north-south corridor, including the ramped portion up to the elevator lobby have been poured and are hardened.  The temptation is to cry "bring out the skateboards!"  The entire northeast corner of the building appears ready to receive concrete floor.

ON THE WALNUT AND OAK STREET SIDES OF THE LOT, the city's sidewalk project has resulted in removal of curb, gutter and sidewalk all the way from the building site around the corner to as far as the handicapped access ramp, leaving a six-foot wide dirt trench.  Assurance was given that that provisions would be made for access to the building for the Wednesday night supper and choir practice, and that the curb and sidewalk would be in place by Sunday.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18 JUST BEFORE NOON: The second floor has been poured as far east as the north-west corridor.  Workmen excavating for pillars at the north entrance uncovered numerous artifacts which indicate that the site might once have been a blacksmith shop or stable: Horseshoes, wagonwheel hubs, bridle buckles, iron stove panels and feet and other bits of iron.

On the Walnut Street side, the sidewalk contractor has poured the curb and gutter from near the Oak Street corner to the wheelchair ramp.  Workers are preparing forms for the sidewalk along the same location.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19:  A  horizontal I-beam has been put in place at the top of two of the 2-story columns.  The concrete floor has been poured in the northeast section of the building, including most of the east-west corridor.  Welders are securing the final set of bar-joists in the center of the building.  These had been left out until the front portion of the upper level floor had been poured.

On the Walnut Street side, the sidewalk has been poured from near the corner of Oak Street to the wheelchair ramp.  The sidewalk at the wheelchair ramp is about 2 inches higher than the landing for the ramp.  This may present a problem for wheelchair users Sunday.  The part of the sidewalk nearest Oak Street has been left unpaves, as a new storm rain intake is  being constructed to replace the grates previously in place.  This will reduce the amount of
stormwater runby at the corner.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 22:  The electrician was on the site today.  A festoon of construction lights has been strung along the barjoists in the fellowship hall, kitchen, pantry area and elevator lobby.  Also, some conduit and junction boxes have been installed in the fellowship hall, tying into the conduit in the wall from the boxes installed earlier.  All of the east-west corridor floor has been poured except for a short ramp inside the Oak Street door.  At the north entrance , footing have been poured for columns to support the portico roof.

On the front corner, the sidewalk contractor has broken up and removed the remaing old curb and sidewalk on the Walnut Street side and the curb on Three Notch Street for about one third of the block.  The contractor's foreman stated that they were going to remove and repour the landing at the ramp, to eliminate the step-down.  (The new sidewalk is a few inches above the old sidewalk level). On the corner of Walnut and Oak streets a new intake is being formed to replace the grate previously in the corner.

WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 24:  The windows have been installed in the fellowship hall.  They are prefabricated, aluminum frame, double-hung, double pane units.  The openings were first framed on the outside of the wall with treated 1x4 wood boards, then the flanges of the window units were secured to the frames.  This is the first permanent wood construction in the building.  As to why wood was used, fastening the window flanges to the concrete block wall so close to an opening is problematical in that the block tends to crumble away when fasteners are installed.

Along Three-Notch and Walnut Streets, the curb has been replaced around the corner and sidewalk has been extended along Walnut Street to the corner.

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON: Electricians have installed more conduit and boxes in the barjoists of the fellowship hall.  Vinyl sheeting, wire reinforcing grid and leveling ways have installed in about 600 square feet of the lower level, south of the center hall and east of the ramp to the elevator lobby.  Overhead, about the same amount of corrugated decking has been laid over the northeast section, from the stairwell toward the east.

On the front, curb and gutter has been laid all the way from Walnut Street to Acadamy Street, with no sidewalk poured yet.

Some of the artifacts recovered when digging footings near the north entrance - this appears to be a furnace door handle and a horseshoe; there were others too large to scan.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, MID AFTERNOON: Concrete floor has been poured in the area prepared earlier.  The foundation has been closed where it had been left open for passage of
equipment.  Decking has been installed for most of the remaining second floor; forms are being installed around the outside walls to contain the concrete floor. There remains one section of about 600 square feet not poured downstairs.

As to sidewalks and curbing work, the workers were awaiting arrival of the concrete for pouring of the storm sewer intake box at the corner of Walnut and Oak Streets.  Sidewalk has been poured for the entire block of Three Notch Street except for the small area which will be the ramp from the street to the sidewalk at the corner of Acadamy Street.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27:  All of the flooring downstairs has been poured; decking has been laid to receive the concrete floor for almost all of the upstairs; the only spaces left out are a small section near the east end and the rounded portion of the south wing.  More conduit has been run for the electrical in the fellowship hall, but none has yet been connected to the power panel in the kitchen.   A walkthru Friday afternoon brought the realization that there is only one door to the kitchen:  From the fellowship hall.  This was not apparent from the plans.  This will be most inconvenient for kitchen workers who may need to move to and from the kitchen during preparation and cleanup when the fellowship hall is in use.

TUESDAY AFTERNOON, OCOBER 30:  The decking is in place over all but two corners of the building. Projections are that the remainder of the second floor will be poured Thursday.  The final part of the east wall is blocked up.  There is a new ditch between the sidewalk and the building on the north side to receive the drainage pipe.  Also the cable company is going to lay fibre optic cable there. Utility poles on the north side of the building have been removed, as have the poles on the west side of Oak Street at the corner of Acadamy St. Inside, boxes for the power panels have been delivered.  One, the main panel box looks more like a shallow coffin: 8 feet x 3 feet x 12 inches.  Two others, about two feet wide by three feet  high by four inches deep are more ordinary.  Ladders (apparantly belonging to the electricians) are stored chained to a large job site tool chest.  The temporary lights in the area are on even though the site has been deserted for the day.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1: 
The second floor has been poured!  This view, from the window in the current upstairs elevator lobby looks out across the new elevator shaft opening toward the Thompson Auto Parts Building.  Workers are finishing the setting cement.  At the left is the finishing machine used to smoothe the surface. This window will be the location of the door between the buildings.  The upstairs connecting corridor will pass to the left of the elevator shaft.

This picture shows galvanized steel studs stored on the floor over the fellowship hall.  The unfinished area is the roof of the kitchen.  It will receive roof base material and a flat roof.

And this is the Backside photo for November 1.

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