Provo's 1924 Meno Trope Hall and Community Church Launch a $10 Million Restoration Campaign

A downtown Provo landmark is asking the community for help. Provo Community Congregational United Church of Christ, on University Avenue, is raising more than $10 million to restore and expand its century-old buildings, and had raised about $1 million, roughly 10% of the goal, KSL reported on Nov. 1, 2026.

The buildings

The congregation dates to 1891, when it was founded as the Provo Congregational Church; it merged with Provo's Methodist Episcopal congregation in 1919 and later joined the United Church of Christ, KSL reported. A $30,000 bequest from Meno Trope paid for Meno Trope Hall, a Spanish Colonial Revival building that opened on March 23, 1924. In the mid-1950s members raised about $100,000 for a mid-century modern A-frame sanctuary, fellowship hall and classrooms, built in 1956 and dedicated in 1957.

The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 5, 2022, under the name Provo Community Congregational Church, also known as Meno Trope Hall.

What needs doing

KSL reported that the buildings need new electrical, plumbing, heating, cooling and safety systems, and that a storm several years ago damaged the roof enough to need emergency repairs. The plan, as KSL and the church's renderings describe it:

• A new central bell tower with an elevator, so the upper and lower floors of Meno Trope Hall and the sanctuary's main floor are accessible.
• The sanctuary's A-frame extended several feet to the west to hold a pipe organ donated by the First Congregational Church of Salt Lake City. Supporters raised $50,000 to move and store it during construction.
• A new fellowship hall, exterior restoration, a new art glass window, a courtyard and a reworked entry.

"We're not trying to replicate it, but we're trying to complement it," Dave Lewis, the church's council moderator, music director and organist, told KSL.

An earlier piece of the work got a boost in 2025: the church won a $20,000 matching grant through Provo City's Certified Local Government program, with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, for stucco repair on both historic buildings, the Daily Herald reported.

How to help or visit

The campaign site, keepingthefaithprovo.org, lists donation pages for the Community Cornerstone Restoration and for Preserving the Pipes, plus a calendar. KSL quoted Lewis saying many people tell him they've never been inside; our guide to visiting a church in Provo covers what to expect as a visitor.

For more of downtown's history, see our Center Street historic walking tour, Provo's historic districts and buying a historic home in Utah Valley.