Dating back to 1898, Nipomo’s oldest church has been part of the California town’s community life for more than a century. Now, 128 years after it first opened, the historic building has been donated to the Dana Adobe and Cultural Center, which plans to turn it into a community hub with a museum, event space and visitor centre.The church stands at the intersection of Tefft Street and Thompson Road, across from Jocko’s Steakhouse, News Channel 3-12 reported. John and Rebecca Prewett, who bought the building in 2015, recently donated it to the local non-profit organisation.The Dana Adobe and Cultural Center runs the nearby historic Dana Adobe, described as Nipomo’s oldest settlement and dating to 1839. With the church now under its ownership, the organisation wants to use the building to connect residents and visitors with the area’s history while giving the community a new space.Jim Corridan, president of the Dana Adobe and Cultural Center, said the building was originally Saint Joseph’s Church. It served as Nipomo’s first church and remained the main church until the 1970s, when a new Saint Joseph’s Church was built.“Last week the Adobe received the church,” Corridan said. “It was the original Saint Joseph’s Church and began in 1898. It was used as the first church and the main church until the 1970s when a new Saint Joseph’s Church was built. Since then, it’s gone through a number of different things, but most recently it’s been the Cavalry Church.”
Church to continue Sunday services
The building will retain its current religious use even as the new plans take shape. Corridan said Calvary Church will remain there and continue holding its weekly Sunday morning services.Alongside that, the Dana Adobe and Cultural Center plans to give the building several new community uses. The organisation wants the church to strengthen the Dana Adobe’s presence in downtown Nipomo and become part of the Old Towne community.“One of the biggest goals for Dana is to help make a presence for the Adobe here in downtown,” Corridan said. “We also want to make this part of the center of Old Towne and the community of Nipomo so that people can utilize the space, reconnect to the history of the community and have a better understanding of the region, and so we’re really excited to be able to offer this kind of as a mini community center for the citizens of Nipomo and especially here in Old Towne.“
Historic building planned as ‘Visit Nipomo’ centre
Another key part of the plan is to create a “Visit Nipomo” centre in the building. The centre will provide tourists with information about Nipomo and the South County region.Visitors will be able to use the space to find out what is happening in the area and get information on where to eat, stay, visit and shop.“We have some new ideas,” Corridan said. “We’re going to be making this a historical museum, a portion of it. We’re also going to be making a venue here so that we can have people use the side yard and the church for different events, and perhaps most importantly, is that we’re going to make this a ‘Visit Nipomo’ center.”“It will be a place where tourists can stop and find out what’s going on in Nipomo and in the South County region, but also utilize it as a way point to figure out where to eat, where to stay, where to visit, and where to shop in this region,” he added.
Repairs planned for 128-year-old church
The Dana Adobe and Cultural Center also plans to carry out repairs and improvements to the building over time, depending on contributions and donations. Corridan said the organisation plans to repaint the church and explore adding stained glass or stained glass film to recreate the appearance of the former windows.It also hopes to backlight the windows so that the original windows can be seen from the intersection of Thompson and Tefft.“One of our big goals is over time, as contributions and donations come in, to preserve this building and fix little things that are needing repair,” Corridan said. “We’ll repaint it and hopefully put in some version of stained glass or stained glass film to replicate the stained glass that used to be in the church, so that it shines like it did before, and with luck, we’ll end up back lighting all the windows so that when you drive down this corner at Thompson and Tefft, you’ll see the stunning views of the original windows.“Corridan hopes the work and planned additions will be completed sometime next year.
