Moffat Church in the Town Of Moffat
Photos Mike Sinnwell September 2003
I call this the Moffat Church because you can see that the name of the church was removed. At one time it read First ???? Church. What the ???? stood for I do not know.
UPDATE - (See readers comments below for answers.)
Some people speculate it was the First Baptist Church. This is about all that is left of the older structures in the town named after the famous President of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, David H. Moffat.
A viewer writes - June 2008 -- Just came across your page on the old Moffat Church. Thank you for bringing back some great memories. I had many great photos of that old church and the people who worshipped in it in 1989-91 but they were all lost in a freak flood two years ago. The reason it is so special to me is that I used to preach and play/lead music there in 98-91(along with Richard Adams from Crestone Baptist Church). I am sorry that I can't remember the name of the great old guy that owned the church--he owned a large ranch northeast of Moffat and actually owned much of the town property. He and his wife (in their 80's) were really sweet and had me over to dinner a couple of times and he would show me amazing photo albums filled with pics of the area going back to the early 1900's when his dad ran the general store and, I think, one of the banks in Moffat. He also had cool pictures of people watching UFO's along highway 17 in the late 50's early 60's!
OK, enough of my rambling, I just thought I would confirm that the old Moffat Church was originally the First Baptist Church. No one I knew could tell me when or why the "Baptist" was carved off. The church was still heated by an ancient oil burning heater that was smack in the middle of the church (I used to arrive early to light it on cold winter days.) At some point there was electricity although the wiring was very old and the electrical hadn't been on in years--no matter it was well lit by sunlight on Sundays. No P.A. so we had to preach "projecting" our voice, especially being that the congragation was older and a bit hard of hearing. It has a 5 hole outhouse (really!). I love that area and miss it even living in Santa Barbara, CA.
I really love your site, there were other things that really made me smile. Keep up the good work. I would love to see anything else you have for that area. I lived in Crestone, I volunteered for a year and a half as a counselor at the Teen Challenge Center (a drug rehab run by the Assemblies of God Church) which was in "The Good Samaritan Inn", now the White Eagle Lodge. I also set them up on computers as I had many years of computer experience. It was great to spend that time helping people--weird being that I was raised a Jewish Baptist (long story!) and was in the midst of hardcore Pentecostals--but it was great. The people in Crestone and Moffat, Villa Grove and Saguache, Hooper too, all took this city boy in and taught me how survive among cowboys and New Agers. Because of that time there I got to meet the Dalai Lhama, assorted gurus and shamans, real cowboys--even preg tested cows. Richard Adams and I used to circuit preach from Crestone to Moffat to Villa Grove to Saguache and then back to Crestone! I later ended up running (and building) and aquaculture farm outside of Hooper and DJ'ing on KRZA in Alamosa (had the morning "Jazz Plus" show) I can't tell you how much I miss the people and the whole area. You know the magic that exists in the San Luis Valley.Okay, I am rambling which I tend to do nowadays.
Again, Thanks for the memories and great pics! Love your site. - Steve McDonald