After a devastating fire, it's still too soon to tell if the final chapter has been written for Tamaqua's 1852 First Presbyterian Church building.

However, the place has been known for small miracles over the years. For the 155 years when it served as a house of worship, the building met many daunting challenges - two floods, an unstable spire, an unexpected roof collapse, and even a parsonage built on land that the church later found out it didn't own.

According to early church records, what was then called the First United Presbyterian Church was completed at a cost of $4,000 to $8,000, a substantial sum in 1852.

But bad luck struck right away when the church erected a double cottage to the rear and discovered they didn't own the property. The ill-fated parsonage was gone by the 1870s.

More misfortune befell the church in 1922 when members learned that their impressively high spire had tilted. Workers found it leaning two feet out of plumb. After dominating Broad Street for 72 years, the landmark steeple was dismantled and replaced by a much shorter one.

More setbacks came in the form of water. Flooding in 1969 and 1972 was caused by heavy rains that resulted in mountain runoff. In fact, the church annex includes sumps that run continuously to combat mountain springs that flow continuously through the lower level.

In 2001, a roof collapse attributed simply to the age of the building caused $40,000 in damages, a heavy financial burden met by a dwindling congregation.

Still, the church managed a high profile role in the community over the years, providing assistance for the founding of Tamaqua Area Meals on Wheels in 1973 and kicking off Tamaqua Area Adult Day Care in 1989.

Improvements over the years included an elevator installed in 1970 in memory of John Lester Dudley. Air conditioning was added in 1974 in memory of Ramona Dudley, both donations made by the late J. Keilman Dudley.

Lithograph caption: Some mistakenly identify this 1875 lithograph as St. Jerome's Church. It actually depicts the neighboring First Presbyterian Church and how its original spire dominated Tamaqua's Broad Street until discovered to be tilted and out of plumb. The spire was removed in 1922. DONALD R. SERFASS COLLECTION