The building that once served as a local meeting house for the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was demolished on Thursday, June 6, to make way for a parking lot or other projects for the Nell J. Redfield Memorial Hospital.  The Hospital purchased the building a few years ago from an out-of-town owner.

The Reorganized Church (often called the Josephite Church locally) began in 1866 when members of that church under the direction of Joseph Smith, III (son of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) visited Malad and converted several prominent families. The church building was built in the early 1900s even though most of the members of the Reorganized Church had left the area in the 1870s, mostly to go to Montana or Missouri.

The church was used for worship services, weddings, and funerals until the early 1950s, after which the church as an organization ended in Malad. Most of the members joined Malad’s Presbyterian Church.  The building has been vacant for over 70 years and has changed owners several times with no care taken to preserve it or protect it from the weather, vandalism, and animals.  

The Oneida Pioneer Museum’s Historic Marker project will place a marker at the location of this once important building in Malad’s history.