Seven large colored glass windows and one of the entrance doors at the Des Moines Beach Park Auditorium were smashed with rocks by unknown vandals this past weekend, sometime between early Sunday morning and early Monday morning.
The damage to the building is estimated at over $15,000, according to Patrice Thorell, Parks, Recreation and Senior Services Director.
The structure’s windows have specially manufactured colored glass designed to match the original color of the fiberglass windows that were original to the building built by the Covenant Beach Bible Camp as its Tabernacle in 1957.
“It is truly sad when a much loved national historic building is purposely damaged,” Patrice told The Waterland Blog. “The colored windows will take months to recreate and replace.”
The City of Des Moines received The King County Executive’s John D, Spellman Historic Preservation Award for Exemplary Achievement in the Restoration of the Des Moines Beach Park Auditorium in 2013.
The beautiful one of a kind Auditorium was rehabilitated and reopened in 2012.
Anyone with information about this incident are asked to contact the City of Des Moines Police Department Tip Line at 206-870-6871.
I hope, who ever did this got a big kick out of it. You don’t realize all the hard work and time that went into refurbishing this building. It’s a part of YOUR history, for generations to come. This only shows that your destructive life style, will only lead you to more uncharacteristic choices in life. I pray you get help, before you go down that dark path…Rr
This makes me very very sad. I am wondering if it would be possible to put cameras in the park. The love and pride put into that beautiful building . . . people that only want to destroy and not build. It is hard to know what goes through someone’s mind to so such things. This will take some time to repair. I would be happy to help with a community donation page to help with repairs which we might need.