MILWAUKEE — There are signs of progress at Trinity Lutheran Church after a massive fire destroyed the historic building last year in downtown Milwaukee.
“Everything here forward is new, progress, rebuilding,” said Christine Behnke, director of parish education.
Trinity Lutheran is removing the last few burnt timbers of the church’s old roof while securing a foundation for a new one.
“It’s just amazing what they’re going to be able to do today to get that ugliness out of there that's the reminder of the devastation,” Behnke said.
It is devastation marked by a $17 million price tag worth of fire damages to the 150-year-old building.
“It feels a whole lot better (today) than it felt last May 15 when I was standing here watching it burn,” Pastor Emeritus Hunter Hofmann said.
Hofmann said the rebuild has been a slow process, at times, but he’s confident it will be worth it in the end.
“We get done what we can with the money we have ... and we just keep moving ahead,” Hofmann said.
The rebuild will include handicap accessibility, but it remains to be determined when the church will be fully functional.
