It takes a village to repair a steeple: Downtown church looks to city, community to preserve a downtown icon

Harrison Thorp ROCHESTER - The First United Methodist Church steeple and clock tower that loom high above Rochester’s downtown, a symbol of civic pride that dominates the city’s own official seal, is facing an uncertain fate almost 160 years after it was first erected in 1868. Over the last decade rot and rain damage have ravaged the exterior of the steeple and much of the framing around the iconic clock tower that has not worked for a decade, according to church officials. Don Ra...