Trinity Lutheran will be rebuilt, not demolished

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) - Trinity Lutheran church will live on.

The church announced Monday they will not demolish the 140-year-old building that was damaged by fire, and they will rebuild.

“There was a great deal of relief,” said Reverend Jonah Burakowski.

After weeks of wondering the church found out they can save their building.

“The walls just need to be stabilized, and they can do that from the outside,” said Rev. Burakowski.

As devastating as the fire looked most of it stayed near the roof, leaving a solid foundation in tact and ready to be rebuilt.

“What you see here will be here more, and be here longer, 140 years from now,” said the Reverend.

“We were just blown away by how much damage there was,” said Alex Schrader who came down to the church with his wife to look at the damage.

They were even more surprised that Trinity will survive.

“We thought my goodness how on earth could they give a positive report to this, and then to hear there is a positive report is just positively heartwarming,” said Schrader.

Reverend Burakowski says the Schraders are like many people who have reached out, hoping the church could be saved.

“It really does go to the heart of the city, people have been showing up and expressing their desire to see this facility restored,” said Rev. Burakowski.

The church will start the process of stabilizing the walls right away because the city is expecting it, but also because they need a roof back, every time it rains there is more damage to the wood inside.

It could take a month or more to stabilize the walls and years to fully rebuild.

For the next few weeks they will continue to use their temporary space at MATC.