Mormon chapel burns in Cambridge

Mormons around the country today are grieving the destruction of a well-known LDS meetinghouse in Cambridge that many encountered as grad students at Harvard or MIT. The meetinghouse, in Longfellow Park, caught fire this morning, while local Mormons were gathered there to watch the satellite broadcast of a meeting being held in Salt Lake City. Everyone was safely evacuated, and the cause of the fire is unknown.

The Globe will have a detailed story Monday, but Boston.com now has the breaking news about the fire, as well as a photo gallery.

Whitney Johnson, an active Mormon who has helped the church regionally with public affairs, e-mailed, "Longfellow Chapel has been an important place of worship in the Mormon community, especially for those who have come for school at MIT or Harvard, and have now gone. These people will always remember the Longfellow Park Chapel, the place where they worshiped each Sunday, as their sacred place in Boston."

There is a nostalgic conversation taking place among folks who spent time at the Cambridge meetinghouse over at By Common Consent, and there is also commentary in the Bloggernacle at Mormonism Unveiled and at Faith-Promoting Rumor and My Imaginary Blog. Also, Antonio Rodriguez has posted photos of the LDS meetinghouse fire, and WBUR has video of the Cambridge meetinghouse fire.

(Photos by George Rizer/Globe staff.)