(ABC 6 News) — In Mason City, the community is working to bring back a long-neglected landmark to its former glory.

It has been more than 30 years since St. John Baptist Church was home to a congregation, but now, the city is taking ownership in the hopes of making it a community space once again.

For one of the last living congregants of this historically black church, Everet Jeffries, it holds a lifetime of memories.

“The church was like a cornerstone of the neighborhood,” said Jeffries. “It was for everybody.”

The city is making necessary repairs so the building can operate again, but that depends on finding more dollars to pay for reconstruction — a task that is now being handed off to a committee.

That committee will create a plan to repurpose the former sanctuary.