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A tithing barn was built on this property in the summer of 1885, two years after the first settlers arrived in Rexburg. The barn was built of 1×10 inch rough lumber and put together with wooden pegs. It was sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. The lower floor housed grain, animals, and produce, while the loft held hay. As the Pioneer Saints in this area had very little money, they paid tithes with produce which was stored in the barn and disbursed as needed.

There were no homes available in 1888 when Jacob Spori came to Rexburg to be the first head of the Bannock Academy (Ricks College). He and his family were housed temporarily in the empty tithing bar. On July 6, 1888, Elizabeth Spori Stowell was born in one of the grain bins that had been converted into a temporary bedroom.

In 1899 the tithing barn was sold to John A. Garner, one of the original settlers. It was taken apart and moved one-half mile east to 657 North Hill Road where it was reassembled and used. It is standing there today (1988).

A tithing offer was built near the barn. Later it was sold and converted into a home. In 1919 the building was razed so the Adams School could be built on the property. The First Ward Church, a rock building, was built on this block in 1905. In 1976 the rock church was severely damaged in the Teton Dam flood and replaced with a new building at a new location.

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