Clearwater’s Fort Harrison Welcomes Community, Honors 97 Years of Community Service
Built in the waning days of the Florida Land Boom, the Fort Harrison has provided lodging for baseball players and rock stars and now serves as a religious retreat for members of the 21st century’s fastest-growing religion.
- Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL (1888PressRelease) February 15, 2024 - Since the beginning of 2024, the Fort Harrison has welcomed more than 1,300 members of the community for charity events, documentary film screenings and weekly events. The Fort Harrison recently celebrated its 97th anniversary – almost 50 years of those years as the international religious retreat for the Church of Scientology.
“When the hotel officially opened on New Year’s Eve, 1926, this began a grand tradition of the Fort Harrison not only providing guest accommodations, but also being a place for the community to come together,” said Lisa Mansell with the Public Affairs Department for the Church of Scientology.
Originally built of cement, iron and wood in 1926, the Fort Harrison underwent a complete restoration and renovation in 2009 – an 11 month, million-man-hour project. All 267,000 square feet of the facility were stripped down to bare beams and rebuilt from the inside out.
After that grand re-opening weekend in 2009, the Church has continued to welcome members of the general community to events at the Fort Harrison.
Most recently hosting documentary screenings of Siudy: Between Worlds and Operation: Do Something About it, in the last 6 weeks, the Fort Harrison has additionally hosted Venezuela USA’s Certamen La Bahia Pageant, the annual Masquerade Gala for the Gentlemen’s Course and the 12th Annual Grandmother’s Gala for Children with a Vision.
“We also host a weekly TV night where we showcase episodes from the Scientology Network,” said Mansell. “But the core of our community events are events for local nonprofit organizations.”
For those curious to see how the Fort Harrison has withstood the test of time, a virtual tour is available online at www.scientology.org/churches. If you would like to be included on the invite list for future events, please call 727-467-6860.
About the Church of Scientology
The Scientology religion was founded by humanitarian and philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard. The first Church of Scientology was formed in the United States in 1954 and has expanded to more than 11,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups, with millions of members in 167 nations. Flag is a religious retreat located in Clearwater, Florida. It serves as the spiritual headquarters for Scientologists planetwide. To learn more, visit www.scientology-fso.org.
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