Brigham City
Tabernacle
This stately building is one of the finest
examples of nineteenth century Latter-day
Saint architecture. For more than a century, it has
served as a center of Christian worship, cultural
enrichment, and community activities. Towering
above the trees, it has become one of the
principal landmarks of the region.
Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints settled this area in 1851, just
four years after the arrival of the first pioneers in
Salt Lake City. Under the leadership of Elder
Lorenzo Snow of the Council of the Twerlve
Apostles, they built this town at the mouth of
Box Elder Canyon, and near traditional Shoshone
Indian campgrounds, and named it for Church
President Brigham Young. For many years they
worshipped in a log meetinghouse and in the local
courthouse, but in 1865, Brigham Young directed
Elder Snow and other community leaders to build
a tabernacle for conferences of the Box Elder
Stake. The local leaders had already selected a
site on the corner of Main and Forest Streets in
the center of town when President Young visited
the community. However, according to tradition,
he led them here to "Sagebrush Hill," the highest
point on Main Street, and said, "This is the spot
for your tabernacle." The selection of this site
ensured that the building would be visible for
many miles across the valley. President Young and
Territorial Surveyor Jesse W. Fox laid the
cornerstones on 9 May 1865.
Construction proceeded slowly as local
manpower was diverted to completing the
transcontinental railroad. Work on the building
resumed in earnest in 1876, mostly with donated
labor. Local craftsmen used quartzite, sandstone,
and lumber form the nearby mountains. Women
donated produce from their gardens and eggs laid
on Sundays to sell for the needed cash for glass
and other materials that could not be produced
locally. Fourteen years after Brigham Young laid
the cornerstones, the first meeting in the partially
completed building took place on 27 May 1879.
As originally built, the tabernacle was sturdy
but plain in appearance. However, in 1889 a
conference of the Box Elder Stake voted to
"complete" the building. In the following months,
a tower, a gallery, a rear vestibule, brick buttresses
with decorative caps, and other improvements
were added to beautify the structure. Church
President Wilford Woodruff dedicated the finished
building 28 October 1890.
On Sunday, 9 Feburary 1896, as people began
to assemble for afternoon services, a fire started in
the furnace room. No one was injured, but
despite frantic efforts, only smoke-blackened stone
walls remained an hour later. Stake President
Rudger Clawson supervised reconstruction over
the next thirteen months. The new tabernacle
was even finer that the old, with elegant
woodwork, a distinctive gothic-revival tower, and
sixteen graceful pinnacles. On 21 March 1897,
George Q. Cannon, first counselor to President
Woodruff, dedicated the rebuilt structure.
Throughout the following years, the people of
Brigham City and neighboring towns have
preserved and maintained this beloved building.
In 1871, it was listed on the National Register of
Historic Places, one of the first buildings in Utah
to be so honored. Beginning in 1985, an
extensive restoration program replaced the
mechanical and electrical systems, reinforced the
structure, and carefully renewed both the exterior
and interior to guarantee the continued
kpreservation of this magnificent landmark. The
106-year-old tabernacle was rededicated on 12
April 1987 by Elder Boyd K. Packer of the
Council of the Twelve Apostles, a native of
Brigham City.
This marker was placed in commemoration of
the restoration of the Brigham City Tabernacle
by the Box Elder Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers
and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1988.
