Brigham Young Academy was the predecessor of both the Brigham Young High School and Brigham Young University. The Academy was founded in 1876. The Academy was essentially a high school until 1896 when a College Department was added. In 1903, although the high school students still outnumbered the college level students, the name of the Academy was changed to Brigham Young University. The High School continued as a part of the University until the end of the 1967-1968 school year. At that time the High School was shut down permanently.

See also Fire Destroys Brigham Young Academy Building.

The Brigham Young Academy was one of the largest school buildings in the western Rocky Mountain region. The Principal of the Academy, Karl G. Maeser, designed the building with the help of Don Carlos Young as the architect. The Academy was located in Northern Provo. The name of the building has changed many times: in 1898, it was known as the High School Building, and in 1922 it was known as the Education Building, which it remained until 1968.

550 North University Avenue in Provo, Utah

This block is named Brigham Young Academy Square in recognition of its vital history. In 1875, Brigham Young, then President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah. He appointed a board of seven trustees, with Abraham O. Smoot as president. Under Karl G. Maeser, principal, the Academy held classes in the Lewis Building from 1876 to 1884, when the building was destroyed by fire. Thereafter, the school occupied temporary quarters for eight years. The historic Academy Building, designed by Joseph Don Carlos Young, was dedicated on January 4, 1892. In later years, three additional buildings were erected on this square: College Hall (1898), the Training School Building (1902), and the Missionary Preparatory Building (1904). These three buildings were demolished in 1997.

After the Academy became Brigham Young University in 1903, the University continued to occupy the buildings on this square. They became known as “lower campus” after the Maeser Building (1911) was erected on Temple Hill (“upper campus”). Brigham Young University then used both campuses until 1968. The University’s Brigham Young High School also used this site from it’s beginning to closure in 1968. The lower campus was sold in 1975. The four buildings stood vacant over the next two decades. Provo City purchased the square in 1994 and in 1995 the Brigham Young Academy Foundation, the Utah Heritage Foundation, and Provo City launched a six-year effort to renovate the Academy Buildings as the Provo City Library at Academy Square. This facility was occupied by the library in the summer of 2001.