This house, built in 1907, is part of the Wilford Woodruff Family Historic Residences – Waterloo Area thematic nomination. Home to Asahel Hart Woodruff and his family, it was the third house of three historic homes built as part of the Woodruff farmstead in an early expansion area of Salt Lake City. This area became known as the Waterloo Area after the Waterloo Ward, which was established in 1905, Asahel serving as the first bishop. While the house boasts three chimneys, several stained glass windows, and a front door with a large oval opening with beveled glass set in a panel of carved leaves and scrolls, the ten tapered columns lining the front porch indicate a more noticeable classical revival element.
Asahel was the son of Wilford Woodruff, the fourth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1887-98). From approximately 1888 until 1930, he worked for Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution, where he managed the wholesale dry goods department. At the time of his death, he was on the board of directors of Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust and of Deseret Federal Savings and Loan.
Located at 1590 South 500 East in Salt Lake City, I haven’t been able to find much info on this home other than it was part of Wilford Woodruff’s farm and a group of homes he owned (see Wilford Woodruff’s Farm 1850) and the cornerstone says “DAYNES 1897.”
I grew up listening to President Boyd K. Packer and loved him. I stopped by to get pictures of President Lorenzo Snow’s gravesite and some of my family’s as well and was surprised to see this one here.
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 Twelve Apostles, they built this town at the mouth of Box Elder Canyon, near traditional Shoshone Indian campgrounds and renamed it for the Church president Brigham Young. For many years they worshiped 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 insured that the building would be visible for many miles across the valley. President Young and his 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 from 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 cornerstone, 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 added to beautify the structure. Church President Wilford Woodruff dedicated the finished building 28 October 1890.
On Sunday 9 February 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 Rodger Clawson supervised reconstruction over the next thirteen months. The new Tabernacle was even finer than 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 1971, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of the first buildings in Utah to be so honorored. Beginning in 1985, an extensive restoration project replaced the mechanical and electrical systems, reinforced the structure, and carefully renewed both the exterior and interior to guarantee the continued preservation of this magnificant landmark. The 106-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.
The historic marker here is S.U.P. Marker #21, see others in the series here.
Box Elder Tabernacle- Built 1867-1890 Pioneer settlers used stone and wood from nearby mountains and their finest craftsmanship to built this place of worship. It was finished and dedicated in 1890. Six years later in 1896, it was gutted by fire and had to be rebuilt. The building was finished and rededicated in 1897.
The first settlers came to Logan in 1859. With several deaths in 1860, a burial ground was designated at 7th East and 5th North, which was used for six or seven years. As the settlement expanded it was necessary to move the remains to a better location on higher ground and farther away from town. Some bodies were identified and moved to family plots in what became Logan Cemetery. Approximately 42 others, known only to God, having no identification or relatives to claim them, were moved to this special sacred area known as “Pioneer Plot.” This marker has been erected in memory of these unknown pioneers.
This is D.U.P. Marker #417 located in the Logan Cemetery in Logan, Utah. For other D.U.P. Markers visit this page.
