Box Elder Tabernacle

Constructed: 1879
Owner: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Location: Main Street between 2nd & 3rd, Brigham City, Utah
Other names: Box Elder Stake Tabernacle

1865 Tabernacle Cornerstone laid
1876 Construction begins on rock walls of Tabernacle
1879 Tabernacle first used
1881 First Stake Conference held in Tabernacle
1890 Tabernacle dedicated by Pres. Wilford Woodruff
1896 Tabernacle gutted by fire
1897 Tabernacle rededicated by Pres. George Q. Cannon after restoration
1951 Reuter Organ installed
1987 Tabernacle dedicated by Elder Boyd K. Packer after major restoration

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, 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 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 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 preservation 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.