Brigham Young Statue

A university grew from the school Brigham Young planted on this square. In 1875 he founded Brigham Young Academy in Provo, put A. O. Smoot at the head of its trustees, and hired a German convert named Karl Maeser to run it. Maeser taught in the rented Lewis Building until fire took it in 1884, and after eight years in makeshift quarters the Academy Building rose here in 1892, designed by Young's own son. Three more buildings followed by 1904. The academy outgrew this block and became Brigham Young University; the buildings that replaced it are gone now too.

What the plaque says

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 its 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 Building as the Provo City Library at Academy Square. This facility was occupied by the library in the summer of 2001.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bridal Veil Falls — 7.4 mi
  A dramatic double waterfall cascading 607 feet into Provo Canyon
• Sundance Mountain Resort — 11 mi
  Robert Redford's intimate, arts-minded ski resort on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos, in the North Fork of Provo Canyon.
• Aspen Grove — 12 mi
  The mountain-base trailhead for Mount Timpanogos and Stewart Falls
• Alpine Loop Summit — 12 mi
  The 8,000-foot high point of the Alpine Loop, face to face with Mount Timpanogos

More markers nearby

• Provo Woolen Mills — 0.4 mi
• First Tabernacle — 0.5 mi
• George A. Smith Provo Pioneer Village- Living in the Frontier 1849 to 1872 in Utah County — 0.5 mi
• Settlement of Provo — 0.5 mi