First Public Building

The building the sign points to is a one-room log house finished in 1872, the settlement's church, school and meeting hall until a white-frame church went up beside it in 1894. Two years later it was moved to the lot where it stands now. It fell into disrepair until it was deeded to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, whose Twin Creeks camp restored it and in 1998 put it on the National Register as the Georgetown Relief Society Hall. A second marker, the Daughters' own, stands at the building.

What the plaque says

First Public Building In 1870, Brigham Young appointed Ezra T. Clark, David Hess, and Nicholas Barkdull to colonize this area. Originally known as Twin Creeks, Joseph C. Rich surveyed the site in 1871. In 1872, the new settlement was named Georgetown in honor of George Q. Cannon. The first public building, used as a church, school and community center, is situated 1 block south and ½ block west of here. In 1966, the building was given to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and is now a pioneer Relic Hall. 499 Text prepared by Daughters of Utah Pioneers and the Idaho State Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• National Oregon/California Trail Center — 11 mi
  Emigrants came down off Big Hill and camped in the clover here. Brigham Young renamed the town; the trail center brings the camp back in costume.
• Soda Springs Geyser — 17 mi
  Drillers looking for hot water for a swimming pool hit cold soda water under pressure. The town put the geyser on a timer.
• Bear Lake National Wildlife Refuge — 19 mi
  The Bear River crosses this marsh twice: once in a canal into Bear Lake, and once in another canal on its way back out.
• Black Canyon of the Bear River — 21 mi
  A basalt gorge cut by a river that, most of the year, now runs past it in a pipe.

More markers nearby

• Bank Robbers — 11 mi
• Smith's Trading Post — 17 mi
• Hooper Spring — 17 mi
• Paris Tabernacle — 17 mi