Rock Wall

Before there were lecture halls there was a wall. In 1850 the regents of the young University of Deseret decided to ring their new grounds with stone hauled down from Red Butte Canyon, and within three years crews had laid some hundred and thirty-five rods of it, with more rock cut and waiting up the canyon. Portions stood against wind and frost for nearly a hundred years before the last of them came down. Nothing of the wall survives here now — only this marker, set among the modern campus that outgrew it.

What the plaque says

Near this spot once stood a wall built of stone from Red Butte Canyon. Decision to thus enclose University of Deseret now University of Utah campus was made, March 13, 1850, same day present site recommended by Brigham Young and committee was approved by the university regents. By 1853, one hundred thirty-five rods were completed, enough stone hauled and stone left cut in the canyon to complete two and one half more miles. Portions of wall withstood the elements almost 100 years. University Camp North Salt Lake County

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Red Butte Garden — 1.4 mi
  A 100-acre botanical garden with panoramic valley views
• Natural History Museum of Utah — 1.6 mi
  A world-class museum built into the foothills above Salt Lake City
• Gilgal Sculpture Garden — 1.9 mi
  A surreal and eccentric sculpture garden hidden in a residential neighborhood
• Liberty Park — 2.0 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882

More markers nearby

• Gardner Hall — steps away
• John A. Widtsoe Building — steps away
• Leroy E. Cowles Building — steps away
• U.S.S. Utah Bell and Plaque — steps away