Ward Hall

Southern Utah University began in this borrowed hall. In 1897 the new state authorized a teacher-training school for southern Utah, and Cedar City won it — reportedly for being the only contender without a saloon. Having no schoolhouse ready, the town rushed to finish its Latter-day Saint recreation hall, the Ward Hall, and opened the Branch Normal School's first classes here in the fall of 1897. When the state demanded a proper building, Cedar City hauled timber down the mountain through winter snow to raise it. From that scramble grew the university that stands today.

What the plaque says

Site of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recreation building known as the Ward Hall. Rushed to completion in the fall of 1897 and deeded to the State of Utah so the Branch Normal School of the University of Utah could be legally operated for its first year. The building was the first home of Southern Utah State College. The Ward Hall was returned to the LDS Church in the fall of 1898 on completion of the Old Main on the Temple Knoll. The Cedar City National Guard Armory stood on this site from 1937-1978.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Brian Head — 12 mi
  Utah's highest town — a ski-and-bike base camp at the top of Parowan Canyon
• Cedar Breaks National Monument — 12 mi
  A 2,000-foot-deep amphitheater of vivid orange and red rock
• Parowan Gap Petroglyphs — 13 mi
  An ancient rock art gallery hidden in a desert canyon
• Kolob Canyons — 17 mi
  The quiet, uncrowded back door to Zion National Park

More markers nearby

• Iron Pioneers Flag Pole — 0.2 mi
• The Old Iron Foundry — 0.3 mi
• Deseret Iron Works (2) Markers — 0.4 mi
• Ellen (Nellie) Pucell Unthank — 0.5 mi