Young, Brigham, Academy

About this property

The Provo City Library is a public library serving residents of Provo and Orem in the U.S. state of Utah. It occupies the building of the former Brigham Young Academy, which was built in 1892. In 1976, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. After a remodeling process, it was rededicated as the Provo City Library on September 8, 2001. Provo City Library was founded in 1905. It first opened in the basement of the Provo City courthouse in October of that year and operated until 1908. During its operation in the courthouse, it acquired 1,425 books donated by individuals in the community. Soon after that, the collection doubled to 3000 volumes by April 1908. On December 1, 1908, the library moved into a new building provided by a grant of $17,500 from Andrew Carnegie. Over the years, the library grew in size, by obtaining approximately 65,000 volumes and 125 periodical subscriptions. In 1989, the library moved to another location, the City Center Building. Although it was bigger than before, it became inadequate within a couple of years. In February 1997 a $16 million library bond passed which allowed the library to move to a bigger location. The bond helped preserve and renovate the historic Brigham Young Academy building, which the library then occupied. On July 9, 1999, city officials broke ground to initiate renovations for the new library. On September 8, 2001 the library began full operations. The Brigham Young Academy was one of the largest school buildings in the western Rocky Mountain region, and could accommodate 1,000 students. The Principal of the Academy, Karl G. Maeser, designed the building with the help of Don Carlos Young (son of Brigham Young) as architect. The Academy was located in Northern Provo. The name of the building has changed many times; in 1898, it was known as the High School Building, and in 1922 it was known as the Education Building, which it remained until 1968. The bell tower had no bell until 1912. Up until then a triangle hanging in the main hall was struck to signal classes. Unfortunately, the bell installed in 1912 was of poor manufacture and had a very dull sound. In 1919 the old Provo Tabernacle was razed and the nickel bell cast by the McShane Bell Foundry in Baltimore was installed in the Academy bell tower. The Brigham Young Academy would later become Brigham Young University. For the next 20 years, Academy Square remained vacant and slowly began to deteriorate. While real estate developers were eager to tear down the dilapidated buildings, Provo residents supported the preservation of the historic site. In 1997, a municipal bond and private donations financed the renovation of the Education Building; the other three buildings on Academy Square were demolished to make room for a parking garage. Fundraising and restoration efforts were spearheaded by BYU professor L. Douglas Smoot, who gained the moniker "the man who saved Academy Square." The groundbreaking ceremony occurred on July 9, 1999, and the Academy Building was rededicated as the Provo City Library on Sept. 8, 2001.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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