Origin from 1875
Twenty eight years after the Latter day Saints were established in Utah in 1847, and two years before the St. George Utah Temple was dedicated as the church's first since Nauvoo in 1877, both already recorded here, church president Brigham Young turned to education as a tool of settlement. On 16 October 1875 Young deeded property in Provo to a board of seven trustees, headed by Abraham O. Smoot, to found Brigham Young Academy, an institution whose deed of trust specified that nothing be taught conflicting with the principles of the gospel. Classes began on 3 January 1876 with twenty nine students, and under principal Karl G. Maeser the academy built a distinctive Latter day Saint approach to combining secular subjects with religious instruction that Young intended to spread across the territory's growing settlements. The academy survived a fire that destroyed its original building in 1884, went on to become Brigham Young University in 1903, and stands today as the church's flagship institution of higher education, carrying Young's educational vision into the church's expansion recorded on the rest of this timeline.
Facts
Dates
StatusEstablished marks Brigham Young deeding property in Provo, Utah to a board of trustees on 16 October 1875 to found Brigham Young Academy, which began classes on 3 January 1876 under principal Karl G. Maeser, a milestone between the Latter day Saints being established in Utah in 1847, already recorded here, and the St. George Utah Temple being dedicated as the church's first since Nauvoo in 1877, also recorded here. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Utah directly: "Latter day Saints were established in Utah in 1847, and two years before the St."
Occurred In
Spread Event Of
Adds a milestone in Latter day Saint institution building between the Latter day Saints being established in Utah in 1847 and the St. George Utah Temple being dedicated in 1877, both already recorded here: Brigham Young founding Brigham Young Academy in Provo on 16 October 1875, the school that became Brigham Young University in 1903.
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