To accommodate the growing student body, in 1937 BYU began constructing its first building meant specifically for use as a student dormitory. Utahn architect Joseph Nelson designed the building in the style of Jacobethan Revival, including gabled…

Before there was a Brigham Young Academy (BYA) Building at Academy Square, BYA’s first schoolhouse was the Lewis Building (or Lewis Hall, evidently named after J.W. Lewis, who leased it from Brigham Young, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of…

The building that currently houses the Provo City Library was not always a library. The structure has taken on many roles in the community throughout the years, and it started as the home of the Brigham Young Academy, Brigham Young University’s…

Fort Utah was first established a mile and a half east of Utah Lake by a company of one hundred and fifty Latter-day Saints. Led by John Higbee, the Saints arrived on April 1, 1849. They chose the location with the intention to farm on the fertile…

On 6 February 1880, a resolution was passed in the Utah Territorial Legislature forming a committee to consider the necessity of an asylum. The next day a bill was introduced to build such an institution and fund it thereafter. The bill was passed…

Ground was broken for the Brigham Young University Museum of Art in 1991, and the museum was opened in October 1993. The museum cost $15 million and was financed entirely by private donations. It was designed by LA architect James Langenheim and…

The Centennial Carillon Tower was built and dedicated in 1975 to commemorate the one-hundred-year anniversary of the founding of Brigham Young University. President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Spencer W. Kimball dedicated the…

The Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum was opened in 1978. It is named for naturalist and businessman Monte L. Bean, who funded the construction of the building and donated some of his own collection to the museum. Brigham Young University acquired…

In 1967, Brigham Young University’s Tribe of Many Feathers club hosted the first Miss Indian BYU pageant. Significantly different from most beauty pageants at the time, this pageant selected a candidate who faithfully represented her Native culture…

In the early 1900s, a common Latter-day Saint legend described how settlers in Provo were told by Native Americans that they had seen angels who declared that the people in this town would be blessed. Some of those blessings came about through…

The Joseph F. Smith Building was completed in 2005. It replaced the Joseph F. Smith Family Living Center which had housed the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences, a School of Nursing, and the Departments of Sociology and Psychology. The new…

The Joseph F. Smith Family Living Center was completed in 1957, the largest building on BYU’s campus at the time at 94,000 square feet and with 244 rooms. The Living Center was built to help BYU become a “leader in the field of family relations.” In…