BYU ScholarsArchive

Article Title

Photographs of the Dedication of Pioneer Square in Salt Lake City, July 25, 1898

Authors

Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, Brigham Young University
Ronald L. Fox

Keywords

Mormon studies, photography, pioneers, dedication

Abstract

In July 1898, the Spanish-American War was raging and the people of the United States were remembering the Maine, a US ship that sank after an explosion in the Havana Harbor on February 15, 1898. Nevertheless, the upcoming fifty-first anniversary of the 1847 arrival of the Mormon pioneers in Utah was on the minds of Salt Lake City officials. This anniversary was celebrated off and on beginning in 1849; in the 1897 jubilee year, just a year earlier, the community had “pulled out all the stops.” As city officials considered what might be done in 1898, they focused their attention on a piece of ground not far from the City and County Building. The council minutes for Tuesday evening, July 12, 1898, report, “Councilman [John] Siddoway moved that a special committee of five be appointed by the Chair to take charge of dedicating the Pioneer Park Jul 25, next.” The Salt Lake Tribune provided a fuller and more detailed account of the meeting than is found in the council minutes. The report reads, “A matter that caused more talk than anything else” was the “motion that Pioneer square be dedicated with appropriate ceremonies on July 25th.”

Recommended Citation

Holzapfel, Richard Neitzel and Fox, Ronald L. (2018) "Photographs of the Dedication of Pioneer Square in Salt Lake City, July 25, 1898," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 57: Iss. 1, Article 6.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol57/iss1/6