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By This is the Place Foundation Press Release
Call Issued to Descendants
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Calling all descendants of the nearly 3000
students and faculty whoattended the Brigham Young Academy during its
first 8 years, 1876-1884.You're invited to attend The Academy Reunion
event to be held on Saturday, June 2, 2001, 4 p.m. at the This is the
Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Academy Reunion is being held in connection with the
reconstruction of The Academy at Lewis Hall, the first home of
Brigham Young Academy located in Provo, Utah. The event is also in
conjunction with Brigham Young's 200th birthday celebration at the
Heritage Park.
"We're searching not only for the descendants of the students and
faculty who attended The Academy, but also for stories about those
ancestors who attended the school," said Heidi Swinton, vice-chair
of the This is the Place Foundation.
Among the original faculty members of The Academy were Karl G.
Maeser, Milton H. Hardy, Teenie Smoot, and John E. Booth. Students
in the first class included, among others, Reed Smoot, Alice Smoot
Newell, Diantha Billings Worsley, Jonathan L. Harvey, Sarah Eggertsen
Cluff, Mary Roberts Farrer, Julia Rose McEwan Haws, Louisa Scott
Shepherd, and Joseph Brigham Keeler.
To see if your ancestor was enrolled in The Academy, visit the
website http://thisistheplace.org
and click on "The Academy". Scroll down to see the list of
students. Complete class rolls through 1884 will be posted
subsequently. Those descendants who wish to attend The Academy
Reunion should call for reservations of the event at the This is the
Place Foundation (801) 582-1847.
To send stories about student or faculty ancestors, write to: The
Academy Reunion, This is the Place Heritage Park, 2601 East Sunnyside
Avenue, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84108-1453.
Ground was broken for the new Academy building on February 16, 2001.
Construction began on February 19. The building is located just
inside the front gate of Old Deseret Village, and will stand as a
monument to the spirit of learning and service epitomized by Utah's
pioneer forbears.
Housed in Provo's only two-story building in 1876, the original
Academy opened with an enrollment of 59 students. During the next
few years, the student body grew to over 272 students from Idaho,
Arizona, Nevada, and nearly every county in Utah.
Fire destroyed the building in January 1884, forcing the school to
relocate twice before a new facility could be constructed. But
Principal Karl G. Maeser reminded the students at that time of
crisis, "The Academy is not burned, it lives forever."
The reconstructed Academy at Lewis Hall will a great asset to the
local and world community through its humanitarian outreach and
personal enrichment opportunities, said Heidi Swinton. The first
floor of the reconstructed Academy will be used as an area of
ongoing service, where women (and men, too) will be welcome to
participate in service projects such as blood drives, quilting bees,
and humanitarian projects of developing countries.
The second floor of The Academy will house a library and will also
accommodate lectures, research, panels, presentations and musical
performances. The focus will be primarily on Utah's heritage and
inspirational topics pertinent to women.
Construction of The Academy at Lewis Hall is being funded by donors
in an ongoing campaign. The BYU Women's Conference was the first
major donor and supporter of The Academy. Efforts to rebuild and
provide programs at The Academy are directed by Wendy Watson, chair
of The Academy committee.
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