Shane Heath

HIST 2710

Dr. Mulderink

Apr. 26, 2002

The title of my project is the Provo Library at the Academy Square. I will briefly explain a little of its background before I go into detail on my project. This is an old historic building that was built back in 1892 in Provo, Utah. It is located right downtown on University Avenue. It was called Brigham Young Academy, but to be more precise B.Y. High. It has now been turned into a beautiful library thanks to the efforts of Provo City officials.

I will go into more detail on the history of this building later on in my paper. The main purpose of my project was to research more on what exactly this building was used for back in the day, and now its present day use. I also talked to a representative from the library and I asked her if I could make up some type of brochure for the new library. I got the ok for this and I hung these at Brigham Young University, Utah Valley State College, and all of the local High Schools. I was aiming at promoting this new library and to get the younger people into the library and to maybe learn more about the history behind the building.

I spent about 4 weekends working up in Provo to gather my information and then I researched it for about another 5 weeks on my own here in Cedar City. I feel that this really helped me a lot to learn more about this historic building, because I was born and raised in Provo. I remember as a kid driving by this old, ugly, run down building. It was just known around town that this building was haunted, because of its appearance. The Academy Square building actually had haunted houses around Halloween time, and it was such a popular haunted house, because it was so creepy looking. Around 1992 there was a great debate on what to do with this building, and it looked like the outcome was going to be to tear it down. There were so many people complaining about how it ruined the picture view of Provo, and it was no good anymore. This disturbed many people who knew the history behind it, they went to school there, they had all of these wonderful memories. It was the historical preservation easement that saved it from the demolition that many people wanted.

I would now like to quote an article that appeared in a magazine in Provo on the construction of the library, "Though the Brigham Young Academy Building has watched students come and go for more than 100 years, its’s been a while since books were carried through its halls. But to thanks to the efforts of many volunteer citizens, that will soon change. On June 24 the project received final approval, and the mammoth renovation of Academy Square officially began. When construction ends in 2001, the historic Academy Building and a modern addition will comprise the new Provo City Library." This was so pleasing to the citizens of Provo. The woman whom I talked with gave me this article, which I will later quote more from. I did not know that many of the efforts on this new library were from volunteers, she said that is what impressed her most about this project.

Now to move on to a little more of the history of the original building and the now existing library. The Academy Building was dedicated on January 4, 1892, and it was the first structure built for Brigham Young Academy. It was also called the Education Building, which was the heart of the lower campus of Brigham Young University. It was in 1975 that Brigham Young University closed this lower portion of the campus and they sold the block. The buildings were slowly deteriorating over the next two decades, there were even a few private owners who tried to find a feasible use for this building.

It wasn’t until 1994, when Provo City purchased the square. Something that I found really interesting was something that the National Trust for Historic Preservation said, they designated Academy Square as "the most significant, unrestored set of buildings west of the Mississippi." In 1995 a group of private citizens who went under the label of the Brigham Young Academy Foundation, together with the Utah Heritage Foundation and Provo City, started what would become a six year effort to plan, fund, and construct the new Provo City Library at Academy Square. There were so many snags along the way, one being the funding, it was difficult to find the money, because of the huge expense it would take. But more importantly the construction part, because of the stability of the building, it took quite sometime to get the building restored again, simply because the workers had to be extra careful.

The announcement that BYU would close its K-12 operations came as a shock, it was kind of a close to a wonderful book. It was difficult for all of these alumni’s to drive by and see the run-down buildings, it was disheartening to see the decaying of a campus to which these people had grown so attached to. There really is an interesting history behind the whole Academy Square, this name was given to it, quite some time later on down the road. To many of the students that attended the school, these buildings were simply known as the "lower campus", because it is located a few blocks south of the rest of the Brigham Young University campus. A variety of educational activities took place on lower campus, the years following World War II. The high school, originally an important part of Brigham Young Academy, was by then a relatively small laboratory school. The grades seven through 12 shared facilities. The college portion of the buildings slowly started to move to the main campus, and the high school took over the lower campus.

I would now like to go over some of the facts and most frequently asked questions that were asked to the new builders of the library. Provo City was in serious need of a new library, but they were having problems on deciding on a site, or whether to just add on to the current one. They were so thrilled when they realized they could possibly turn the Academy Square into a new library. Some thought that the costs for a new library would be too much! But in reality they compared the price with other libraries and they were right on target. People wondered whether the building could be restored to its original state, but that would be way to costly. They kept some of the key historical elements inside and the outside appearance will be very similar. But the inside is all new construction to meet codes. They built a underground parking garage that will park approximately 200 cars, and then a above ground lot that will park about 140 cars. The construction schedule started on July 9, 1999, and they had a completion date of Spring of 2001. The actual grand opening ceremonies were held on September 8, 2001. Jacobsen Construction was the general contractor. Provo City will retain ownership of Academy Square and the new library, since it was them who really them who got things started. These were just some fun facts that I learned after talking with a member of the Library Committee.

Here is the opening ceremonies program:

Provo City Library at Academy Square

Grand Opening Celebration

Saturday, September 8, 2001

10:30 a.m.

Prelude Music..................................Timpview High School Band

Provo High School Concert Choir

Utah Premier Brass Quintet

Welcome...........................................W. Eugene Nelson

Provo Library Director

Prayer................................................Suzanne Calder Lichty

Brigham Young Academy Foundation

Flag Presentation...............................Independence High School Color Guard

Pledge.................................................Council Member Barbara Sandstrom

Remarks..............................................Jeffery R. Holland

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Past President, BYU

Remarks...............................................W. Eugene Nelson

Provo Library Director

Remarks................................................Cynthia J. Clark

Provo City Library Board

Choral Number......................................Pilgrim Song, Provo High School

Remarks.................................................Dr. L. Douglas Smoot, Project leader

Brigham Young Academy Foundation

Musical Number....................................Dedicatory Overture, Timpview High School Band

Remarks.................................................Mayor Lewis K. Billings

Musical Number...................................."The Old Y Bell", written by Clyde Sandgren

Sung by Reprise, accomp. By Utah Premier Brass

Quintet

Benediction............................................Merrill J. Bateman, President

Brigham Young University

Postlude..................................................Utah Premier Brass Quintet

This was really an amazing project to learn more about, mainly because I grew up right there in Provo. Like I said earlier all I remember is driving by this old, run-down building, that I wondered why they don’t just tear it down. But now every time I get the opportunity to go home and see the new library, I am just amazed that, that is the same building. It is just what downtown Provo needed, said most of the officials, it adds so much to the city. They did an awesome job on the landscaping as well, it just looks like a peaceful place to go now. I hope that a lot of young students see my fliers, and take the chance to go to the new library and learn more about it, as well as its history. I have also attached one of the fliers that I made up.