The Original Four Ward Chapels

On August 19, 1877, Brigham Young divided the Brigham City Ward into four wards.  It was his custom, as he organized towns into wards throughout the Utah Zion, to place the First Ward in the south-east corner of town, and then proceed in a clock-wise direction, the same way he did (following Joseph Smith's instructions) in laying temple corner-stones.

The wards then went to work building their individual chapels.  The original First Ward Chapel remains, though it is no longer in the hands of the Church (the rock portion is the original building).

The original First Ward building

Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

The original Second Ward chapel received additions throughout the years.  Eventually, it was sold and became the offices of the Box Elder School District.  It is now in private hands.  The original section is clearly visible.

The Original Second Ward building

Copyright Frederick M. Huchel

The original Third Ward chapel was razed in the early years of the twentieth century.  No photograph is known of this building.  A conjectural artist's reconstruction of the old chapel does exist.

What the original Third Ward building may have looked like.

The original Fourth Ward Chapel was superseded by a new building in the 1890s, at the opposite end of the block, and became the recreation hall.  It was finally torn down when the new Eighth Ward chapel was built in the early 1950s.

The Original Fourth Ward building

Author's collection

 

 

Three of the original ward buildings were replaced in the 1890s.  The First and Fourth wards built new buildings.  The Second Ward added onto its original building, in 1890.

 

 

 

The Third Ward waited until 1912, and built a grand new chapel under the direction of Bishop Lorenzo Stohl.