One of the many attractions offered in Salt Lake City, Utah aka Mormon Country, is the bronze monument of pioneer, colonizer, and honored Church leader, Brigham Young. The statue is found at the intersection of South Temple and Main Street. Together with the Meridian Marker, the statue and marker offers the geographical co-ordinates of the city. The original colony started at this very point and all street numberings in Salt Lake City start from this vantage spot.
Brigham Young, born in Vermont in 1801, was the successor to Joseph Smith, the first president of the new church. Young traveled west in 1846-47 in search of new land for his church and freedom to worship according to church doctrine.
President Brigham Young led the first company of Mormon settlers to the new colony in the Salt Lake Valley in the Rocky Mountains and founded Salt Lake City 1847. He established the St. George and Logan Temples in Salt Lake City and brought in the railroad and telegraph transportation and communication capabilities to the newly settled State of Utah. He was instrumental in both the development of industry and church life during his lifetime as the second church leader and first governor of Utah. He died on August 29, 1877 after thirty years of church service.
The statue of President Brigham Young was first displayed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. While in Salt Lake City it stood at the intersection of Main and South Temple streets, and in 1993 was moved north where it stands today.
This monument also pays tribute to the Utah Indians and fur trappers who preceded the Mormon settlers
