Eagle Gate
Eagle Gate
The Eagle Gate Monument in 2006[1]
LocationSalt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
TypeSculpture
Completion date1859


The Eagle Gate monument is a historical monument—more in the form of an arch than a gate—seventy-six feet across, situated at the intersection of State Street at South Temple, adjacent to Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah.[2]

History

The gate in the 1860s (top), 1880s and 1890s

The monument was erected in 1859 and commemorates the entrance to Brigham Young's property at the mouth of City Creek Canyon.[3] It was originally topped by a wooden eagle, refurbished several times and eventually replaced by the current 4,000-pound, bronze eagle, with a wingspan of 20 feet (6.1 m). Grant R. Fairbanks, a son of sculptor Avard Tennyson Fairbanks, assisted by his brothers Justin and David, sculpted the eagle perched on a beehive using Ralph Ramsay's original statue as the model. [4] Ralph Ramsay [5] carved the original wooden eagle, which is on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum located at 300 North Main Street.

The first Eagle Gate was remodeled and enlarged with new stone piers and wider inverted arches in the early 1890s (with Ralph Ramsay's eagle rebuilt and fortified); designed by Don Carlos Young, an architect son of Brigham Young. Due to the widening of State Street in the early 1960s, the prior monument including Ramsay's eagle was removed and replaced with a much wider and larger third generation Eagle Gate, designed by Salt Lake City architect George Cannon Young. Young was the son of Don Carlos Young and the grandson of Brigham Young. The monument is one of Salt Lake City's best known pioneer landmarks, and its current design is one of Salt Lake City's best standing examples of Mid-Century Modern design.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Topping, Gary; Ferguson, Melissa Coy (2009). Salt Lake City: 1890-1930. Arcadia Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 0-7385-7074-5. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  2. ↑ Durham, Michael Schelling (1990). The Desert States. Stewart, Tabori & Chang. p. 365. ISBN 1-55670-109-8. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  3. ↑ "Brigham Young Monument and Eagle Gate". Places to visit. LDS Church. Archived from the original on 2 February 2002. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  4. ↑ Davis, Courtney (2023). The Fairbanks Family: An American Art Dynasty, Exhibition Catalog. Springville Museum of Art, Springville, Utah.
  5. ↑ Jenson, Andrew (2004). Church Chronology: A Record of Important Events Pertaining to the History of. Kessinger Publishing. p. 16. ISBN 1-4179-6854-0. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  6. ↑ Deseret News, Friday, Nov. 24, 2006, "Eagle Gate spans the history of Salt Lake."

40°46′10.56″N 111°53′17.73″W / 40.7696000°N 111.8882583°W / 40.7696000; -111.8882583

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