Heber City, Wasatch County 1865
Built in 1995

Built of red sandstone from the mountains near Heber City, with Greek revival details, this building was used for both a school and church meetings. The solid, substantial building indicates the importance of school and church to the settlers in the 1860s.

The inside is furnished with accurate replicas of pioneer period desks, benches, and tables. The flag in the school is the Great Flag of Deseret. This was the flag made for the proposed State of Deseret and was intended to be first used July 4, 1851. The proposal for the State of Deseret was denied, and the much smaller Territory of Utah was established.

Children attending the school learned the Deseret Alphabet. George D. Watt developed this alphabet, under the direction of Brigham Young. It was a phonetic system, with one symbol for each sound, and does not correspond with our current alphabet. The alphabet was intended to make reading easier for everyone, especially new arrivals from non-English speaking countries. The system did not find general acceptance and was used for only a few years.