Provo, Utah 1876
Completed in 2004

In 1875, Brigham Young asked Abraham O. Smoot to look after the Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah and he became the first President of the Board of Trustees. Lewis Hall, a converted two-story business building was its first home. The Academy opened with an enrollment of 29 students, but during the next four years grew to 272 students from Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, and nearly every county in Utah. Lewis Hall was destroyed by fire in January 1884, which forced the school to relocate. A new campus was dedicated in 1891. In 1903, the Brigham Young Academy became Brigham Young University.

The Brigham Young Academy would not have survived had it not been for the visionary leadership and personal financial sacrifice of Abraham O. Smoot. Thanks to the vision and financial support of his great grandson, Stanley M. Smoot, his wife Mary Ellen, and their family, we have finished a replica of the original Brigham Young Academy that was begun with contributions from the Brigham Young University Women’s Conference and other donors.