Brigham Young College (Logan, Utah)

Brigham Young College was established in 1877 after Brigham Young set up an endowment in the form of 9,642 acres of land to support the school. Brigham Young desired a school that would not only give a practical education in the fields of mechanical and domestic arts, agriculture, and industrial training, but also teach the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The college offered a varied curriculum during its existence including preparatory, normal high school, and college-level courses. As an institution of secondary education, BYC was best known for its three year teaching certificate. After 1909, however, it began to cut back its college courses and eventually it taught only high school and normal school courses. The college also faced trouble in the form of competition from the Utah Agricultural College as well as local high schools. In 1926 the LDS Church decided to shut the doors of the BYC.

From the guide to the Brigham Young College photograph and memorabilia collection, 1860-1963, bulk 1890-1926, (Utah State University. Merrill-Cazier Library. Special Collections and Archives)

Established by the Church of Latter-day Saints in 1877 in Logan, Utah, Brigham Young College offered four years of high school training as well as four years leading to the Baccalaureate Degree until 1909, when the first year of high school training and the Baccalaureate degree was eliminated; in 1920 the second year of high school was eliminated. The school closed in 1926.

From the description of Brigham Young College records, 1877-1926. (Utah State University). WorldCat record id: 35676648

The Brigham Young College was charted on 6 August, 1877, by President Brigham Young of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, just twenty-three days before he died. On that day, President Young deeded more than nine thousand acres in south central Cache County to a group of trustees for the establishment of a college.

Apparently planned in imitation of Oberlin College, the basic philosophy expressed in the deed was that an institution of higher learning would be established on the property which would then be worked by the students themselves. The sale of student-raised produce was to provide operating funds for the college.

Laudable in conception, the full plan never materialized. The trustees rented space in Logan in Lindquist Hall on the corner of 200 North and 100 East, the former home of the Logan City Corporation. Classes opened in the Hall on September 9, 1878. From 1882 to 1884, classes met in the basement of the Cache Tabernacle in Logan.

While the college was meeting in the Tabernacle, a large building was built on the corner of 100 West and 100 South in Logan. Into this "East Building," the B. Y. C. moved with the opening of the 1884-85 school year. The family of LDS Apostle Moses Thatcher donated the land for the new building, and shortly afterward added to their gift until the B. Y. C. came into possession of a thirty-three acre tract.

It was this gift of land (and apparently the influence of the Thatcher family) which effectively negated the idea of a permanent site for the college on the 9,642 acre farm. The land meanwhile was rented to farmers, the rent providing a small income for the institution. In the early years of the 1890s, the farm was sold to the renters, apparently to avoid a contest for title with the Central Pacific Railroad. The funds realized from the sale of the land enabled the construction of the West Building in 1898-99.

Until 1909, the college offered four years of high school training in addition to the four years leading to the Baccalaureate Degree. In that year the Church Board of Education, which had overall supervision of the college, eliminated upper division work. Henceforth, the B. Y. C. became a Junior College. In addition, a normal course for teacher training was an added to the college. Increased enrollment and stiffened requirements for teacher certification compelled the Church Board of Education to extend normal school training.

In 1909, as public school education increased in quality, the first year of high school instruction was eliminated; and in 1920 the second. On 31 March, 1926, the LDS Church Board of Education voted to discontinue Church high schools and academies. The loss of the Baccalaureate degree in 1909 was fatal. While the State of Utah assumed support of Weber Academy, Snow Academy, and Dixie Academy, it made no effort to perpetuate the Brigham Young College since the state-supported Utah Agricultural College was also in Logan.

The forty-eighth annual commencement of the Brigham Young College on May 23, 1926, was its last. Much of the college equipment and library were sold at a nominal price to the U. A. C. (now Utah State University), while the campus itself became the home of the Logan Senior High School.

For more information on the history of the Brigham Young College see:

Bennet, Ernest J. "The Life and Educational Contributions of Joseph Jensen," M.S. Thesis, Dept. of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (1956).

Brigham Young College Bulletin, Final Volume, Final Number. Logan (1926).

Garr, Arnold K. "A History of Brigham Young College," M.A. Thesis, Dept. of History, Utah State University, Logan (1973).

Hansen, John A. "The History of College and Young Wards, Cache County, Utah," M.S. Thesis, Dept. of History, Utah State University, Logan (1968). Hansen gives details on the early history of the Church Farm which formed the land endowment of the Brigham Young College.

Sorensen, A.W., "Brigham Young College," pp 349-369, in Joel E. Ricks, ed., History of a Valley: Cache Valley, Utah-Idaho. Logan(1956).

Whitney, Orson F. "Brigham Young College, A History," American University Magazine, June 1896

Historical Note written by A. J. Simmonds

From the guide to the Brigham Young College records, 1877-1926, (Utah State University. Special Collections and Archives)