History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

SOCIAL MATTERS. 583
the tabernacle by a high fence, stood the endowment
house, 26 where, as evil-minded gentiles declared, human
sacrifices were offered. The ceremonies that actually
took place within its walls have been described elsewhere
in this volume.
In the blocks adjacent to the tabernacle were the
residences of Brigham, Heber, Orson Hyde, George
A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, and Daniel
H. Wells, the first two occupying entire blocks. 27
South of temple block was the council-house, 28 south
of Brigham's dwelling and adjoining that of Wells was
the historian's office, where the church records were
kept, and in the next plat to the east was the social
hall, 29 where the fashion of the city held festivities.
Balls held at the social hall were extremely select,
and sometimes a little expensive, tickets for the more
pretentious fetes costing ten dollars for each couple,
and the invitations, which were difficult to obtain even
at that price, 30 being issued on embossed and bordered
ble of accommodating 2,000 to 3,000 persons, the interior of which was
spanned by an elliptical arch. Over the entrances were carvings in wood,
' representing the sun with his usual coiffure of yellow beams, like a Somali's
wig, or the symbol of the Persian empire. ' City of the Saints, 270. A few years
later the tabernacle was enlarged, and had a seating capacity of 7,000. Utah
Notes, MS., 2.
26 Cuts of the tabernacle and endowment house will be found in City of
the Saints, facing p. 271.
- T The residences of Young, Kimball, and Wells were on Main St,
properly East Temple St, which runs past the temple block. Remy
says that one of Brigham's houses was 80 x 40 ft, built of granite and other
kinds of stones, with long salient ogives, that adjoining it being the dwelling
which he usually occupied. Near by were the governor's offices, the
tithing-office, and the court-house. Jour, to S. L. City, i. 193-4. InM, i.
193-200; Greeley's Overland Jour., 206-7; Atlantic Monthly, iii. 573-5; Schiel,
Reisc durch Felsengebirge,
date.
100-2, are descriptions of S. L. City about this
28 This building, which was begun in 1849, and has already been de-
scribed, was afterward destroyed by fire. Nebelcer's Early Justice, MS. , 3.
Except for a small structure used as a post-office, this was the first public
building erected in S. L. City. See also Wells' Narr., MS., 42.
29 The opening of the social hall is described in the Deseret Neios, Jan.
22, 1853. Among other buildings worthy of note were the arsenal, built on
the bench north of the city, the penitentiary in the south-eastern suburb,
and the hall of seventies on the 'states road.' LinfortKs Route from Liverpool,
110; Burton's City of the Saints, 279-80. The court-house was yet unfinished.
Atlantic Monthly, iii. 574.
30 They were issued on special occasions only for 75 or 80 guests, including
a few of the more prominent gentiles.