History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

708 SETTLEMENTS, SOCIETY, AND EDUCATION.
episcopal church, the Salt Lake seminary, established
by the methodists in 1870, and others founded later
by various denominations, 71 received so much of patronage
that it became necessary for the Mormons to
bestir themselves in the matter, and there was afterward
more efficiency in the school system, private
institutions being also founded by the saints, among
them the academy at Provo, 72 and the Brigham Young
college at Logan. 73
For many years a great advantage to Mormon as
against gentile schools was the fact that they were
allowed to use their meeting-houses for public school
purposes. In 1880, when the legislature passed an
act creating school districts, 74 and authorized a tax
for the erection and repair of school buildings, these
meeting-houses were constituted legal district schools,
though retained for religious purposes, the gentiles,
none of whose children, with rare exceptions, attended
them, being also taxed for this purpose. Hence, legal
conflicts arose, the decision of the courts being that
Mormon school trustees could not collect such taxes
71 Presbyterians, congregationalists, and catholics. Harrison's Crit. Notes
on Utah, MS., 63. Among them was the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute
founded by the presbyteriaus, the Salt Lake Academy by the congregationalists,
and St Mary's Academy by the catholics. The presbyteriansa one had
in 1S83 33 schools and 2,200 pupils. Utah Gazetteer, 1S84, 280.
72 Opened Jan. 1876, burned Jan. 18S4, and rebuilt the same year. Id.,
278-9; Albert Jones, in Utah Co. Sketches, MS., 59-60, 64, states that it was
founded for the children of members of the church iu good standing, though
others are admitted, and that in 1880 it had 431 pupils. See also, for faculty,
course of instruction, etc., Contributor, ii. 179-S0, 241-2, 272-3; Dcseret
News, April 17, 187S, Feb. 5, 1879; Utah Jour. Legist, 18S0, 461-5, 4S9-93.
Among the professors in 18S3 was Elder Karl G. Maeser. formerly of the
Budig institute, Dresden. While presiding over the European mission in
1855, F. D. Richards heard that he was desirous of being informed as to the
faith and doctrine of the saints, and a few months later visited that city by
invitation in company with elders Win H. Kimball and Win Budge, baptizing
eight persons and organizing the first branch of the church in Saxony. Manser
was left in charge, and when the government banished the saints from fatherland,
as we have seen, he and most of the other converts gathesed to Utah.
Richards' 3IiscHL, MS. Mr Richards states that the B. Y. academy is one of
the best and most popular educational institutes in the territory.
73 Opened in Sept. 1S78, the number of pupils in 18S0-1 being 100. In
1877 a tract of nearly 10,000 acres south of Logan City was deeded for this
purpose to a board of trustees by Brigham. Utah Gazet'eer, 18S4, 283-4. In
1883 Mariner W. Merrill presided over the educational affairs of Logan
temple.
74 A copy of it will be found in Rept Dist Schools, 1SS0. 71-80.