Salt Lake City
AA-2026-5ED381
On the image
It takes a certain kind of confidence to declare a spot "THIS IS THE PLACE" in capital letters carved into a massive stone plinth, and it's a confidence that apparently endures for centuries. The figures atop, frozen in bronze, look out with the steady gaze of people who, having travelled a great distance, were quite sure of their decision and wanted future generations to know it.
Such monuments, often visited by families on summer road trips in the 1970s, serve as a physical embodiment of foundational myths, reminding everyone that significant history happened right here. It was a time when grand gestures in stone were still considered an effective method for transmitting important civic messages.
The clear blue sky suggests another day where visitors would contemplate the weight of past decisions, perhaps wondering if their own life choices held such monumental certainty. The whole experience reassures us that at least some people, at some point, had everything figured out.
The historian's note
This image captures the This Is The Place Monument, located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City, Utah. The monument commemorates the arrival of Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. Young, upon seeing the valley, declared, "This is the right place, drive on."
The monumental structure, dedicated in 1947, was designed by Mahonri M. Young, a grandson of Brigham Young. It features prominent bronze statues of Brigham Young, Wilford Woodruff, and Heber C. Kimball, along with other key figures from the pioneer trek and early explorers. The monument stands as a significant landmark in Utah, marking a pivotal moment in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the settlement of the American West.
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This Is The Place Monument, Salt Lake City, 1970s. 1970–1979. Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library, AA-2026-5ED381. https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/this-is-the-place-monument-salt-lake-city-1970s-5ed381.
@misc{aaAA20265ED381,
title = {This Is The Place Monument, Salt Lake City, 1970s},
year = {1970–1979},
howpublished = {Archive \& Atlas, Historical Image Library},
note = {Accession AA-2026-5ED381},
url = {https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/this-is-the-place-monument-salt-lake-city-1970s-5ed381}
}TY - ART TI - This Is The Place Monument, Salt Lake City, 1970s PY - 1970–1979 PB - Archive & Atlas, Historical Image Library AN - AA-2026-5ED381 UR - https://thearchive.archiveandatlas.com/library/this-is-the-place-monument-salt-lake-city-1970s-5ed381 ER -
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