The Chosen Place

After seeing Ensign Peak, Brigham Young recognized it as the right place for the center of the new Zion and believed its summit might offer insight into the future city. On 26 July 1847, he climbed the hill with other Church leaders, named the peak, and led the group in prayer. From the top, he envisioned how the city should be laid out, beginning with a main street running north and south directly below the peak and following Joseph Smith's plan for the City of Zion: a grid of ten-acre square blocks with wide streets and channels of water. At the edge of the valley floor, he designated the exact site where the temple should be built. Gordon B. Hinckley later praised the foresight, boldness, and prophetic vision of the small group, which then went down from the peak and began working to make that vision real.

Salt Lake City, Utah · United States