The Eagle Gate monument is a historical monument—more in the form of an arch than a gate—seventy-six feet across, situated at the intersection of State Street at South Temple, adjacent to Temple Square

Temple Square

Temple Square is a ten acre complex located in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . In recent years, the usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities immediately adjacent to Temple Square...

, in Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...

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History

The monument was erected in 1859 and commemorates the entrance to Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

's property at the mouth of City Creek Canyon. It was originally topped by a wooden eagle, referbished several times and eventually replaced by the current 4,000-pound, bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 eagle, with a wingspan of 20 feet (6.1 m). Carved by Ralph Ramsey, the original wooden eagle is on display at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum located at 300 North Main Street.

The first Eagle Gate was remodeled and enlarged with new stone piers and wider inverted arches in the early 1890s (with Ralph Ramsey's eagle rebuilt and fortified); designed by Don Carlos Young

Don Carlos Young

Joseph Don Carlos Young was an American architect and the Church Architect for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1887 until 1893. In 1893, the office of Church Architect was dissolved , Young thereafter practiced privately with the LDS Church as a frequent client...

, an architect son of Brigham Young. Due to the widening of State Street in the early 1960s, the prior monument including Ramsey's eagle was removed and replaced with a much wider and larger third generation Eagle Gate, designed by Salt Lake City architect George Cannon Young. Young was the son of Don Carlos Young and the grandson of Brigham Young. The monument is one of Salt Lake City's most well known pioneer landmarks, and its current design is one of Salt Lake City's best standing examples of Mid-Century Modern

Mid-century modern

Mid-Century modern is an architectural, interior and product design form that generally describes mid-20th century developments in modern design, architecture, and urban development from roughly 1933 to 1965...

design.