The West Jordan Historical Museum news

 Update! The West Jordan Historical Museum’s moving the historic Cottage Inn to the museum is a few steps closer. As of April 10^th, the cement pad has been poured. Next week, the Cottage Inn will be moved to the museum and placed on the pad. Restoration will begin almost immediately. This is an exciting time for West Jordan. We also are receiving a donation of 6 soda fountain type stools. The museum also just received a very special and unique West Jordan Historical artifact. But first the story behind it.

 The first LDS Church meeting house was built in West Jordan was the rock meeting house located near the West Jordan Cemetery. In the fall of 1901, the church’s officers selected a site for the new yellow brick chapel at 7898 south and Redwood Road. Apostle Owen Woodruff laid the cornerstone and dedicated the site on November 11, 1901. Construction of the new chapel commenced under the direction of Bishop Egbert. In May 1911, Bishop Egbert was released and William H. Gardner was sustained as is replacement with James A. Bateman and Joseph G. Jensen as counselors. The new chapel was occupied in December 1913, before it was completed. After meeting for some time in the basement, the ward finally held its first meeting in the new chapel on October 18, 1914. The spacious chapel had three beautiful high, stained-glass windows on three sides and a large organ behind the podium.

 While the building was in constant use commencing in 1913, the chapel was not dedicated until it was completely free of debt on October 3, 1920 by President Heber J. Grant. It became the pride of the community and was a landmark cherished by many who mourned its destruction on August 15, 1956. A new building was constructed to the south and was in use until it was also torn down to make way for the new West Jordan Fire Station on Redwood Rd.

 That was the history. Now on to the artifact. Just above the front doors on the east side leading into the building, there was placed an arched concrete slab. Etched into it was the following: West Jordan LDS Assembly Rooms Erected 1909. We believed like most West Jordan resident’s that anything from that building was lost when the building was taken down. Just recently, Jay Richardson, one of the museum’s biggest contributors dropped by the museum. In the back of his truck was the arched concrete stone. It had been broken into four pieces while in storage all theses years. Jay found it and with the help of a friend, glued the stones back together and used colored cement to fill in the cracks. As you can see, they did a beautiful job in restoring this important West Jordan artifact. Does anyone in West Jordan know what happened to the beautiful stained glass windows or has colored photos of the windows?

 We are in the process of putting together a display in the museum with the stone, photos, and other artifacts that were used in the yellow chapel. If you have knowledge of any additional photos, books, programs etc that were in use between 1913 and 1956, please contact the museum. We thank the community for their support of the museum by their donations and volunteerism.

 We welcome those who are interested in being part of our museum board or would like to serve on committees and help preserve our West Jordan heritage. Please call Robert or Linda Dalley at 255-3116