History of BY High

Seasons of the Past - From 1869 to 1910

The Brigham Young High School is a direct descendent of a private school which began in 1869 under the direction of Warren and Wilson Dusenberry. Property where the school now stands was purchased by Brigham Young who executed a deed on October 16, 1975, founding the Brigham Young Academy. In January 1876, the Academy began with Warren Dusenberry as principal. When he resigned in April 1876, Karl G. Maeser was appointed principal.

What is now the Brigham Young High School has been in various locations. As the Dusenberry School, it started in an adobe building on First West and Center Streets. The school later moved to the Lewis Building on Third West and Center Streets. On Sunday Evening, January 27, 1884, a fire, which started in the chemistry lab, completely destroyed the building. On a call from the principal the following morning, faculty and students fitted up temporary quarter in a Provo Meeting house, the First National bank in a business block completed by A. L. Smoot, and a new store belonging to S S. Jones. During the summer, the ZCMI warehouse, located at the south end of University Avenue, was remodeled. School was held there until January, 1892, when the structure now known as the Education Building was completed. The plans for this new building were drawn by a some of Brigham Young who worked from drawing ubmitted by Karl G. Maeser. Dr. Maeser had made the plans from a dream in which Brigham Young had appeared and escorted him through a spacious new building. Church and state officials from the entire territory were present on January 4, 1892, when it was dedicated.

Until after this time, little differentiation was made between college and high school students. Men and women from 15 to 50 attended this school which was an academy, a school to teach students who were mostly between the common, or elementary school, and the university. There were also many students in the kindergarten, the primary, and the intermediate grades who were members of the elementary department of the Academy. Part of these elementary students were taught by older students of the Academy. The Brigham Young Academy in its early stages was roughly the equivalent of our modern high school of today. A definite class organization for the Academy was effected in 1891. In 1895 the High School was established as a separate department of the Academy. In 1896, a college department was added. In 1903, the name of the academy was changed to the Brigham Young University.

It was many years before the college enrollment exceeded the high school enrollment. In 1910 there were over 800 high school students compared to approximately 200 university students. The high school class of 1907 started a chain of events which led to the placing of the block “Y”on the hill in 1905. The high school class of 1909 published the first yearbook which was later called the Banyan.

Source: Wildcat ´68, page 18.