Relief Society Hall Historical Marker to be unveiled

Nicole Kunze | Lehi Historical Society

The Lehi Historical Society will unveil the historical marker for the Relief Society Hall of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sat., at 11 a.m., at 212 W. Main St.

Sharon Eubank, current director of Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian organization for the Church, and former counselor in the Relief Society General Presidency, will speak at the free event.

The Lehi Historical Society is also partnering with Saratoga Springs’ food pantry, Tabitha’s Way, at the event. Attendees are invited to donate money, baking items, canned meat and tomatoes, condiments, peanut butter and boxed meals at the event.

When the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo was organized in March 1842, President Emma Smith declared to the 20 women in the room, “We are going to do something extraordinary… We expect extraordinary occasions and pressing calls.” Today, the Relief Society of the LDS Church is one of the world’s largest women’s organizations with almost eight million members in 188 countries. Relief Society members conduct millions of hours of service each year in their communities.

“The pioneer women of Lehi truly did extraordinary things,” said Lara Bangerter, director of the Lehi Historical Society. “They raised funds for a building, and in doing so a place to sell their wares. They grew mulberry trees to support the Church’s silk industry. They canned together. They held suffrage meetings in their building. They took care of each other.”

In 1868, Eliza R. Snow, general president of the Relief Society, came to Lehi and organized the Lehi Female Relief Society. Twelve years later in 1880, ward Relief Society officers bought a piece of property from John C. Naegle at 212 West Main. The following year the group built a 32 foot-by-20-foot adobe hall on the site to gather for meetings and to display and sell their homemade goods. The materials for the building were purchased by the society with funds they had raised through donations of “Sunday Eggs,” ward dinners, bake sales, bazaars and the gleaning of wheat. The labor on the building was donated by the husbands of the women.

On Feb. 19, 1883, when the Relief Society held a surprise party for their president, Rebecca Standring, the building was not yet finished. John Beck, a wealthy Lehi mine owner, provided the necessary funds so that the hall was completed by October of that year in time for a visit from prominent General Relief Society leaders Snow, Rachel Grant, and Emmeline B. Wells.

Lehi’s Relief Society Hall was home to spiritual and temporal meetings, including suffrage gatherings, Sunday School and Primary classes, weddings, anniversaries and other social events. The hall also functioned as a sponsor of the Church’s silk industry. Silkworm eggs were obtained free from the Deseret Silk Association, and mulberry trees, the leaves of which are the silkworm’s primary food, were planted on the grounds of Lehi’s Relief Society Hall.

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The enamel lapel pin designed by Lehi City Councilmember Heather Newall for the Relief Society Hall features mulberry trees surrounding a market booth and the original Relief Society logo. All collectible pins will be available for purchase at the unveiling event, in the historical society’s gift shop and online at lehihistory.org.

“This is the perfect historical marker unveiling to start 2026. The stories of sacrifice and grit in Lehi’s history can serve as inspiration for our community to care for one another and lift each other, especially in times of need,” Bangerter concluded.

The Relief Society Hall currently houses Car Town and is owned by Aaron and Brooke Christensen. Wolf Peak Construction, the Church History Department of the LDS Church, Strata Networks and SIRQ Construction are sponsoring the event.

The marker is the 16th of the Lehi Historical Marker Program and the first to be installed in 2026. The program was founded in 2022 when the Lehi Historical Society won funding from the John David and Danaca Hadfield family of HADCO Construction and a large Lehi City PARC grant.

For more information on this unveiling and the Lehi Historical Marker Program, see lehihistory.org or call 801-768-1570.