page_title: Brigham Young University
section_title: Early days
hierarchical_section_title: Brigham Young University / History / Early days
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of Brigham Young Academy, later to become Brigham Young university and Brigham Young High School.
context_page_description: Brigham Young University is a private research university owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and located in Provo, Utah. The university is run under the auspices of the church's parent organization, the Church Educational System, and is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity" with "more selective, lower transfer-in" admissions. The university's primary emphasis is on undergraduate education in 179 majors, but it also has 62 master's and 26 doctoral degree programs. The university also administers two satellite campuses, one in Jerusalem and one in Salt Lake City.
  Students attending BYU agree to follow an honor code that mandates behavior in line with LDS teachings, such as academic honesty, adherence to dress and grooming standards, abstinence from extramarital sex and homosexual behavior, and no consumption of illegal drugs, coffee, tea, alcohol, or tobacco. Approximately 99 percent of the students are members of the LDS Church.
context_section_description: The origin of Brigham Young University can be traced back to 1862, when Warren Dusenberry started a Provo school in Cluff Hall, a prominent adobe building in the northeast corner of 200 East and 200 North.  After some financial difficulties, the school was recreated in the Kinsey and Lewis buildings on Center street in Provo, and after gaining some recognition for its quality, was adopted to become the Timpanogos branch of the University of Deseret.  When financial difficulty forced another closure, on October 16, 1875, Brigham Young, then president of the LDS Church, deeded the property to trustees to create Brigham Young Academy after earlier hinting a school would be built in Draper, Utah, in 1867. Hence, October 16, 1875, is commonly held as BYU's founding date. Brigham Young had been envisioning for several years the concept of a church university. Said Young about his vision: "I hope to see an Academy established in Provo... at which the children of the Latter-day Saints can receive a good education unmixed with the pernicious atheistic influences that are found in so many of the higher schools of the country."
  Classes at Brigham Young Academy commenced on January 3, 1876. Warren Dusenberry served as interim principal for several months until April 1876, when Brigham Young's choice for principal arrived—a German immigrant named Karl Maeser. Under Maeser's direction, the school educated many luminaries, including future U.S. Supreme Court Justice George Sutherland and future U.S. Senator Reed Smoot. The school, however, did not become a university until the end of Benjamin Cluff's term at the helm of the institution. At that time, the school was also still privately supported by members of the community and was not absorbed and sponsored officially by the LDS Church until July 18, 1896. A series of odd managerial decisions by Cluff led to his demotion; however, in his last official act, he proposed to the Board the Academy be named "Brigham Young University". The suggestion received a large amount of opposition, with many members of the Board saying the school was not large enough to be a university, but the decision ultimately passed. One opponent to the decision, Anthon H. Lund, later said, "I hope their head will grow big enough for their hat."
  In 1903, Brigham Young Academy was dissolved and replaced by two institutions, Brigham Young High School and Brigham Young University. The BY High School class of 1907 was ultimately responsible for the famous giant "Y" that is to this day embedded on a mountain near campus. The Board elected George H. Brimhall as the new President of BYU. He had not received a high school education until he was forty. Nevertheless, he was an excellent orator and organizer. Under his tenure in 1904 the new Brigham Young University bought 17 acres (69,000 m²) of land from Provo called "Temple Hill". After some controversy among locals over BYU's purchase of this property, construction began in 1909 on the first building on the current campus, the Karl G. Maeser Memorial. Brimhall also presided over the University during a brief crisis involving the theory of evolution. The religious nature of the school seemed at the time to collide with this scientific theory. Joseph F. Smith, LDS Church president, settled the question for a time by asking that evolution not be taught at the school. A few have described the school at this time as nothing more than a "religious seminary". However, many of its graduates at this time would go on to great success and become well renowned in their fields.
caption: The Brigham Young Academy building circa 1900
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