Within the adobe walls of this 19th-century Lehi building, the early stages of the movement in Utah to expand voting rights to women took root.
The Relief Society Hall for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was constructed in the 1880s as a gathering space for women in the church and served as a community hub for meetings, weddings and social events, and even became the center of Utah’s silk industry.
It’s also where the Woman’s Suffrage Association of Lehi, an offshoot of a larger statewide organization, was organized.
“These women met in this hall and talked about rights for people who did not have the right to vote. And I think that’s an important historical thing for us to take on with us in the modern times,” Sharon Eubank, the church’s humanitarian services director and former first counselor in the faith’s global Relief Society presidency, said at an unveiling last month of a new historical marker at the site. “All those things were a foundation of their faith. They were doing it because they loved God and because they loved each other.”
The marker is the latest installment in an initiative that seeks to preserve Lehi’s history.
The Lehi Historical Marker Program, overseen by the Lehi Historical Society, began in 2022 and enshrines the significance of more than a dozen locations with plaques. Several more markers are due to be unveiled this year.
Mark on history
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) A historical marker for the Relief Society Hall on Main Street in Lehi on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
Lara Bangerter, the historical society’s director, said the markers are an opportunity to share the city’s story with others. “There’s a lot of things [here] to be proud of,” she said.
Bangerter started the program after taking a trip to Philadelphia.
While walking around the Pennsylvania metropolis, Bangerter noticed large navy-blue signs with yellow writing across the city summarizing the significance of different historical sites.
She was inspired by the way the city presented its history so openly and wanted to adopt a similar program back home in Lehi.
“We were in an ugly parking lot, and there was a marker,” Bangerter said. “It said [the lot] was Sigma Sound Studios, and that David Bowie and Stevie Wonder had sound-recorded there. And that was when I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, the building doesn’t have to be there for [the markers] to still be really fun to read.’ So I was like, ‘Lehi needs these markers.’”
After getting financial backing from a city grant and the John David and Danaca Hadfield family of HADCO Construction, the initiative unveiled its first of 36 markers in 2024 at the Lehi Round-Up Rodeo.
There, the sign tells the story of a popular source of entertainment for the residents of Lehi and Utah County. The annual rodeo, which started in 1937, still offers parades, art and music.
Telling Lehi’s story
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Lehi Roller Mills on Main Street, Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
There are already 16 markers in prominent sites, including at Lehi Roller Mills, known for being featured in the 1984 film “Footloose.” The mill has been producing flour since 1906.
Other sites that have received markers include the Jordan River Bridge, a boon to Lehi’s earliest settlers, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-owned Utah Southern Railroad, which had its first symbolic spike driven by Brigham Young, the faith’s second prophet-president.
Another 20 markers are on the way, with 10 scheduled for installation throughout the rest of the year. Those include places like the Utah-based faith’s Third Ward meetinghouse on 1200 North and Racker Mercantile on Main Street.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Racker Mercantile on Main Street in Lehi on Wednesday, April 8, 2026.
Some of the markers, however, will honor buildings and sites that no longer exist, such as the Lehi Tabernacle, which was torn down in 1962.
The next marker will be unveiled at the Christian Knudson house on April 16. The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is described by the Lehi Historical Society as one of the city’s most impressive historic residences and as a “striking reminder of the city’s early prosperity.”
(Christopher Cherrington | The Salt Lake Tribune)
Note to readers • Dylan Eubank is a Report for America corps member covering faith in Utah County for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories.