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Show for plans and construction of the Academy building. The Board seemed happy with the new Academy site for it was sufficiently removed from the business part of the city and it was secluded from the sight and participation of many of the evils and vices existing in Ogden. The board members were both courageous and unselfish in their actions to secure a building and site. They proceeded with faith that funds would be forthcoming from stake members for the purchases. Without such courage and foresight the future of the Academy would have been in doubt. Samuel T. Whitaker was engaged as architect for the new facility and he presented his plans to the Board by late June 1890. On August 18, five bids for the project were opened and the lowest bidder, John M. D. Taylor, was awarded the contract for 22,900 for what would become known as the Moench Building. For a year and a half (from May 1890 until November 1891) classes were not held at the Weber Stake Academy. During this period school classes were held at the Fifth Ward located at 26th Street and Madison Avenue and Louis Moench taught at the Fifth Ward. It seems certain that this was a Ward School and not meetings of the Weber Stake Academy. Confusion has been added to the historical past because of some early Founders Day programs beginning at the Second Ward, moving to the Tabernacle, then to the Fifth Ward and finally to the Moench Building. The best evidence suggests the classes of the Academy were not held for eighteen months. During this period of time the Academy Building was constructed. Construction which began in August of 1890 proceeded much more rapidly than funds were available. By January of 1891 the walls were erected, the roof completed and the lathing and plastering begun. It was announced that although the building could be completed in two months, work would cease because sufficient monies were not forthcoming from the Latter-day Saints of the area. By September of 1891 total costs for the building were 35,638 including 8500 for land purchases and 27,138 for construction contracts. The building proceeded slowly through 1891 with fund raising efforts producing little. The First Presidency contributed 5000 from church funds, and Weber Stake Board of Education members mortgaged their homes to secure money for the project. The building process was long and arduous and involved hours of volunteer effort in collections as well as work on the building. The first floor of the building was completed by November of 1891 when the academy began to meet and enrollments were so high that the second was soon completed to house the Academic Department. The red brick building with red and white sandstone trimming would become the symbol of the Weber Academy for decades. The Standard described the outside of the building as somewhat like the celebrated structure of St. Madelines at Rome. The architecture was described as a combination in happy proportion and pleasing relation of the Tuscan, Grecial, Roman, and Corinthian; surmounting the front of the building will be an allegorical carved panel representing science, art, and astronomy. Economic conditions in America were difficult in the early 1890s culminating in the Panic of 1893, and Ogden experienced financial difficulties as well. It was through persistant efforts of individuals on the Weber Stake Board of Education that the money owed for the Academy was collected in generally small amounts over a drawn out period of time. In late October 1891 a circular describing the Weber Stake Academy prepared by Joseph Stanford, secretary of the board, was distributed to the citizens of Weber County. Beginning with the slogan Holiness to the Lord which would be associated with the academy during its early years, the circular described the new academy building in great detail two large general rooms (49 by 26) and four recitation classrooms. The upper floor, reached by a circular staircase, included rooms to be used as a library, a music classroom, and recitation rooms. Adjacent to the main building was the steam heating facility and above that a room (18 by 21) which was to be used for the study of chemistry and different scientific and philosophic pursuits. The faculty were described as competent teachers. Tuition for the first ten week term of the 1891-1892 school year which would begin on November 23 in the new facility which would be called the Moench Building ranged from 3.00 for the Preparatory department, to 4.50 for the Intermediate department, and 6.00 for the Academic department. A new innovation was the Friday evening meeting to which students, faculty, as well as parents and friends of education, were invited. This was to be an evening of mixing academics from the school with members of the community. Included on various programs would be lectures from visiting and local Brethren, men of influence and ability, essays, songs, recitations, and duets. All were aimed at making the gatherings in-structive and entertaining. After being closed for a year and a half, there was great excitement surrounding the re-opening of the academy in its new facility. Nearly 200 students greeted the faculty on the opening day, and all were engaged in the forenoon by the opening exercises which included speeches by L. W. Shurtliff, N. C. Flygare, Joseph Stanford, Thomas Stevens, Bishop David McKay, Bishop Robert McQuarrie, Bishop Edwin Stratford, and Professor Moench. In his remarks President Flygare who had been involved in the funding and construction of the new building noted, In selecting this location we considered it would be sufficiently removed from the business part of the city, secluded of the evils and vices existing in Ogden. As one of the Board, I will promise you that you shall not be disappointed in your desires to obtain an education if you will only be obedient to your teachers. The location of the academy on Jefferson Avenue between 24th and 25th streets placed it in the middle of the prime residential area in Ogden in the decade of the 1890s. This location and the new building gave the Academy respectability. The curriculum and instructors added stature as well as quality education. The finishing work on the second floor of the building was completed early in January of 1892. By that same time the enrollment had increased to 250 students, and by the beginning of the second term in February upwards of 260 students were in attendance. The enrollment of students was so successful that several additional teachers were employed. Professor William H. Jones, a graduate of Deseret University and Cornell University with specialities in rheto- |