13 Chapter IV The Board of Education met on December 26th and Louis F. Moench was unanimously appointed principal of the Weber Stake Academy at a salary of $1500. The circular which had been prepared was read and all arrangements made for the printing. On the 27th of this month Professor Moench made arrangements for the printing of 5,000 circulars, and on Sunday morning, December 30th, 4,000 of them were distributed all over Weber County, in all meetings, in all Sunday Schools, and to each family in the county.1 Edwin Cutler from the Brigham Young Academy was employed to assist Louis F. Moench. The date for the opening of the Weber Stake Academy was set for Christmas Day, December 25, 1888. A sensible change advanced the day to January 7, 1889. There were present many of the leading men and women of Ogden City, and at the close of the day's exercises, 97 students signed their names as the first students of the Weber Stake Academy. The opening of the Weber Stake Academy on January 7, 1889, in the Second Ward Meeting House, corner of 26th Street and Grant Avenue, was a great event in the history of the Academy. It was a great day in the history of Ogden City, and it was a great day in the educational history of the State of Utah, then the Territory of Utah. Two sessions were held, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It was like a religious service. There were songs and prayers and speeches. The principal speakers in the morning session were Lewis W. Shurtliff, president of the Weber Stake, Principal Louis F. Moench, and Apostle Franklin D. Richards of the Latter-Day Saints Church. Mr. Shurtliff declared: That he had been looking for such an organization and now it has come it afforded him great pleasure. Many barriers were in the way of establishing such an institution, there being neither building nor furniture, and the man also to whom they had looked to conduct the institution was away on a mission. The training of our children was one of the principal objects in view, and he would never be satisfied until this became one of the leading institutions in the territory.2 Professor Moench remarked: That it was with strange feelings that he arose to address the students, especially so when he realized the great responsibility which he was about to assume. From a dream which he had when he became a member of the church, he felt to devote his life to the education of the youth of Zion. He could only lay the true foundation in the hearts of the students...the students would afterwards have to 1. Historical Record of Louis F. Moench, pp. 131-132. 2. Historical Record of Weber Stake Academy, pp. 3-4.