What is now West Valley City enjoys a rich history over the decades as a rural farming community to Utah’s second-largest city today.

That past is chronicled through writings, photographs and various artifacts. 

A group of West Valley City residents is trying to find a place to bring those items and stories together in one place for people to see and experience what led to the present-day municipality. 

In particular, they are focused on a more than 75-year-old meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 3900 S. 4000 West, a building that has become known as the “lighthouse church” because of its lighthouse-like steeple atop the center of the red-brick structure. 

The building, which opened in 1949, is in its waning days housing the Jordan North Stake as the church is looking to sell the building. Longtime resident and West Valley City Historical Society member Sheri Biesinger said its future could be as another neighborhood location for the activities and services of My Hometown Initiative in West Valley City, although neither the sale nor future plans have been finalized. 

“We do not have a final agreement yet. We are still in discussions,” city spokesman Sam Johnson responded by email. 

My Hometown is a collaboration among West Valley City, local churches, private and nonprofit organizations to provide resources and training to help residents improve their neighborhoods and life circumstances. That includes neighborhood cleanup projects and education, language and job skills training to help people raise their incomes and quality of life. There are currently four such centers in West Valley City, each in church meetinghouses.  

Biesinger would like to see a portion of the old church used for a West Valley City historical museum, a first for the city. “I’ve personally been trying for two decades to get a museum for the city,” she said. “It would make a beautiful museum.” 

Biesinger has lived all of her 60 years in West Valley City and said it is the only city of any size in the state that she is aware of without its own history museum. “The city has not really paid attention to us in that direction.”

Biesinger and fellow members of the West Valley City Historical Society are spearheading the effort to get a permanent home for a museum. She feels the old Jordan North Stake building is itself a historic landmark that would be a good place for a permanent public exhibit of the area’s past. Biesinger hopes to acquire funds from grants, donations and other sources to operate the museum at least on a limited basis. 

She contacted the church about the idea of selling it to her group, but the church declined. 

“Thank you for your interest in the Church Meetinghouse in West Valley and for going through the correct channels to get your question answered. The Church…has chosen to respectfully decline,” read a portion of a text message Beisinger shared from a representative of CBRE, a commercial real estate firm that handles property sales for the church. 

To help push the city in that direction, she launched a petition on Change.org. As of early June, there were about 900 signatures. 

Many of the city’s historical items are currently stored in a room at the Utah Cultural Celebration Center and “I’ve got my basement full of it,” Beisinger added. 

She has a portable display that she takes and presents to community and church groups, but would like a permanent place where much more can be shown.  

“I’ve personally been trying for two decades to get a museum for the city,” Biesinger said. “My heart’s just in it.” 

For more information about West Valley City’s past, visit westvalleycityhistory.com. λ