Turn right Turn left Look at Seagull Monument Enter the Assembly Hall
In the center, Seagull Monument. Shortly after the Mormon pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, crisis gripped the new colonies as swarms of crickets, later named Mormon crickets, attacked their crops in June 1848. After much prayer and fasting, flocks of seagulls came and ate the crickets, making the Seagull worthy of its exhalted position as Utah's state bird. (As you might imagine, the Mormon Cricket is not<_i> Utah's state insect.) The Mormon pioneers recognized this as a miracle, and later this monument was erected to honor the great gull.
In the background, the Salt Lake Assembly Hall is a Victorian Gothic congregation hall. The cruciform layout is complemented by Stars of David circumscribed high above each entrance, symbolizing the LDS belief that the modern Church represents a re-gathering of the Biblical Tribes of Israel. Construction of the Assembly Hall began on August 11, 1877. During the first two years of construction, the Assembly Hall was confusingly called the "new tabernacle." John Taylor, then President of the LDS Church, cleared up the confusion by naming it the "Salt Lake Assembly Hall" in 1879. (Ref)
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