Sons of Utah Pioneers
Taylorsville–Bennion Chapter
History • Service • Fellowship
The Taylorsville–Bennion Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers supports and helps preserve several historic monuments in our community. Each site tells a part of the story of the early settlers who farmed, built, worshiped, and raised families in this valley.
Click any monument below to jump to its full story.
Set along a gentle rise in the Taylorsville Cemetery stands a quiet tribute to the earliest families who made this valley their home. These men and women arrived with little more than courage, faith, and a desire to build a community where none existed.
Many of Taylorsville’s earliest burials—infants, mothers, and pioneers worn out from the journey—rest here. The memorial invites all who visit to pause, reflect, and remember the sacrifices of those whose footsteps shaped Taylorsville’s earliest story.
On this land once stood one of the earliest Welsh settlements in the Salt Lake Valley, founded by converts who crossed oceans and plains to begin again. The Harker and Welsh families built cabins, planted grain, and established a small but thriving community along the early millrace.
The site became a crossroads of pioneer life—a place where neighbors shared harvests, traded skills, and gathered for devotion and fellowship. Though the cabins and fields have long since passed, this memorial preserves their memory and reminds us that faith speaks many languages, including Welsh.
Archibald Gardner was one of Utah’s great pioneer craftsmen—a millwright whose hands shaped the early industry of the Salt Lake Valley. This monument marks the site of his Taylorsville mill, one of more than a dozen mills he built across the region.
With engineering skill inherited from his Scottish ancestry, Gardner designed mills for grain, lumber, textiles, and more. The Taylorsville mill served as a lifeline, transforming wheat into flour and logs into timber at a time when both were precious. The monument stands as a tribute to Gardner’s ingenuity, faith, and tireless labor.
Before electricity, before industry, before paved roads—Taylorsville ran on water. The Millrace was a man-made channel that carried water from the Jordan River to power mills across the valley, including the Archibald Gardner Mill.
Dug by hand with picks, shovels, and sheer determination, the Millrace enabled grain milling, lumber cutting, and powered essential pioneer equipment. It is a symbol of collaboration—neighbors working shoulder to shoulder to bring water to a dry land.
This modest wood-frame building served both as Taylorsville’s early schoolhouse and as the Bennion Ward’s meeting place. Children learned their sums and spelling by daylight; on Sundays, the same benches held families who gathered to worship.
Church socials, dances, recitals, debates, and district meetings all took place within these walls. It was a true community center—a place where young and old mingled, where faith was taught, and where early settlers found unity and purpose. This monument preserves the memory of that small but spirited schoolhouse.
The Taylorsville–Bennion Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers is dedicated to preserving and maintaining these historic sites. If you feel inspired to help care for these monuments and the stories they represent, please consider a contribution to the Monument Fund.
You can make a secure online contribution on our Chapter Contributions section under “Monument Fund.”