Seagull Monument

The Seagull Monument is located in the Temple Square area, the center of downtown Salt Lake City, Utah. It commemorates an event in Mormon history from the spring of 1848, when early settlers in the Salt Lake Valley were struggling to save their crops after a hard winter, late frost, drought, and a cricket infestation. According to Mormon accounts, numerous seagulls came from the nearby Great Salt Lake and fed on the crickets for about two weeks, helping preserve much of the harvest. The monument was erected in память of this event. The California gull is now the state bird of Utah.

Seagull Monument with a golden bird sculpture in front of the Assembly Hall\'s grey stone facade and white spires. — The Seagull Monument stands in front of Salt Lake City’s Assembly Hall, with the building’s spires rising behind it.
September 2004 © Bobjgalindo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Seagull Monument with a golden bird sculpture on top of a tall white base in a landscaped park setting. — The Seagull Monument stands in a landscaped area, topped by a golden bird sculpture above a white decorative base.
© Carpenter Paper Co., Salt Lake, Utah · Public domain

Seagull Monument with twin bird sculptures on a stone pedestal, framed by flowers against a blue sky. — The Seagull Monument at Temple Square, shown with its bird-topped stone pedestal and floral foreground.
April 2025 © Beneathtimp · CC0

Bronze relief on the Seagull Monument showing a kneeling man and standing woman surrounded by seagulls, with mountains in the background. — A bronze panel on the Seagull Monument depicts the arrival of the sea gulls with figures, birds, and mountains.
April 2025 © Beneathtimp · Public domain

Identification
Title	Seagull Monument
Alternative title	Monument des Mouettes / Monument de la Mouette
Type	monument
Location	Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
German name	Möwendenkmal
Historical context
Commemorated event	The 1848 “miracle of the gulls,” when seagulls ate Mormon crickets that were destroying the Salt Lake Valley crops of Mormon pioneers
Event date	1848
Event location	Salt Lake Valley
Historical setting	Mormon pioneers were living in their first spring season in the Salt Lake Valley, after a hard winter and following prayers for divine help
Birds involved in the event	Probably California gulls (Larus californicus)
Related state bird	The California gull is now the state bird of Utah
Creator
Family relation	Mahonri M. Young was a grandson of Brigham Young
Artist training	Studied in France
Proposed by	George E. Carpenter, editor at the Deseret News
Commissioned by	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Designer	Mahonri M. Young
Artist	Mahonri M. Young
Discovery and provenance
Placement on Temple Square	1913
First monument dedicated to birds	Believed to be the first monument dedicated to birds in the United States
Original dedication plan	24 July 1913 (Pioneer Day in Utah)
Estimated dedication attendance	5,000 people
Unveiled by	Joseph F. Smith
Dedication presider	Bishop Nibley
Dedication date	1 October 1913
Bronze pieces installed	Late September 1913
Foundation excavation began	April 1913
Model exhibited	Fall 1907 Utah State Fair
Site choice reason	Young felt the temple would dwarf the monument; the open sky near the Assembly Hall was a better background
Final site choice	A spot near the Assembly Hall on Temple Square
Original proposed site	Just south of the Salt Lake Temple
Church signatory	Presiding Bishop Charles W. Nibley
Contract signed	July 1912
Site planning	Temple Square and Liberty Park were among the proposed locations
Funding history	Young first sought church funding but none was available; a subscription list was started in 1908; after further appeals, church funding was approved
Design completed	Within ten days of conception
Idea conceived	July 1907
Physical characteristics
Base components	Eight pieces of granite stone made up the base, shaft, and capital
Relief panels	Four bronze relief panels around the pedestal
Top sculpture	Two bronze seagulls eating insects
Top sculpture size	Wingtip to wingtip measurement not provided
Structure type	small monument
Base form	Pedestal with a column topped by a large granite ball
Materials
Base material	Granite
Top sculpture material	Bronze
Granite source	A quarry in Mount Airy, North Carolina
Appearance
Second panel	The Arrival of the Sea Gulls: a disheartened pioneer man; a woman holding a child and looking toward the seagulls; the northern end of the Oquirrh Mountains
Top sculpture size note	Measured from wing tip to wing tip; measurement not provided
Fourth panel	A dedicatory inscription
Third panel	The First Harvest: harvesting the preserved crops; a man with a scythe; others binding sheaves; a nursing mother with a child and dog; the first home built in the valley; Ensign Peak
Pool diameter	Measurement not provided
First panel	The Founding of the Commonwealth: early cultivation and settlement of Salt Lake Valley; two oxen pulling a plow; a sower; a woman preparing food near a temporary wagon-box home; Mount Olympus and the Twin Peaks; a seated Native American
Relief panel theme	The story of the miracle of the gulls
Former pool contents	Water lilies and goldfish
Former surrounding feature	A circular pool of water surrounded the pedestal when first installed
Original surface treatment	The seagulls were gilded with gold leaf when first installed
Iconography and meaning
Animals mentioned	Native seagulls; Mormon crickets
People associated with the event	Mormon pioneers; pioneer settlers; Latter-day Saints
Associated historical event	The 1848 miracle of the gulls, in which Mormon pioneers' crops in the Salt Lake Valley were saved when seagulls ate Mormon crickets
Subject	Two seagulls devouring insects
Purpose	Created to commemorate the event in which seagulls saved part of the Mormon settlers' crops
Religious interpretation	Latter-day Saints regard the event as an answer to prayers and call it the “miracle of the seagulls”
Location and ownership
Original location	In front of the Assembly Hall at Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah
Country	United States
Current location	Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Originally planned location	Just south of the Salt Lake Temple
History and restoration
Temporary removal	In early 2024, the monument was temporarily removed for new landscaping during the multi-year renovation of Temple Square and the Salt Lake Temple
Condition after return	The gold leafing on the seagull sculpture had been removed
Condition after return	The pool had been replaced with flower beds
Returned to site	Later in 2024
Fish problem	Live seagulls ate the goldfish; the trout were later poisoned on multiple occasions by an unknown perpetrator or perpetrators; the fish were eventually removed
Coins in pool	Coins tossed into the water were periodically collected and donated by the church to Primary Children's Hospital
Pool replaced	2008, with a cascading water feature
Pool alteration	Circular fountains were added in 1968
Replacement fish	Larger rainbow trout were installed in 1944
Original water feature	A pool of water around the monument
Significance
Cultural significance	Remembered by Latter-day Saints as a miracle
Featured in film	Brigham Young (1940)

Seagull Monument

Identification

Historical context

Creator

Discovery and provenance

Physical characteristics

Materials

Appearance

Iconography and meaning

Location and ownership

History and restoration

Significance