Wilson said the site selected for the church is "high up on the hill and a beautiful site for a church, right across the street from our children's cemetery." The cemetery contains the remains of children who were originally buried in what is now downtown Salt Lake City near Pioneer Park. The graves were discovered several years ago as excavation crews dug into the site in preparation for construction of new housing units downtown, and the remains were eventually reinterred.

Honoring all

Early Utah settlers also included blacks, Greeks, Jews and other religious groups that will ultimately be represented in some way at the park, Wilson said.

"We have a task force of African-Americans going back to early black settlers but also picking up on other black residents. They are working now to decide on whether (their exhibit) will be a monument or a facility. And the Greek community has wonderful exhibits" that will also find a place in the park, he said.

The center also has access to extensive research on an early Jewish community in Sanpete County that ultimately disbanded, but many of whose descendants remain in the area.

"We're working right now on that, and it will be one of our focuses for next year." The center is still putting together task forces and gathering information on Utah's early religious communities. "It will be the focal point of our work in the next few years," Wilson said.

Formerly a state park, This Is the Place was privatized back in 1998, and "charged with responsibility to portray the heritage of all Utah groups," Wilson said. "We're shifting the orientation of the park, at least in part, away from just a Mormon pioneer park to a place where we honor pioneers in all groups.

"Of course the monument itself has the religious leaders on the top, but it also has miners, explorers and Indians at other places on it. Even the monument intended to portray a broader message."

Statues of Brigham Young and other early leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints grace the top of This Is the Place Monument, an imposing structure that allows the figures a bird's-eye view of the entire Salt Lake Valley at the base of Emigration Canyon. The first wagons carrying Latter-day Saints settlers who would eventually colonize much of the Mountain West are memorialized there for the day they arrived, July 24, 1847.

Funding issues

For decades, many have considered the park to be a "Mormon place," Wilson acknowledged. But the charge from the Utah Legislature, along with encouragement from the Alliance for Unity and Semnani's donation, have provided the impetus to expand the park's focus.