Other pioneers: Members of various faiths made their way to set root in the Salt Lake Valley

SALT LAKE CITY — As one of the largest parades in the nation winds its way through downtown streets this morning, thousands of Utahns from various faiths will note the tribute to Mormon pioneers, despite the fact that their own religious heritage here is not tied to covered wagons or handcarts.

The annual Days of '47 celebration has always been focused on the memory of hardy Latter-day Saints, who trudged across the Great Plains in the mid-19th century, seeking freedom from religious persecution and a land to call their own.

But their quest to find relative isolation in the valley of the Great Salt Lake lasted only a few years, as military outposts, the lure of mining and eventually, the railroad, brought newcomers whose religious beliefs differed widely from those of the Mormon majority.

More than 150 years after Brigham Young's declaration that "This is the right place," when looking over the Salt Lake Valley, Utah's political, social and educational landscape has beenshaped by a variety of religious leaders and faith communities whose roots grew in the same soil as the Latter-day Saints.

Their histories are less familiar to most longtime residents, yet Catholics, Presbyterians, Jews, Methodists, Episcopalians, Congregationalists and Baptists all had a presence in the Utah Territory before statehood in 1896. Their ministry included the establishment of dozens of free parochial schools, which attracted large numbers of LDS students until free public education was established in 1890. Their continuing legacy includes major hospitals, schools and charitable agencies, most along the Wasatch Front.

While efforts to promote interfaith harmony have historically met with varying degrees of success, most Utahns would agree that religion deeply shapes not only politics, but personal identity in the Beehive State.

So on this Pioneer Day, the Deseret News offers a glimpse into the early history of some of the state's little-known religious pioneers, most of whom arrived after the first covered wagons.

Baptists

The Rev. George W. Dodge was appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs by the federal government in 1871, and he began holding religious services in private homes. Leadership changes in the first few years meant evangelism efforts began slowly, but a district missionary arrived in the 1880s and organized a church in Ogden. First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City was built at 200 South and 200 West and dedicated in 1884.