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Show The circular stairway in a tower of the Manti Temple shows the achievement of highly skilled carpenters. Photograph courtesy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. in a business venture with his sons and served for a time as a building inspector for the city. He also worked in the Endowment House, served as a home missionary, and became a familiar speaker in church meetings and firesides. In 1900, at the age of eighty-five, he was ordained a patriarch, although his health prohibited him from actively officiating in this position. The same year, at a birthday celebration in his honor, Folsom sermonized his descendants and friends, encouraging them to be faithful to the church and expressing his own lifelong dedication to craftsmanship and perfection in his work despite the criticism of others. He also allowed that he did not expect to see another birthday.34 As he predicted, Folsom quietly died at home the following year, only six days short of his eighty-sixth birthday. The Deseret News eulogized him in an editorial: I n the demise of Patriarch W. H . Folsom, U t a h loses one of her oldtime and most worthy citizens. H e was identified with many of the finest structures in the State as their architect and builder, and was respected by all classes of the community. . . . His excellent qualities of mind and heart endeared him to a host of friends, a n d his material works stand as monuments to his skill and accuracy in both design and execution. 3 5 William Harrison Folsom's legacy to the people of Utah and the LDS church was generous. His numerous descendants have included a number of architects, some of whom are still in practice today. Although his name has not become familiar to most students of Mormon history, his work has not been forgotten. All of his remaining major buildings are listed on either the State Register or the National Register of Historic Places, and the Manti Temple has become one of the landmarks of the West.36 Even today, anyone who visits Manti, seeing the temple miles before reaching the town, watching the building grow larger and more impressive as it is approached, distinguishing the harmonious proportions and fine details, and finally entering into the spirit of dedication and artistic sensitivity that fills the rooms of the strutcure, will come away convinced that Folsom's contribution to Utah's heritage is memorable and precious indeed. 34 Moss, History of William Harrison Folsom, 68. "Patriarch W.H. Folsom," Deseret Semi-Weekly News, March 25, 1901, p.4. 36 T h e M a n t i Tabernacle is on the U t a h State Register of Historic Sites; and the Provo Tabernacle, the Devereaux House, the Salt Lake Tabernacle, the Salt Lake City Hall, the Z C M I Cast-Iron Front, and the Manti Temple are on the National Register of Historic Places. 35 |
