Every year the Encampment Mall hosts numerous events ranging from “Live and Local” to “Dew Pong.” With the Heritage Cove monument in the back to long grassy fields in the front, and the clock tower in the middle Encampment Mall is a place everyone can come and enjoy. Although Encampment Mall actually has a much deeper history then what you might know.
During the 1850s when pioneers first settled in the St. George area their two main priorities were finding a water source and setting up schools for the children even before building their own homes. In an Article from 1999 Richard Whitehead who was the executive director of institutional advancement at the time said “(The) pioneers valued education so much that they built schools before they built homes. Dixie College exists today because of their vision and commitment to education.” It was the pioneers who laid the foundation for St. George and Utah Tech. Without them the city and college that we all know and love would look very different than it does, or maybe it wouldn’t exist at all.
Despite the pioneers having settled in St. George for over a century, Encampment Mall did not exist. The college was here, but their was nothing reminding us about the history of the pioneers. Sherry Ruesch, the assistant vice president of facilities management, said when she graduated in 1985 “there was no Encampment Mall I mean (it) wasn’t called that. We used to park on the other side of Jennings.”
Now nearly three decades later Heritage Cove is still here. Students and faculty pass by every day, unaware of just how much history they are walking by unaware of what Encampment Mall really is, and what it stands for. The name “Encampment” comes from when the pioneers first settled and they camped at a location not too far from where the Encampment Mall fountain is. They would “put their wagons in a circle” and from there they would lay out the town.
Encampment Mall (ranging from the end of heritage cove down to the parking lot) and Heritage Cove (just the memorial) finally got the attention it deserved nearly a decade later in 1998 when Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, came and dedicated the monument in front of thousands. Finally the pioneers that worked so hard to build this town up from nothing could have the recognition they deserved. This meant so much to the community that “donors around town actually came up with the funding to build the monument … they bought sculptures and created the landscaping.” -Sherry Ruesch
Despite starting from just a few wagons St. George grew into a city. Now the Encampment Mall stands proudly for the community to come see. A monument for the trials and hardships that the community faced. Running from Heritage Cove all the way down to the parking lot the Encampment Mall is over four times the sizes of a football field. This would be big enough to put in multiple new buildings, back to back. Despite the potential value of this “Encampment Mall is protected ground” -Sherry Ruesch. This means that unless someone decides differently there will not be anything built on the Encampment Mall. If there would ever be something built on it for whatever reason then Heritage Cove, and Encampment Mall would have the support of not just Utah Tech students, but the community as well.
