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SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns may have to wait another year to view a 43-foot replica of the famous golden spike that was driven in Utah 155 years ago to signal the completion of the transcontinental railroad at its final home.
However, when people do see it raised in place — likely in the spring of 2025 — it will be at the site of a brand-new state monument in Brigham City dedicated to celebrating the historic event in state history. The site will include a welcome center that could open by the end of 2025, according to Doug Foxley, chairman of the Golden Spike Foundation, the organization that commissioned the statue and set up the groundwork for a new state park.
Project officials provided the new details during a ceremony at the Utah Capitol on Thursday morning, which ended with Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson ceremonially signing SCR6 — the bill that designates Golden Spike State Monument. Gov. Spencer Cox, who officially signed the bill last month, typically holds the ceremonial bill signing but canceled his appearance as his wife, first lady Abby Cox, recovers from surgery earlier this week.
"We're so thrilled to have (the statue) represent what Utah did in the past — and not just Utah, but so many nations, so many people," Henderson said. "What I love about it is that it celebrates everybody who helped work on the transcontinental railroad."
The new park will be located on about 8 acres of land in Brigham City near the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge visitor center and I-15. It will house a 43-foot, 8,000-pound replica of the famous golden spike created by Kentucky artist Douwe Blumberg. The large statue was unveiled for the first time in Kentucky in October before it went on a multistate tour ending with it being hauled up to the Utah Capitol.
The spike depicts all sides of the transcontinental railroad's history, highlighting the diverse group of people who constructed the important railroad line and celebrating how it linked the country together.
Utah philanthropists Karen and Scott Keller announced Thursday they will donate $1.5 million toward the construction of the welcome center that will also be located at the site. The Utah Legislature previously allocated $2 million toward the development of the site during this year's legislative session.
LOCI, a Salt Lake City-based landscape design firm, was hired to design the site, while Cirque Studios was brought on to design the new center.
Foxley told KSL.com the Golden Spike Foundation had hoped to raise the spike on the land by the end of this summer, but that will likely be moved to the spring of 2025. The delay comes as project leaders work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to clear up some final land issues.
The foundation also hopes to break ground on the Scott and Karen Keller Welcome Center in early 2025 and have "everything completed" by the fall of 2025, he said.
Once complete, the state monument won't replace Golden Spike National Historical Park at Promontory Summit — the spot where the two teams building the transcontinental railroad linked up on May 10, 1869 — but instead potentially bring more attention to it, since the federal site is in a remote place.
The idea is that the large spike might "pique curiosity" for the tens of thousands of people who drive by the site on I-15 every day, Foxley explained, adding that the welcome center will serve more as an informational center about how to get to Promontory Summit than any sort of museum.
Ultimately, he hopes the statue and center will draw travelers in and inspire them to take the drive to the historic location, less than 40 miles northwest of the new state site. He also hopes that both sites will help generate an appreciation of how the transcontinental railroad came together.
"It's not about the financiers. It's about a whole bunch of forgotten — oftentimes diverse groups, oftentimes despised — people working together who were able to accomplish a great thing," he said. "That great thing united the nation, and it's time to unite the nation again."
