Next October will mark 200 years since the birth of Henry Grow Jr., the Lower Merion architect and civil engineer famous for his work on the Salt Lake Tabernacle, writes Jon Bari for Desert News.

Grow, who grew up in Lower Merion Township, was taught bridge-building techniques by his family. This led him to become the superintendent of all bridge construction for the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad Company before he relocated out West.

Grow first went to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he spent time working on building the Nauvoo Temple. He then moved to Salt Lake City where he designed and built numerous significant buildings, including the Salt Lake Tabernacle.

To this day, Salt Lake Tabernacle, home of the world-renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir, is his best known work, famous for both its engineering and acoustics.

“Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who built many famous buildings, including the Guggenheim in New York City, said the Tabernacle was one of the architectural masterpieces of the country and perhaps the world,” wrote The Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  

Read more about Henry Grow at Desert News by clicking here.