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Religious Building Types Other than New England, probably no other region in the country had as strong a religious underpinning for Euro-American settlement as did Utah and the Intermountain West. When the first groups of settlers arrived, these members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormons) planned to build Zion. They intended that faith would permeate everything they did. Naturally, ecclesiastical buildings became a part of the early landscape. However, because of the settlers’ humble circumstances, these early buildings were not as dominant as one might think; they were fairly simple and nondescript. Not long after the Mormons settled in Utah, others followed. Members of various faiths arrived, mostly to proselytize among the Mormons, but these religions soon set down roots as well. Members of the earliest established religions in Utah included Jews, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Methodists, Catholics, and Baptists. Their places of worship became landmarks in many established communities, indicating a growing diversity of beliefs among the citizens.
