The Tooele South Ward is also known as the Tooele Ward and First Ward. Construction on the meeting house began in 1856 with rock from Settlement Canyon, and under the direction of John Rowberry, one of Tooele’s original pioneers who helped establish the community. The church was completed in 1869 at the present site to Tooele Park. Directly west of the chapel facing Vine Street, stood the old Tooele Stake building. The building housed the Stake Presidency offices and the baptismal font. A monument at the site includes a bell that was originally used in the church’s steeple.
“About February, 1850, the first ecclesiastical organization was formed by Ezra T. Benson who visited the valley; he appointed John Rowberry presiding elder with Phineas R. Wright as the first and Judson Tolman as the second counselor. Immediately following the
organization, meetings were held in private homes, the first being held in the house of Judson Tolman….On the 25 of February 1850, th the first white child was born in Tooele valley. Mrs. Sarah Holbrook Tolman, wife of Judson Tolman, gave birth to a son, later named Judson A. Tolman.” (History of Tooele County, p.24.)