[1] The Council House was originally built to accommodate the government of the provisional State of Deseret.

Deseret was never officially recognized by the United States Government, and in 1850 the U.S. Congress organized the Utah Territory instead.

[4] On June 21, 1883, the building was destroyed when a neighboring wagon depot caught fire and several barrels of gunpowder blew up.

[5] The ruined walls of the Council House stood for several years following the fire, until they were demolished in September 1889.

The museum had been built for the semicentennial celebration of the arrival of the first Mormon pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley.