The Eagle Gate is a historical monument which forms an arch across State Street in the downtown area of Salt Lake City, Utah.

The monument pays homage to Brigham Young's 1859 Eagle Gate, which served as an entrance to his property and the City Creek Canyon road.

After the road was publicly opened and the gates removed, the arch, with its perched eagle and beehive sculpture, remained over the street.

As a popular symbol of the city, a number of local businesses and structures have been named after the landmark, including the former Eagle Gate Plaza and Tower.

When the area was settled by these pioneers in the 1840s, they wanted to call their state Deseret, a word which means honeybee in the Book of Mormon.

This gate provided a public entrance to Young's property and helped solidify his control of the canyon, the use of which required the payment of tolls.

[11] On February 17, 1859, a wooden sculpture of an eagle perched atop a beehive was placed on arches above the gate, thus giving the entrance its name.

[14] Tradition holds that Truman O. Angell, the church's architect, killed an eagle at the mouth of City Creek Canyon, which became the model for the sculpture.

The children and their friends later remembered climbing over the walls, or passing through the office gate and risking their tardiness being reported to their father by the watchman.

[18] In June 1890, the Salt Lake Railroad Company built tracks running through the archway and up the street, as part of their electric streetcar system.

[19] A rival streetcar business, the Rapid Transit Company, was also granted rights to run their tracks along the same stretch of road.

[20] The two companies then agreed to share a single track through the gate and to add height to the pillars, raising the arches and sculpture higher so as to not interfere with the overhead electric wires.

[22] As talk of demolishing the landmark, widening the road, and moving the eagle sculpture to Liberty Park or the Brigham Young Cemetery progressed,[23][22] many citizens and community groups protested its removal.

A ceremony was held on October 5, 1891, when a time capsule containing local newspapers, photographs and a copper plate with an inscribed history of the gate were placed in the southeast pillar.

[37][38][39] Throughout its history, this gate was improved with electric lights[40] and the eagle's metal coating was refurbished many times,[41][42] including a significant project in 1947 for the centennial celebration of the Mormon pioneer arrival.

At the same time, a second marker was placed on a wall of the neighboring Bransford apartments, to mark the site of Young's estate schoolhouse which had stood just inside the Eagle Gate.

[49][50] There were a number conversations had about widening State Street during the late 19th and early 20th centuries,[51][52] with a serious discussion on the topic taking place in 1936.

[55] In 1938, the streetcar company announced they would be removing the rails running under the monument,[56] and not long after, the local Lions Club began pressing to have the road widened.

[57][58] Again a number of local groups protested the widening due the required changes that would be made to the historic monument, including the First Presidency of the LDS Church.

[66] Just weeks after final details of project were released, on April 18, 1960, the Eagle Gate was badly damaged in a traffic mishap.

The truck and bulldozer belonged to the Alfred Brown Construction Company, which had been doing work at the nearby Utah State Capitol.