[2] At first, services were held in rented space and at Fort Douglas (where McLeod was the military chaplain), but by mid-February the congregation was actively planning to construct a church building of its own.
[6][7] The church's first permanent home, named Independence Hall, was an adobe building at Third South, west of Main, built at a cost of $5000 and designed to seat 200 people.
[6][7] In its early years, Independence Hall served as a meeting place for many other non-Mormon religious and civic groups in the community.
[5][2] The Episcopalians were its principal tenants in the period of Congregational inactivity between Robinson's 1866 murder and McLeod's 1872 return.
[7] The hall was also the site of Jewish services, civic and political meetings, dances, and Masonic and Odd Fellows activities.
Independence Hall's location in the city's growing central business district made it advantageous to sell the property and move to a new site outside the downtown area.
[2] After Independence Hall was sold for $50,000, a new church, located at the corner of First South and Fourth East, was built for a cost of $40,000.
[5] The new church, which opened for worship in May 1892, was a gray sandstone building with Romanesque architectural elements, designed by architect Warren H.
Built by Farrand and Votey, it was the largest organ in Utah when it was first installed in the old church, with 45 ranks, 70 stops, and 2,745 pipes.