I feel that I represent a goodly portion of the people of the United States, because there are people in all sections of this land whose fathers, or uncles, or other relatives, aided in building the railroad which welded the nation together during a dangerous period in its history, when it might have been torn asunder had it not been for the speedy transportation and communication which this railroad brought into being.

Bernice Gibbs Anderson founded and led the movement to have the site preserved as a memorial to the First Transcontinental Railroad, starting with articles about local history that began in 1926.

[14][15]: GS-5:14  Anderson was president of the Golden Spike Association of Box Elder County, which held its first re-enactment of the joining of the rails on May 10, 1952,[16] using local volunteers organized by Judge B.C.

[15]: GS-5:15, 19  Anderson tirelessly wrote to state and federal officials urging them to build a monument at Promontory Summit, and it was authorized as a National Historic Site on April 2, 1957, under non-federal ownership; at that time, the Golden Spike Association maintained the site under a cooperative agreement between the Southern Pacific Railroad and the state and federal governments.

[8] It was authorized for federal ownership and administration by an act of Congress on July 30, 1965, as Golden Spike National Historic Site.

[17][18] The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law March 12, 2019, redesignated it as a national historical park.

119 and Central Pacific Jupiter, respectively, and placed on a section of restored trackage to recreate the completion ceremony.

[11] The "119" (the V&T Reno) was sold to Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona, and the "Jupiter" (the Genoa), was sold to the state of California, and the two engines were sent to their respective new owners the following year, the latter engine joining the rest of the former Pacific Coast Chapter RLHS-owned equipment in what ultimately became the California State Railroad Museum.

This event was attended by several notable local leaders, including Utah governor Gary Herbert and the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M.