Thomas Battersby Child photograph collection, 1880-1999

Thomas Battersby Child, Jr. (1888-1963) was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 6, 1888 to Thomas Battersby Child, Sr., and Elizabeth Livingston Child. He was an expert mason and masonry contractor; husband; and bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Tenth Ward. Married to Bertha Derrick Rumel (1891-1965) in 1911; they had three children. He was president of Thomas B. Child and Co., a masonry contracting firm founded by his father. He built the stone and brick work for many prominent buildings in Utah including: the Ogden High School; the chapel for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington, D. C.; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints temples in Idaho Falls, Idaho and Los Angeles, California; and more. He served as senior member of the Sons of Utah Pioneers Luncheon Club.

Starting in 1945, at the age of fifty-seven, Child began working on a sculpture park in his backyard. Using stone from all over Utah, he built twelve sculptures and over seventy engraved stones. The sculptures represent Child’s interpretation, in stone, of the basic tenets of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Christianity and work. The park contains many tributes to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, like a sphinx with Joseph Smith, Jr.’s face, and other biblical allusions, like Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream from the Book of Daniel. The park also includes personal sculptures, such as an altar to his wife Bertha and a self-portrait statue of Child himself.

Child worked on Gilgal Garden until his death in 1963. After his death, the Grant Fetzer family bought the garden and maintained it until 2000, when they attempted to sell it. The Friends of Gilgal Garden raised enough money to buy the garden and reopen it as a city park. Friends of Gilgal have worked since 2000 to continue preservation and restoration by raising funds to continue their work and keep the park accessible to the public. The purpose of the Friends of Gilgal Garden is to restore, preserve, protect, and maintain the artifacts, sculptures, engraved stones, arrangements, facilities, and land known as Gilgal in Salt Lake City, Utah.