Over its 175-year history, the University of Utah has claimed many firsts: first public university in the Mountain West; the state’s first law, medical and dentistry schools; the original artificial heart.

But one of the most iconic markers of the U—the letter on the hill—is a notable No. 2.

The first, a “C,” was built by the University of California at Berkeley in March 1905. University of Utah students erected the “U” and a graduating class number later the same year. (In typical in-state rivalry tradition, there is passionate debate about whether the U was painted before Brigham Young University’s “Y” on the hill above Provo.)

A uniquely American tradition, letters on the hill have proliferated on the hardscrabble hillsides of the American West. California leads with 81. Montana claims 80. And Utah comes in at third with 73 marking high schools and universities throughout the state.

Over the 120 years since the university’s hillside marker of boulders and limestone was cobbled together and whitewashed by students, the Block U has been transformed into a concrete monument with built-in LED lights flipped on game days wirelessly with a “switch” miles away in the Merrill Engineering Building.

“The pilgrimage to the Block U has not slowed down at all,” said Richard Brown, U alum, dean emeritus of the College of Engineering and member of the Federal Pointe Homeowners Association Board. “There are people sitting on the Block U almost every day of the year. Young sweethearts will watch the sunset and see the city lights come on. People get engaged there. They take their little kids there. It’s just an essential part of the university. It’s part of the U experience.”

It was a long evolution in the making.

The tradition began at the turn of the century, when hardy university students would climb the hill, arrange rocks into the year of their class and paint them white. In 1907, university administrators determined the marker needed a more permanent structure and replaced the boulders with a form constructed of limestone. Just over 120 electrified glass lights were added in 1967. For home game wins, the U is lit red; for away games, white.

The shape of the Block U was instrumental in guiding and resolving the fraught debates over which brand and logo the university would use during the 1970s, 80s and 90s, according to Fred Esplin, a university historian and vice president for university advancement from 2006 to 2019. At one point, the university had nearly 30 brands and logos, many depicting Native American symbols and characters in racist or culturally insensitive ways. As awareness changed perceptions on campus, Esplin said, the Block U emerged as the logo of choice for the institution.

Still, by the turn of the next century in 2001, the monument was in disrepair. Vandals regularly smashed the lights. The concrete was cracked and crumbling. Trees grew in the gap.

“It was looking seedy, overgrown and crumbling,” Esplin said.

In 2005, alums and National Advisory Council members Sue and Thayer Christensen, who lived in the Federal Heights neighborhood below the Block U, helped organize the “Renew the U” campaign with ASUU. The community raised $200,000—matched dollar for dollar by Ira and Mary Lou Fulton—to thicken the concrete and embed LED lights. About $250,000 remaining from the campaign paid for student scholarships.

Built on Mt. Van Cott near the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, the land the U sits on has been transferred from federal land managers to Salt Lake City and its school board, then to a housing developer and finally to the Federal Pointe Homeowners Association.

The Block U is overseen by a campus committee which includes Athletics, Advancement, Facilities, Marketing and Communication and Student Affairs. University Facilities budgets approximately $15,000 annually for maintenance, including replacing the concrete and lights on a regular schedule. Last year, the university built a retaining wall at the bottom of the trailhead leading up to the U to address soil erosion coming from the top.

University leaders are considering other improvements in the future, including adding stairs or other erosion control measures. Funding will be instrumental, said Lori Kaczka, senior director of Facilities.

See it for yourself

The Block U trailhead is located at the easternmost end of Tomahawk Drive, north of Shriner’s Hospital.

Park at the trailhead cul-de-sac and walk 1/4-mile to the southeast along the asphalt path.

Google map driving directions here.