By Angela Ashby
L. Douglas Smoot, a professor in the chemistry department, said personal inspiration drove him throughout his involvement in the process of preserving the old Brigham Young Academy building.
'The project itself was the most difficult, challenging thing I''ve ever done in my life,' said Smoot, chair of the Brigham Young Academy restoration committee, in a presentation in the Harold B. Lee Library on Thursday.
Smoot was heavily involved in the restoration project, donating over 8,000 volunteer hours and serving as chair of seven different preservation committees.
Smoot''s cousin approached him about participating in the project. He said his first reaction was that his cousin was out of her mind. The project had failed 11 failed times earlier, and was the subject of lawsuits and negative publicity.
'Somehow the Spirit started working on me and I kept thinking about it,' he said. 'Ideas were coming at night, so I had to keep a pencil and paper by my bed so I could wake up and write these ideas down.'
Smoot began his crusade in 1995 to get the community involved in the project. Ultimately, he was responsible for raising $5.3 million in private donations and passing a $16.8 million bond in Provo to restore the historical edifice.
The renovation has enabled the Provo City Library to occupy the old BY Academy Square since September 2001.
'We''re still working on it, we haven''t finished the project yet,' Smoot said. 'Within the next few months the last cultivation of this effort will be the historic academy gates.'
Smoot received his motivation from because his great-grandfather, Abraham O. Smoot, was involved in the Brigham Young Academy. Abraham O. Smoot was the first president of the Board of Trustees of the Academy.
Smoot said he was driven to participate in the project because of his love for Provo City and the university.
'What really drove me was all of the people that said it couldn''t be done,' he said.
Smoot wrote a book about the project titled 'Miracle at Academy Square.' All proceeds from the book will go to BYU and the Provo City Library.
Before the lecture, Smoot gave a full collection of several volumes of the complete history of Academy Square to the HBLL.