This granary is located in Pioneer Park in Ephraim, Utah.
A granary is a storehouse or room in a barn used to store threshed grain, corn or animal feed. This granary was built at 263 East 100 South, Ephraim, Utah. It was moved to Pioneer Park in 2003. The grain was stored upstairs and the family lived downstairs.
The property was first deeded to Hans Christian Jensen by George Taylor, Mayor of Ephraim City on January 17, 1872.
Hans Christian Jensen married Nellie Lundstein and they had 10 children. Nellie died with the birth of the tenth child. Hans Christian Jensen came to Utah from Denmark and Nellie came to Utah from Sweden.
Amelia Dorothy Christina Jensen and her sister were both born in the granary on a straw tick. Amelia was 41 when Helen was born and Helen is now 91 (when this was originally written in 2003). This confirms the age of the granary to be at least 132 years old. (Now in 2021 it is approximately 140 years old).
Hans ran the Christian Willardsen lumber mill located southeast of Ephraim just below what was known as Guard Knoll. He milled the lumber for the home, granary, and barn. The rock for the barn and the home were obtained from the quarry in Pigeon Hollow. The barn was subsequently torn down by the city (per Shauna Thompson). The home, and we assume the barn, were built by A.C. Neilson (Called the Mormon Preacher by the Ephraim People.)
The granary was given to the Ephraim Senior Citizens/Ephraim City by Ted Lemar Christensen of Richfield in late July 2003. The senior board and Ephraim City – with Richard Anderson heading up efforts – had it moved to pioneer park in August 2003.
When the granary was received by the senior citizens the entire second floor contained grain that was believed to be barley which was then removed by the seniors. The two beds were originally in the granary. One was given to Virginia Nielson and one to Shirley Zabriskie, both were returned to the granary when it was moved to the park. These straw ticks were not originally in the granary. They were replicated by Carolyn Tidwell.
One of the ten children was Amelia Dorothy Christina Jensen who married Christian Bjerregaard. They had five children (2 girls and 3 boys). One of the girls – Helen Bjerregaard Rigby – Champion, leader, and constant advocate for senior rights in Ephraim. Helen, together with Alvin Rigby, Roy and Melba Reid, Vera (Ken) Reid, Melba (Arvel) Hansen, Vertis and Larue Nielson, Edna Benson, Flora and Howard Willardsen, Hilmer Petersen, Clayton and Esther Petersen, and many others, pioneered the senior activity in Ephraim.
