Built in 1890, the mercantile store was the last building constructed from the Brigham City Co-op. Three years after the store opened, a fire destroyed the business a year before the cooperative organization closed.
First Security Bank bought the building on July 29, 1942
Located in a mini-park near the Railroad Depot is a historical rail with a monument that reads:
Historical Rail
The first transcontinental railroad that tied the west to the east with bands of steel was completed with the driving of the golden spike at Promontory, Utah, 33 miles west of here May 10, 1869. The railroad was abandoned with the ceremonial pulling of the golden spike August 8, 1942. This is the rail which served in the same place as the original rail held by the golden spike. The other rails were used to help relieve the steel shortage during the second world war.
The Junior Chamber of Commerce of Brigham City secured this rail from the Union Pacific Railroad and presented it to Box Elder County.
Dedicated December 22, 1943 by Governor Herbert B. Maw.
Located at 815 West Forest St in Brigham City, Utah
Lorenzo Snow was born 3 April, 1814, in Mantua, Ohio, a son of Oliver and Rosetta Snow. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in June of 1836 at the age of 22. He crossed the plains, captained his wagon company, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. He was called to be an apostle in 1849 at the age of 34. In the same year he was sent to Europe as a missionary, and he helped establish new missions in Italy, Switzerland and Malta, and directed the opening of a mission in India. He served five missions.
In 1853 he was called to preside over the colonization of Brigham City. In 1865 he organized the Brigham City Cooperative Association. He lived in Brigham City from 1873 to 1880, where he helped start a woolen mill, tannery, shoe factory, hat factory, cheese factory, tailor shop, furniture shop, blacksmith and tin shop.
He served as president of the Box Elder Stake, counselor to President Brigham Young, and became President of the Council of the Twelve Apostles in 1889. He also served as President of the Salt Lake Temple. He was sustained as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints 13 September, 1898, and served in that capacity for three years. He improved the financial status of the Church and started the Church on the road to economic prosperity. President Snow distinguished himself as a prophet, writer, educator, missionary, pioneer, legislator and colonizer. He died 10 October, 1901, in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 87.
This monument marks the S.E. corner of fort built by Anson Call and associates in 1855 under direction of President Brigham Young as protection against Indians. The fort was the most northerly outpost in Utah. It was one hundred twenty feet square, with walls eight feet high and three feet thick, built of rock, part of which is in this monument. The circular stones were taken from one of the first burr flour mills built in northern Utah, in 1852, owned by Omer and Homer Call. The three Call brothers were early pioneers and builders of northern Utah.
The depot served thousands of train passengers over the years. The trains also handled shipments of coal, locally grown produce, and mail.
During World War II a track was installed between the depot and Brigham City’s Bushnell Military Hospital for transporting wounded servicemen and medical supplies.
(text of the Historic Tour Marker) Relief Society Granary – Built 1877 The granary was built by the Brigham City Co-op to store wheat collected for the needy by the Relief Society, the LDS Church women’s organization. The wheat was obtained by women and children gleaning in the fields after men had harvested the grain.
This is #89000455 on the National Register of Historic Places.
Located at 100 North 400 East in Brigham City, Utah
(text of the SUP Marker) In 1876, Harriet Snow, Box Elder Stake Relief Society President was asked by the LDS General Relief Society President, Emmeline B. Wells, to join with women’s groups throughout the LDS Church to gather and store wheat against a time of need from drought, crop failure, or insect plaque. Women and children went into the fields after the men completed the harvest and gleaned and stored first in the basement of the courthouse, and then in an upper bedroom of Harriet Snow’s home.
Harriet requested a granary be built and in 1877 Lorenzo Snow, her husband, authorized the construction of this rock building on what was known as Co-op Square. The granary was well-constructed of rock and brick. Primary children gathered glass to be crushed and worked into the mortar to help keep mice out. The women of the Relief Society kept the granary clean and used lime to keep bugs away. The stored wheat was used mostly for local needs, but at times wheat was sent outside Box Elder County. One such day of need arrived in 1898, when wheat was sent to Parowan and other southern Utah settlements that were suffering from drought. In 1906 a train car of flour from the Relief Society granaries was sent to earthquake-devastated San Francisco. At intervals unused wheat was sold and replenished to keep it fresh.
The need for small, local granaries eventually passed, and this building was sold in 1913 to the Box Elder School District to store food for school lunch programs. Because of its thick walls, the building was used for cold storage. When use of the building ceased in 1967, it slowly fell into disrepair. In 2008 the Box Elder Chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers emptied the building of the old freezers, re-built the collapsing roof and refurbished the inside.
This durable old building, the Brigham City Relief Society Granary, today stands as a reminder of the hard work, frugality and vision of the Pioneer settlers of Brigham City and Box Elder County.
(this kiosk was built as an Eagle Project by Scott Shakespear and the Varsity Team 801 with the support of the Box ElderChapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers. S.U.P. Monument #148)
(text from the NRHP Nomination form) Constructed c. 1877, the Brigham City Relief Society Granary is significant primarily for its association with the Mormon Church-sponsored Brigham City Mercantile and Manufacturing Association (the “Co-op”). The Co-op was a highly successful socio-economic cooperative that dominated the local economy during most of its years of operation, 1864-1895. It was also a model for Mormon cooperatives established throughout the Utah Territory in the 1870s. Most of the other co-ops failed quickly, and none approached the level of success attained in Brigham City. The Relief Society Granary is one of only five remaining buildings associated with the Brigham City Co-op; only four of the five are eligible for National Register designation. The granary is also significant for its association with the Relief Society, the women’s organization of the Mormon Church, which used the building for its grain storage program from the late 1870s until 1913. Relief Society granaries were built in most of the 200-plus Mormon communities during the late 1800s, but only eight have been located, identified and evaluated as eligible for National Register nomination.
This small stone granary was constructed by the Brigham City Co-op for the Brigham City Relief Society. The Relief Society is the women’s organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon Church), and the Co-op was the church-based cooperative that was involved in virtually every aspect of Brigham City life during the 1860s-90s. The building was constructed by Co-op workers on the northwest corner of the block known as Co-op Square, where a number of Co-op manufactories were built.
The Brigham City Co-op was an outgrowth of communitarian ideals that had been part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) philosophy from its beginning. In Kirtland, Ohio, on February 9, 1831, while the church was still in its first year, Church President Joseph Smith instituted the law of consecration requiring the people to turn over to the church any surplus property or possessions for the support of the poor. The United Order, an economic cooperative system, operated for a time in Kirtland and then was discontinued.
After the Mormons migrated to Utah from Nauvoo, Illinois, in the 1840s and 50s, church leaders encouraged the settlers in Utah communities to again implement the cooperative system. Part of the reason was to encourage patronage of Mormon enterprises rather than non-Mormon ventures, which were seen as a threat and intrusion in the Mormon settled region. Over 200 cooperatives were established and in operation in Mormon communities between 1868 and 1884 as part of the churchwide effort referred to by historians as the Cooperative Movement. Cooperatives were formed within the local Mormon wards (congregations) for community welfare purposes rather than mere profit. Their methods of operation ranged from businesslike joint-stock corporations to more communal arrangements where members shared everything. The Brigham City Co-op was an example of the joint-stock approach.
The earliest and most successful Mormon cooperative was in Brigham City. Lorenzo Snow, one of the founders of the town and a member of the church’s governing Council of Twelve Apostles, established the Brigham City Co-op in 1864 with the formation of a co-op mercantile store.5 The Co-op went on to form 19 different departments encompassing commerce, industry, agriculture, horticulture, and construction. These departments employed most of the available workers in Brigham City for three decades. Though the Co-op operated until 1895, its first 15 years were its most successful. The demise of the Co-op was brought on by natural disasters, changing attitudes about the role of the Mormon Church in business, legal and financial attacks against the Co-op, and changing hierarchy within the church. One by one, all of Brigham City’s cooperative departments were either abandoned or taken over by private interests. The Co op ceased operation in 1895.
Only five Co-op buildings remain standing. They include the Flour Mill (1856), Woolen Mill (1869-70), Planing Mill (c.1876), Relief Society Granary (c.1877), and Mercantile Store (1891). The Woolen Mill has been extensively altered by later additions, though it still functions as a woolen mill. The 1856 Flour Mill predated the Co-op by eight years, but it functioned as a Co-op industry during the 1860s and ’70s.
Though the granary was built and owned by the Co-op, it was used by the Relief Society for its grain storage program. Grain storage was just one of the duties assigned to the Relief Society after the organization was revived in 1867. Other responsibilities included the following: (1) systematic retrenchment; (2) establishment and operation of cooperative stores selling home-produced merchandise; (3) promotion of home industry, silk in particular; and (4) nursing, midwifery, and hospital maintenance.
Constructed in 1857 and greatly enlarged in 1910, the Box Elder County Courthouse is historically significant as the center of government in Box Elder County for over 130 years. The building has housed virtually all departments of the county government, including the court and judge’s chambers, commission chambers, offices of the cleric, recorder, assessor, and so forth. No other courthouse has ever been built in the county, therefore, this is the only building associated with the administration of Box Elder County governmental affairs. The building is also architecturally significant as the best example of the Neo-Classical Revival style in both Brigham City and Box Elder County. The significant stylistic features are confined only to the 1910 section of the building; the 1857 section is now the non-descript rear wing. The Neo-Classical Revival style was used in Utah primarily just for public and institutional buildings, such as schools, civic buildings, and churches. No other examples of the style have been identified in the Brigham City area.
Located at 1 North Main Street in Brigham City, Utah
The county courthouse was begun in 1855 or 1856 as the first public building in the area. Vaughn Nielson in The History of Box Elder Stake stated that the rock walls for the basement story were all laid by the fall of 1856. After these basement walls were laid up and windows and doors installed, the structure was covered with a temporary roof, and the building was utilized for meetings and drama during the winter of 1856.
In 1857, two stories of adobe brick were built upon this foundation, but before the walls were finished, a strong wind partially blew them down. These walls were then rebuilt and the building was completed before the end of 1857. Lorenzo Snow, the leader of the community, stated that “by the fall of 1857 they had built the second and much better court house, the upper story of which was 45 x 65, while the original basement room was 22 x 45.” He says the roofing of the new structure was fastened with wooden pins.
The cost to construct this building came from donations or labor tithing provided by the townspeople, the vast majority of whom were members of the LDS or Mormon church. The men of the area were asked to spend one tenth of their time working, or were required to supply materials for the workers. Among those who labored on the building were George F. Hamson Sr. who donated ten thousand adobes, William Wrighton, D.M. Burbanks and Peter Baird did carpentry work, Lars Stranquist did rock masonry work, and Joshua Holland did plastering work.
As the only public building for a time, it had many uses: a church, a school, a dance hall, and a theater. Before the community was divided into wards (ecclesiastical boundaries) and separate churches were built, the people of the entire community met in the large upstairs room of the building for church services. It was the largest hall in town and had a gallery built into the entire west end of it with a choir loft under the gallery. A stage was located at the east end of the room and a table was placed on this stage which served as a pulpit during church meetings, When stage entertainment was held, public and church officials sat with their wives in the choir loft. After the town’s division into wards, the Fourth Ward continued to hold church services in the courthouse. They met in the down-stairs east room until 1880.
School was taught in the downstairs east room of the building as late as 1880 and theatrical productions were staged first in the basement, where the scenery was painted directly onto the walls, and later in the large hall upstairs where religious and social functions took place.
County and city government meetings were also held in the early courthouse. Brigham City was incorporated in 1867, and meetings with the mayor and city council at first took place quarterly, then by 1894 bi-monthly sessions were held.
By the early 1870’s there was a large bell which hung in the tower (on the roof) of the courthouse which signaled work time, lunch time, and quitting time with the Brigham City Co-operative enterprises. It also was a fire bell. Late in 1892, the old bell cracked and was replaced by a borrowed one. This one also cracked when it was rung too long celebrating Utah’s Statehood day on January 4, 1896. A town clock was procured in April 1887 for $433.15 and during this year the building was remodeled with a clock tower added plus Italianate detailing on the building. Around the turn of the century, the top floor of the courthouse was being used for the district courtroom, assessor’s office, commissioner’s chambers, sheriff’s office and judge’s chamber.
In January 1910 a major addition to the front (west end) of the original adobe structure was planned by the county commissioners. Local architects Funk and Wells designed this Neo-Classical style addition, which included four large pillars and a larger clock tower in which the 1887 clock would be placed. S.A. Sackett was accepted to do the construction with the low bid of $67,521.00.
By the spring of 1910, the new addition was well underway. it took a year and one-half to complete, and on November 14, 1911, county and district officials moved into the new wing. The Box Elder News of Thursday, November 9, 1911 gives a detailed description of the building and its interior arrangement.
Few changes have been made to the building since its completion. A new clock was purchased for the clock tower in 1950 and in 1960 a small addition was constructed on the northeast part of the building, which was the original adobe part. The architect was Don Frandsen and the contractor was Wayne A. Jensen. This new addition provided more office space for the assessor and treasurer plus additional office space in the basement. The board of education quarters on the top floor was also remodeled at that time – a section of the corridor was partitioned off for office spaces. the Daughters of Utah Pioneer’s relic hall that had been located in the several rooms at the top floor from 1928 until the 1940’s became more visible when it was put behind a glass partition in the hallway of the basement in 1948.24 Those exhibits were moved to the city museum-gallery in 1978 when the hallway was narrowed to accommodate an elevator for handicapped access. the board of education also moved out of the courthouse in March of 1977 when it acquired an old church building for its offices at 230 West 200 South.
Constructed in 1909 at a cost of about $7000, this building originally housed the city fire department on the main floor and city offices on the second floor. It also had a jail cell in the southeast corner and “hobo apartments” in the basement. This was the first city hall built in Brigham City, the city offices having been previously located in the adjacent county courthouse. In 1935 the fire department moved out, and the fire-truck bay on the façade was replaced with the existing brick façade to better accommodate city office use of the main floor. The building continued to serve as the city hall until 1974. Designed by local architect Andrew Funk, this building is the only example of the Spanish Colonial style in Brigham City.
Constructed in 1909 and remodeled in 1935, the Brigham City Fire Station-City Hall is historically significant as the first fire station and city hall constructed in the town and as the center of municipal government and services for over twenty-five years. It originally housed the fire department and city offices, the latter having been previously located in the adjacent Box Elder County Courthouse. Community growth and commensurate expansion of city services led to the removal of the fire department to new facilities and the remodeling of this building for enlarged city offices in 1935. It continued to serve as the city hall until 1974. The building is also architecturally significant as the only example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in Brigham City.
In the January 3, 1907, edition of The Box Elder News, a persuasive article supported the idea of constructing a city hall-fire station and made a case for it to be located north of the county courthouse so that the government offices would be centrally located. Two years later, in May 1909, the proposal won approval from the city council, which gave the go ahead for construction on a site just north of the courthouse. A frame library building that was on the site had to be moved back off Main Street (east) to accommodate the new fire station.
The following description of the proposed building was given in the local newspaper.
Basement containing store rooms for electrical and water works supplies, under the main floor. In the east end will be built a cement room for the accommodation of tramps and other undesirable citizens who wish to lodge with the city. At the northeast end of the basement will be the hose tower which will rise to a height of seventy feet. In the top of the tower will be a belfry. The ground floor will be given over to the Firemen for truck stalls, excepting a corner of the southeast end, where a jail cell will be put in. This cell will not connect in any way with the “hobo” apartments underneath, but will be used for the more respectable “drunks, etc.” The stairway leads up from the main entrance on the west end and the upstairs will be divided into five rooms viz: a large assembly room for the city council and the public, two city offices, fireman’s library and lavatories. The building will be constructed of reinforced cement and pressed brick, with a Spanish metal tile roof, in all to cost approximately $7,000.
In the July 22, 1909, edition of the paper, it was reported that architect Andrew Funk and Supervisor M.L. Nichols staked off the ground for the erection of the fire station, which was “16 feet east of the east Main street walk line, and 16 feet south of the north side walk line of the avenue running east and west.” Contractor Lars Hansen was to begin the work as soon as the excavation was completed. 5 The concrete foundation was underway by August 5, 1909 6 , and the completion of the building was celebrated by a Fire Department Social and Ball which was held in the large dancing hall of the Opera House and reported in the March 10, 1910 newspaper.
By 1934 the Fire Department was looking for more room to house their equipment, and in early 1935, the city purchased the Glover property at First West and Forest to build a new facility. The old fire station was to be remodeled to house the expanding city offices. Plans for this remodeling were drawn up by Salt Lake City architect Carson B. Wells (formerly of Brigham City), and they included a new front with a Main Street entrance, and the main floor would be converted into office rooms.
In June of 1935, the fire department moved out of the old fire station, and the remodeling of this structure began. The remodeling was finished by mid-September 193510 at a cost of around $6500. The Box Elder News gave a detailed report of its new appearance.
The new front is of red pressed brick, with black rodded joints and the rest of the building and tower have been painted to match the front. The main entrance is at the front of the building and the doors and windows are surrounded with ornamental white granite. At the entrance is an eight-foot terrace decorated with ornamental white granite, with an imitation red tiled floor. In the two front corners of the Terrance are large sixteen-inch flood lights to illuminate the front of the building. In the peak of the front of the building has been placed a neat Neon lighting effect by LeRoy Campion. The office space in the building has been doubled, the vault enlarged, and provision made for rest rooms and lavatories. The main room has a plaster Paris cornice where the walls meet the ceiling and a beautiful arch spans the center of the room. A large oak counter will separate the lobby from the offices. In the lobby is a fine drinking fountain and the floor will be covered with imitation tiled inlaid linoleum. The floor in the office space will be covered with imitation tiled green linoleum. The council chamber and rooms on the second floor have been renovated and redecorated and a cornice has been placed where the walls and ceiling meet in the chamber . . . . Local workmen have been employed on the job. Amos Larsen assisted in painting the brick; Alma Thompson and Edgar Rasmussen painted the roof and exterior; among the carpenters on the job were John J. Johnson, Fred Kelly, Alf Jorgensen and others; Joseph Earl did the plastering and cornice work, and the pressed granite work was done by Hans Pella. The electric wiring and lighting was done by Deverell Petersen, under supervision of City Electrician Orion Eskelsen. Architect Carson F. Wells of Salt Lake City drew the plans, and Councilman A.M. Hansen supervised the construction in behalf of the city. A sixty-foot steel flag pole was erected on the city hall grounds yesterday at the top of which a beautiful American flag was unfurled to the breeze.
In 1965 an annual report called “Progress-1965” published by Brigham City Corporation documents the use of the building: The main floor office under the direction of City Recorder Tolman Burke handled all business affairs of the city including maintaining all official records, water, sewer, and miscellaneous charges. There were seven employees under Mr. Burke in this office. Upstairs was the large southeast room for the Circuit Court which also doubled as the city council chambers. The judge’s office was in a small northwest corner room. The Police Department occupied the two other upstairs rooms with the dispatch office in the southwest corner and the Chief of Police’s office in the northeast corner room with a restroom located between the judge’s office and Chief of Police’s office on the north side of the building. In the basement of the building were rooms for the public works department, the inspection department and the civil defense headquarters.
In August of 1966, the police department moved out of the upstairs of this city building and into a remodeled facility which has since been torn down, but was located northwest of the First Security Bank building on Main Street.
After this move, $5,000 of remodeling to this upstairs part of the building was underway by October 1966. A new coat of paint was applied throughout, and the Circuit Court room received new drapes. A new city clerk’s office replaced the police dispatcher’s office in the northwest corner, and a mayor’s office replaced the Chief of Police’s office in the northeast corner.
The city offices were becoming more and more cramped for space, so the city council decided to erect a new city government building. In January of 1973, groundbreaking for a new city hall building began. The new structure was built just north of this old city hall building on Main Street. The architect was Ralph Edwards, and the contractor was Reid Oyler. The cost of the new structure was around $560,000. The new city hall was completed mid-December of 1973, and the city officials and employees vacated their offices in the old building to move into the more modern one on December 29, 1973.
Two months later in February 1974 the Brigham City Chamber of Commerce was negotiating with Harold Felt and the city council to lease the main level of the old city hall. Although Mayor Felt would have preferred tearing the building down and building another for the Chamber of Commerce, a negotiation was finally reached and a lease was signed around the first of March 1974 with Mayor Felt and Boyd Newman, president of the Chamber of Commerce, for the Chamber’s use of the building.
Renovation of the main level was accomplished by the Chamber of Commerce for around $6500 by late spring of 197423 while the upstairs part of the building was used by the Alcohol Counseling and Information Service. The second floor, however, was not taken good care of and soon ran into a state of disrepair. Around 1980, the Knights of Columbus Fraternal organization took over the upstairs part of the building with the understanding that they would do maintenance and custodial care.