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Clarkston Tithing Granary
This tithing granary was built about 1905 and is on the National Register of Historic Places as one of only a few well-preserved tithing buildings in Utah. The successful “in-kind” tithing system of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was in place between 1850 and 1910. Tithing lots, which usually included a granary, an office, and several auxiliary structures, were facilities for collecting, storing, and distributing farm products donated as tithing by Church members in cash-poor agricultural communities throughout the state. These tithing lots were a vital part of the community, serving as the local center of trade, welfare assistance, and economic activity. Tithing lots were also important as the basic units of the Church-wide tithing network centered in Salt Lake City.
All of the buildings on the tithing lot were demolished, except the granary, in the 1950s. The Doug and Ruth Clark family later donated it to the Martin Harris Camp of Daughters of Utah Pioneers. The granary was moved to its present site in 2018 and restored. It now houses a DUP satellite museum with artifacts collected from many sources in the area that represent Clarkston’s heritage. Stone from the original foundation was used to create the marker.
This is Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #592 located at 88 West Center Street in Clarkston, Utah. The marker was dedicated in 2022.
The Tithing Granary was moved on September 8, 2018 to this location at 88 West Center Street from 94 South 100 East (10212 North 8700 West), it was added to the National Historic Register (#85000250) on January 25, 1985.
Built c. 1905, the Clarkston Tithing Granary is historically significant as one of 28 well preserved tithing buildings in Utah that were part of the successful “in kind” tithing system of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon church) between the 1850s and about 1910. Tithing lots, which usually included an office and several auxiliary structures, were facilities for collecting, storing, and distributing the farm products that were donated as tithing by church members in the cash-poor agricultural communities throughout the state. Tithing offices were a vital part of almost every Mormon community, serving as local centers of trade, welfare assistance, and economic activity. They were also important as the basic units of the church-wide tithing network that was centered in Salt Lake City.
The Clarkston Tithing Granary was built c. 1905, probably at about the same time as the construction of the nearby tithing office, which was demolished in the late 1950s. This part of the block was owned by the LDS church and was used as the tithing lot where all the farm products that were donated as tithing were stored. This granary is the only building or structure that remains from the tithing yard. The tithing office, which was located on the corner to the west of the granary, was demolished around 1957, the scales for weighing wagons were removed at an unknown date, and corrals and other granaries that may have been part of the tithing lot are no longer there. A frame building in the center of, the block behind this granary is reportedly the old Relief Society Granary. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the Relief Society, the women’s organization of the LDS church, took upon themselves the responsibility for collecting and storing grain for emergency or welfare assistance. That program was separate and distinct from the tithing program, therefore that building and others like it around the state are not included in the Tithing Building Thematic Resources nomination.
The design of the Clarkston Tithing Granary is a specific type of granary that is found in other northern Utah communities, especially in Cache Valley, but which was possibly a standard design approved and issued by the LDS church from its headquarters in Salt Lake City. Although no direct reference to the Clarkston Tithing Granary has been found in correspondence from the Presiding Bishopric’s Office, which administered the tithing program, a letter pertaining to a granary of similar construction in Garland substantiates the assumption that this was a standard design. It included the following description:
We prefer that you follow the granary plan sent you herewith, and known as granary No. 6, built of 2×4 lumber, spiked and set on three parallel foundation walls, which we find the best style of granary for tithing purposes.”
That description, though not very detailed, fits the Clarkston Tithing Granary, as well as the Lewiston Relief Society Granary, and is very similar to the Lewiston Tithing Granary. A number of other such granaries featuring walls made of 2x4s stacked on top of each other have been identified in farmyards in Lewiston and other northern Utah communities, indicating that it was a popular type whose origin was not solely the LDS church.
