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Orderville ZCMI
27 Wednesday Apr 2022
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Tag Archives: Co-op
Scipio Co-operative Mercantile Institution
28 Friday Jan 2022
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Co-op, Ghost Signs, Mercantile Buildings, Scipio, utah, Z.C.M.I.
Scipio Co-operative Mercantile Institution
This 1 1/2 story vernacular Victorian-style Scipio Co-operative Mercantile Institution Building, constructed and in operation by 1883, is significant as a material of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Cooperative Mercantile system that started in 1868 and was organized in Scipio one year later. The co-op building was sold to a private party, E.M. Brown, in 1922, who continued to run it as a general retail store for several decades. The building retains its historic integrity and has recently been opened again as a retail store and museum.
Located at 110 North State Street in Scipio, Utah
Farmers Co-Op Building
15 Friday May 2020
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The Moroni Co-Op
04 Saturday Apr 2020
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The old Moroni Co-Op burned down, the photo above is what it looked like and below is where it was.
Ephraim Co-Op Z.C.M.I.
05 Thursday Sep 2019
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Co-op, Ephraim, NRHP, oolite limestone, Sanpete County, utah, ZCMI
Ephraim Co-op Building
Constructed in 1871-72 of local oolitic limestone, this Greek Revival style building is one of the remaining examples of the more than 120 cooperative mercantiles that were established by the LDS church between 1868 and 1878. The first floor was a strong part of Ephraim’s economy beginning as a co-op, then as a United Order store, later used for farm implement sales, a car repair garage, and finally as part of Ephraim Roller Mill when a new addition connected it to the Relief Society granary to the south. That use continued into the 1950s, then, after decades of neglect, the building was restored in 1989-90. The second floor also served many purposes including a social hall, theater, Relief Society hall, and the first home of Sanpete Stake Academy, predecessor of Snow College when it began in 1888.
ZCMI Co-Op Building
1871-1891
Official outlet of ZCMI (Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution), “America’s First Department Store”. This building housed the Ephraim Cooperative Mercantile Institution (The Cop-op) which was part of the ZCMI co-operative system servicing more than 150 communities in the intermountain area with retail commodities and services beginning in 1868.
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The Ephraim United Order Cooperative Building is located at 96 North Main Street in Ephraim, Utah and was added to the National Historic Register (#73001862) March 20, 1973.
In the late 1860’s Mormon communities were faced with the challenge of an ever increasing number of “gentile merchants” settling in Zion. The coming of the railroad in 1869 threatened to enslave the Mormons with an economic bondage that had not been possible before. In response to these challenges church officials developed plans which culminated in the cooperative movement. The basic philosophy of this movement was that Latter-day Saints should not trade with “outsiders” but instead with local cooperative establishments which would be supplied by a “Parent Institution.”
The first step in the cooperative movement was the organization of the Parent Store in Salt Lake City, Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution, on October 24, 1868. Within the next ten years more than 150 local cooperatives were founded.
Perhaps the best remaining example of a local cooperative store is the old Ephraim United Order Go-operative Building. Construction on the building began in 1871 and was completed in 1872. The building was constructed of Sanpete oolitic limestone and its front had two distinguishing features which branded it as a co-op store. The name “Ephraim U. O. Mercantile Institution” and a beehive encircled by the words, “Holiness to the Lord.” Signs for the parent establishment in Salt Lake City contained the inscription “Holiness to the Lord.” Nearly all of the local co-op stores used the name “Cooperative Mercantile Institution” in association with the name of the location.
The cooperative movement, as symbolized by the Ephraim Cooperative Building, was an important part of the Mormon story. According to Leonard Arrington, prominent Mormon historian, “Cooperation, it was believed, would increase production, cut down costs, and make possible a superior organization of resources. It was also calculated to heighten the spirit of unity and ‘temporal oneness’ of the Saints and promote the kind of brotherhood without which the Kingdom could not be built.” (Leonard Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom, p. 309.)
The cooperative store occupied the first floor of the two-story structure. The second floor was constructed as a recreation hall and as a Relief Society meeting hall. Dances and parties were held in the second story. The building became not only an economic but also a social center for the community.
In 1888 plans were made for the establishment of the Sanpete Stake Academy. Funds were not available for the construction of a building and so the Relief Society Hall above the Co-op store was secured. Furniture and equipment were purchased and on November 5, 1888 the Sanpete Stake Academy was opened. The hall was used by the Sanpete Stake Academy until about 1900. In 1902 the name Sanpete Stake Academy was changed to the Snow Academy. This was in turn changed to Snow Normal College in 1917. As the first home of the school which be came Snow College, the old Co-operative Building is also of important historical significance.
Z.C.M.I.
08 Thursday Feb 2018
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Z.C.M.I. – One of the last remaining fragments of the pioneer era
For more than 100 years, this cast iron and sheet metal facade greeted shoppers at Z.C.M.I.’s flagship store. Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution was formed by Mormon merchants in 1868 at the behest of Brigham Young to combat the economic influences of mining and the transcontinental railroad. The enterprise intended to support local manufacturing, control prices, and invest profits back into the community. Its success spawned similar institutions throughout the Intermountain West and eventually inaugurated a major department store chain. Z.C.M.I. was sold in 1999 to May Company. May Co. was sold in 2005 to Federated Department Stores which owns Macy’s.
Salt Lake City merchants belonging to Z.C.M.I. first consolidated in one building – with an elaborate facade – at this location in 1876. When the building was torn down in 1973, the facade, which had been remodeled several times, was preserved and adapted as a store entrance, as it has been again in City Creek Center.
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The historic Cast Iron Front at 15 South Main Street in Salt Lake City was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 22, 1970 (#70000632)
The “Zions Cooperative Mercantile Association” was formed in 1868. Before 1880 one-hundred-fifty branch stores reached into twenty-four counties and one-hundred-twenty-six towns and cities.
On April 10, 1875 a committee was chosen to select a site for a new building in Salt Lake City, and the present site on “East South Temple” (now called Main Street) was selected. The land was purchased from Brigham Young for $30,000.00. The building, which is reputed to be the first department store in America, was completed in March, 1876 and opened for business on April 1, 1876. The cost was $136,544.00, The architects were William H. Folsom and Obed Taylor. The structure is significant because of its unusually well-maintained historic store front of cast iron.
The original Z.C.M.I. building had a frontage of fifty feet by a depth of 318 feet; three stories high, plus a full basement. The whole interior was chiefly lighted by sky lights.
The store front Is a window wall of three matching sections built at three different times. Rows of Corinthian columns divide the windows, These columns are of cast iron In the center (1876) and south (1880) portions but
of heavy stamped sheet metal in the north (1901) portion. There is a modillion cornice at each level and also in the rake of the pediment. The top
cornice has brackets aligned with the columns below and a row of dentils
under the modillions, which are larger than those of the cornices below and
ornamented with an acanthus leaf. Under the pediment is a frieze which extends across the center portion of the storefront. It contains large letters ‘ZCMI’ balanced on each side with circular frames containing the date of founding, 1868, on the left and the date of the pediment construction, 1901, on the right. The rest of the frieze contains a connecting vine and leaf pattern. Above the top cornice antefixes project in alignment with the columns below. They are typical of much of the ornament which is of light
sheet metal formed over wood.
The windows are double hung wood sash 2/2 glazed with obscure glass.
Upper corners of sash and frame are rounded. These windows are extremely large, 11 feet in height and varying in width from 4 feet to 7 feet. They are covered with insect screens of modern louvered mesh in frames which match the windows behind.
The columns are painted black, other ornament and moldings are white
and background planes are gray.
The first floor level which once had a columnar treatment like that above now has large show windows with wide spaced supports and Is spanned
by heavy steel beams.”
As the width of the store front grew the design of the cornice and pediment was changed. Below the marquee and behind the façade there has been frequent modernization, but some of the varnished pine poles remain as
structural columns along with much of the original stamped metal ceiling.
The store plans extensive remodeling and addition; however, the original
cast iron façade will remain.
Provo’s First Cooperative Opened in 1869
27 Friday Oct 2017
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Provo Citizens Opened One of Utah’s First Co-operative Retail Stores in 1869
As the transcontinental railroad neared completion late in 1868, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worried that it might undermine self-sufficiency in Utah and increase the power of Gentile merchants. Brigham Young proposed co-operative merchandising as an alternative to “trading with the enemy.”
He initiated the formation of a wholesale house, Zions Co-operative Mercantile Institution, in Salt Lake City. Young hoped this wholesale outlet would provide inexpensive merchandise to co-operative stores owned by local stockholders in every Utah community.
The people of Provo established one of the first co-operative stores early in 1869. Kimball & Lawrence, a Mormon firm located in Salt Lake City, had just built a two-story brick building where the Knight Block stands today on the northeast corner of University Avenue and Center Street.
The firm realized that they would lose most of their customers to the co-operative movement, so they sold the building and its stock at cost to the Provo Co-operative Mercantile Institution, called by locals the “East Co-op.”
The Co-op did well and doubled in size in 1880 by building an addition onto the east side of the store. The firm continued to show a profit until 1887 when earnings began to fall. By 1895, the co-operative store was bankrupt partly because of extending too much credit.
It successfully reopened two years later, and Jesse Knight bought the property from Z.C.M.I. in 1898. His interests ran the store until 1900, when Knight closed out the stock, tore down the building, and built the present Knight Block, one of the most beloved buildings in the city.
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This plaque is located in Ron Last Park in Provo and is part of this series of plaques.
Sandy Co-op
12 Wednesday Oct 2016
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Co-op, Fire Stations, historic, Historic Sandy, History, Mining, Sandy, utah
Sandy Co-op
This two-story, one-part commercial block building was constructed in 1889. The second story brick addition dates from c. 1890. Both were built during Sandy’s first major period of development known as the “Mining, Smelting, and Small Farm Era, 1871-c1910”. The “Sandy Co-op” sign panel was located below the corbelled brick cornice was alternating rows of dog tooth coursing. The relatively simple design and bilateral symmetry of the building is expressive of the aesthetics employed on commercial structures in Sandy. It is important as the only two-story commercial block building remaining from the City’s original commercial district.
The Sandy Co-op Mercantile and Manufacturing Co. occupied the building until 1908 when it changed hands several times before being purchased and used by the Knights of Pythias between 1912-1943. The main floor was reportedly used for the sale of general merchandise and the upper floor as a meeting and dance hall. The building was converted to serve as Sandy City’s fire station between 1949-1984. In 1988, it was restored to house the Sandy City Museum.
The text on this page is from the plaques on the building. The building is located at 8744 South Center Street in the historic sandy area of Sandy, Utah
The land was originally owned by La Grande Young and sold to Wells Clark in 1886. Sandy Co-op purchased it in 1888. The building was constructed in 1890 with a co-op merchantile store on the bottom floor and a social hall on the top floor. Dances and other social events were held weekly as the main social gatherings. The bottom level was used by a variety of occupants including Jenkins Funeral Parlor from 1908 until 1912. During this time period a huge advertisement for “Bull Durham” was painted on the outside south wall. Located across the street was a Utah Southern Railroad Station. The old building survived the vibration of a great many trains during Sandy’s coming of age. In 1912, Mingo Lodge No. 6 Knights of Pythias purchased the building to be used as a lodge hall and rental for other social functions. It was referred to as the “K.P. Lodge” during this time period. In 1939 Sandy City purchased the building as an interim fire station until a new facility was built in 1984 at another location. The building’s architecture dates from 1890 and is of a non-reinforced masonry construction “low fired brick on a quartzite-granite foundation”.
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ZCMI Co-op Building 1890-1908 Official outlet of ZCMI (Zion’s Co-operative Mercantile Institution), “America’s First Department Store”. This building housed the “Sandy Co-op” which was part of the ZCMI co-operative system servicing more than 150 communities in the intermountain area with retail commodities and services beginning in 1868.
Provo West Co-op
02 Sunday Nov 2014
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Constructed c.1866 and remodeled c.1890, this building is historically significant as one of the oldest extant examples of stores that were developed in the cooperative merchandising movement sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the late 1800s. The cooperative system was devised by LDS church leaders in order to encourage trading among church members and to combat the increasing outflow of financial resources to non-Mormon businesses. In 1869, this cooperative movement had its start in Provo with the formation of the Provo Cooperative Institution, which was later known as the East Co-op. The West Co-op was established later that same year in this building, which had been purchased from A.J. Stewart, a Provo merchant, who had built it about three years earlier.
466 West Center Street in Provo, Utah
(from county records) 
(from county records) 
(from county records)