Tag Archives: History

History of Provo and Brigham Young University

13 Monday Apr 2020

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This large mural created by Everett Clark Thorpe in 1941 is located in the Federal Building at 88 W 100 N in Provo, Utah and is titled “History of Provo and Brigham Young University.”

This mural depicts important events in the history of Provo, Utah. The historical development of Brigham Young University is the focus of the upper-left side of the mural which includes images of Old Lewis Hall, the university’s first building; the church school’s cooperative mercantile store room; and a contemporary parade.

Focusing on early Provo history, the lower-left section depicts early settlers gathering honey dew from leaves along the river and promising Native Americans not to drive them from their traditional hunting grounds. The center of the mural features the migration of early settlers from Salt Lake City to Provo with the approach of Johnston’s army, and hikers pausing by an Aspen Grove on Mt. Timpanogas. Economic development is the focus of the right side with images of the wool, iron, fishing, and mining industries juxtaposed with images of Mt Timpanogas and the Provo River.

Born in 1907 in Providence, Cache County, Utah, the artist later lived in Logan. He died in 1976. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries and museums including the Utah State Institute of Fine Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Denver Art Museum and the Utah Art Center.

The Promise of Peoa

30 Thursday Jan 2020

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The Promise of Peoa

In May of 1857, an exploring party, under the direction of W.W. Phelps, visited this area seeking locations for future settlements. After selecting this as a place appropriate for such a settlement, he said a prayer of dedication over the area.

Phelps reported in the Deseret News: The place was dedicated, as all the earth will eventually be, for the benefit of Israel, and whoever loves there must love by faith and works in spirit and in truth, for no one else can hope to live there on any other principle.

When settlers arrived three years later in 1860, living close together was necessary for their mutual protection. initially, they built their log homes next to each other, forming a rectangular fort.

This fort was built straddling the creek, thereby providing the occupants with a fresh source of water within the confines of the fort. The creek was thereafter called Fort Creek. The location of this fort is at the present junction of Woodenshoe Lane and State Road 32.

The area to become Peoa was laid out as a town site with each settler taking a strip of land some 12 rods wide, making about 12 acres, running approximately east and west from the road toward the West Hills. (A rod is a unit of measurement 16 1/2 feet.)

On the top of each farm were two buildings lots right next to the road. As the entire town site was not used up, there was a strip on the south end that was divided into what was called “meadow claims” of about 6 acres each. These claims ran perpendicular to the original claims south from what is now Marchant Lane. After these claims were taken (one claim for each family), the portion to the west and south was called “The Undivided” and used in common by the entire community for grazing.

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Shem, Shivwits Indian Chieftain

04 Wednesday Jul 2018

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2018-02-19 17.27.06

Grave of Shem, Shivwits Indian Chieftain

Located in the St. George City Cemetery.

1840, Feb. 24, 1930 Friend of the pioneers and faithful member of the LDS Church

Shem was a well-known chieftain of the Shivwits Band. Highly respected by the new settlers and his own people, Shem served as a peacemaker for the two cultures. He converted to the LDS Church and was a faithful member. He died in 1930 at the age of ninety years. His grave had gone unmarked for many years.

Shem, Shivwits Band Chieftain is SUP Marker # 112, see others here.

2018-02-19 17.26.59

Army Troops Caused the “Provo Riot” in 1870

05 Thursday Oct 2017

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2017-09-12 19.22.13

Army Troops Caused the “Provo Riot” in 1870.

Late in July, 1870, two companies of the U.S. Army’s 13th Infantry stationed at Camp Douglas in Salt Lake City arrived in Provo and established Camp Rawlins, a tent encampment on the southern edge of Grandview Hill near where 900 North and 1550 West now intersect.

Provo officials responded by increasing the city’s police force to 62 men, many times the useful number.

Local leaders and many residents treated the soldiers poorly and avoided them whenever possible. Townspeople did not invite the newcomers to any of their parties and dance, although the soldiers tried to be sociable. The troopers resented this treatment.

Just after payday in September, 1870, the soldiers decided to have a party of their own. They found it difficult to secure a hall, but John M. Cunningham finally consented to rent them the large octagonal house he occupied on the southwest corner of 500 West 100 North.

Soldiers gathered at Cunningham’s house for dinner, drink, and dance on the night of September 22, 1870. The more these partygoers drank, the more resentful they became of the local leaders.

Around midnight, some of the revelers burst outdoors and went on a rampage through town. They fired random shots, smashed windows, broke doors, and sacked three houses belonging to local authorities. The rioters even made a half-hearted attempt to burn down the town’s meetinghouse.

After meeting token resistance, the soldiers returned to Cunningham’s home. They eventually dragged themselves back into camp in time for reveille.

The soldiers then received a surprise: residents insisted that they be arrested and made to pay for the damages. The War Department deducted reparations from their next paychecks, and many of the rioters were sentenced to military confinement.

Those involved in what became known as the “Provo Riot” soon received transfers. Then soldiers and Provo citizens peacefully coexisted until the troops returned to Salt Lake City in June, 1871.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park in Provo, for other markers in this series click here.

2017-09-12 19.22.21

 

Several Brick Manufacturing Companies Once Operated in Provo

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

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2017-09-12 19.11.52

Several Brick Manufacturing Companies Once Operated in Provo

Colonists erected the first adobe homes in Provo in 1851. As time passed, builders yearned for a more durable brick. In 1864, Philander Colton manufactured the first kiln of fired brick, and brick gradually replaced adobe as the building material of choice.

Ten years later, in 1874, William Allen purchased an acre of land, erected two mills to grind and mix materials, hired ten men, and went into the brick manufacturing business on a large scale. Others, including John Beesley, Nels Tiffany, Halma Smith, George Jacques, and William D. Roberts, soon followed his example.

Thomas Cook was one of Provo’s most important brick manufacturers of the 1880s. Cook moved his brick works as he used up the clay. All three of his brick plants lay along the road between Provo and Springville. Cook and his various partners furnished bricks for the main building at the Utah State Hospital, the Provo Tabernacle, the Old Utah County Courthouse, the smokestack of the Provo Woolen Mills, and many of the city’s older brick homes.

Cook, Liddiard & Company made travel on the Springville road dangerous in 1889 when it set up a steam powered engine for mechanically pressing brick right next to the much-traveled thoroughfare. The machine spooked most of the horses that went past it.

After a runaway in which an elderly woman and her son were thrown from their carriage when the machine caused the horse to stampede, the public lodged a growing number of complaints. Cook & Liddiard built a tall board fence around the brick press. This screened the machine from the view of the horses. Safe travel resumed.

In 1903, six Provo men incorporated the Provo Pressed Brick Company which leased land north of Provo and built a modern, water powered plant near the railroad tracks that once ran up 200 West. This company operated well into the 20th century.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park in Provo, for other markers in this series click here.

2017-09-12 19.03.48

Utah Territory’s Deseret Telegraph Line Connected Provo to the Rest of Utah.

04 Wednesday Oct 2017

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2017-09-12 19.03.21

Utah Territory’s Deseret Telegraph Line Connected Provo to the Rest of Utah.

In October 1861, two companies–one working from the east and one working from the west– met in Salt Lake City and completed the transcontinental telegraph line. This line brought national news to Salt Lake City, but since the wires ran basically east and west and almost all of Utah’s settlements ran north and south, the telegraph did little to spread news throughout Utah Territory.

The very day telegraphers sent the first official message over the transcontinental line, Brigham Young called advisors into his office and began planning a telegraph line that would run north and south and connect Mormon settlements with Salt Lake City. The line would make it faster and easier to conduct church, government, and business activities in the territory.

Unfortunately, the Civil War delayed construction of the line until 1867 when Mormon leaders, including Provo’s William Miller, organized the Deseret Telegraph Company. Mormon men, who had gained experience providing poles for the transcontinental telegraph and helping erect them, now went to work building their own line.

Local communities like Provo were responsible for financing the lines running through their town and halfway to the next community. Provo was also responsible for financing a portion of the line running from Santaquin to Scipio. Church leaders asked for contributions and Provo’s city council used the heavy license fees that it charged liquor merchants to help pay for the line.

Provo’s telegraph office was located in a barn behind William Miller’s house which once stood just across the street south of the Provo City Center Temple. Brigham Young later bought the property and one of Young’s wives lived in the house. Provo’s wards had to pay the telegraphers, many of whom were women. The Deseret Telegraph Company continued to operate in Provo until the Western Union Company purchased the line in 1900.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park in Provo, for other markers in this series click here.

2017-09-12 19.03.34

Provo’s First Tithing Office was South of Provo’s Town Square, Now Pioneer Park.

03 Tuesday Oct 2017

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2017-09-12 18.49.36

Provo’s First Tithing Office was South of Provo’s Town Square, Now Pioneer Park.

Because of the scarcity of money in Utah Territory, Provo’s early settlers paid their tithing in kind, donating ten percent of what they produced to the LDS Church. It became necessary for each community to build a tithing office and yard where a clerk recorded everything people brought in and safely stored a variety of donations that included butter, eggs, livestock, hay, potatoes, brooms and even salted fish in barrels.

The community’s Presiding Bishop supervised the collection and storage of the tithing. He also distributed goods to public workmen and the needy. Freighters transported the surplus tithing to the General Tithing Office in Salt Lake City.

On February 12, 1852, Brigham Young directed Provo’s Presiding Bishop, Elias H. Blackburn, to build a tithing office, corral and other needed storage facilities. Men donating labor tithing soon began construction of Provo’s first tithing yard and office located on the northeast quarter of the block directly south of Pioneer Park, Provo’s first town square.

The adobe, two-story office was built on a good, rock basement level, and measured 36 feet long and 24 feet wide. Workmen finished the sturdy storehouse that fall. In April, 1854, an earthquake visibly rocked the tithing office for two or three seconds but the tremor did not damage the building.

In 1858, after only six years of use, Brigham Young wanted the tithing office and yard moved to another location on the east side of town. The church then rented out the old property. The exact date of the building’s eventual demolition is unknown.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park in Provo, for other markers in this series click here.

2017-09-12 18.49.47

Provo’s Two Oldest Existing Homes Are Neighbors in Pioneer Village

26 Tuesday Sep 2017

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2017-09-12 18.48.38

Provo’s Two Oldest Existing Homes Are Neighbors in Pioneer Village.

Two pioneer neighbors, John W. Turner’s log cabin and James W. Loveless’ adobe home, stand near each other in Provo’s Pioneer Village in North Park, which was once the site of Provo’s second fort, Fort Provo.

The two homes offer a fine example of an architectural change that was taking place in Provo in the early 1850s. Builders were switching from using logs as a building materiel to using sun dried brick called adobe.

John W. turner helped settle Provo in 1849. In 1853, men hauled logs to the settlement from the Wasatch Mountain, and Turner built a small log cabin for his young bride. It stood on what is now the southeast corner of the intersection of 100 West and 100 North. The couple’s first child was born in this cabin, but the family soon moved. At least two other inhabitants lived in the structure after the Turners left.

Eventually the Collins family moved the cabin to 700 West between 100 and 200 North, where it was often used as a schoolhouse. In 1931, Provo City gave David H. Loveless, an artifact collector and member of the Sons of Utah Pioneers, permission to create a pioneer village in North Park. He bought the Turner cabin and moved it to the park as a part of the original village.

James W. Loveless and his family settled in Provo in 1851, and he built a one-room adobe house near the corner of 900 West and 600 South. Because of the Walker War, he moved inside what would soon become Provo’s third fort and built a two-room adobe at what is now 677 West 200 South. While Loveless, who was the father of David Loveless, lived in this small house, he married two additional wives.

James moved to a larger house in 1861. The small adobe house miraculously survived on its original lot until 2014 when the Sons of Utah Pioneers moved it to their Pioneer Village. The little log cabin and the small adobe home can now be seen free of charge in Provo’s North Park.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park in Provo, for other markers in this series click here.

2017-09-12 18.48.49

Creating the “Y” on the Mountain.

24 Sunday Sep 2017

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2017-09-12 18.41.40

Creating the “Y” on the Mountain.

A mischievous prank played in 1906 by Brigham Young University‘s Class of 1907 led to the construction of the giant “Y” on the mountain easy of Provo.

The pranksters formed the date “1907” on the slope, which enraged the seniors in the class of 1906. Before they could retaliate with a prank of their own, an editorial in the school newspaper suggested that a giant “BYU” should be fabricated high on the mountain to advertise the local university. The class of 1906 jumped on this suggestion.

The idea caught on and a student committee was formed to study the project. Its members thought that three letters was too ambitious and decided that just a “Y” formed out of slaked lime on the highest possible site on the mountainside would be sufficient.

Professor Ernest D. Partridge designed a plain letter “Y” and supervised the survey of the letter. It was elongated so that it would appear normal when viewed from the campus. Three of his students staked out its outline on the mountainside.

Despite threatening weather on May 15, 1906, the make student body went to work. They cut scrub oak, cleared the surface, and constructed the rock frame of the giant letter. As soon as the outline had been prepared, the young men formed a bucket brigade and passed up all of the lime necessary to cover the letter about one inch deep.

At about 5:00 p.m. the work was completed and a giant white letter brightened the mountainside. Some 200 female students arrived with a very welcome picnic. The student body triumphantly paraded through the street of Provo, being very proud of their work.

In succeeding years, students whitewashed the “Y” each spring. They also gradually added rocks and concrete to the interior of the letter and constructed serifs on it’s base and on its tops to make it a “Block Y.” More recently, the giant symbol has been encased in solid concrete. Electric lights now illuminate the outside of the “Y” on special occasions rather than the tedious and sometimes dangerous method of using open flames.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park in Provo, for other markers in this series click here. And see this page for more info on the “Y.”

2017-09-12 18.41.48

Provo’s North Park had a Community Ice Skating Rink in the 1930s.

21 Thursday Sep 2017

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2017-09-12 18.38.20

Provo’s North Park had a Community Ice Skating Rink in the 1930s.

During the 1940s, ice skating flourished on what was then called the Provo Boat Harbor (Utah Lake State Park). Before there was a harbor, however, there were very few safe places to skate on the lake.
In an effort to keep skaters out of harm’s way, Provo City and the federal government’s Works Progress Administration cooperated to open an ice skating rink in the old baseball park that once stood on the land now occupied by the Provo City Recreation Center.

In November, 1938, the Junior Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts of America, and BYU’s Associated Men Students sponsored activities to help raise money for the construction of the temporary rink. The Jaycees sponsored a work day where leveling and banking were completed, and men flooded the rink, which measures approximately 400 by 600 feet.

Men sprinkled water on the rink every night for the remainder of the cold season. Laborers hung roughly 2,000 square yards of canvas over the ice to help protect it from the sun. Warm weather delayed the opening of the rink, but authorities finally sanctioned a limited opening of the outside facility to “children only” on December 14, 1938, and 300 kids attended. Ballpark lights illuminated the rink at night.

Children monopolized the rink until a grand opening on January 3, 1939. Provo City gathered Christmas trees and placed them around the ice to make the rink look “realistic.” So many patrons attended that evening schedules were divided into an early session for those age 12 and under, and a later session for those over 12. A public address system provided music for the skaters.

Children under 15 years old were admitted free. All others paid 10 cents. Skaters could check their shoes for an additional 5 cents. These fees helped pay for lighting and sprinkling expenses. The rink closed on February 23, 1939. It opened again for the next two winters and then was discontinued when safe skating became available on the partially completed Provo Boat Harbor. During its short history, over 23,000 skaters used the rink in North Park.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park, for other markers in this series click here.

2017-09-12 18.38.30