Mercantile & Manufacturing Association Tannery, First East Street, Brigham City

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This is one of the remaining "United Order" cooperative buildings in the state. The Brigham City cooperative was formed by Lorenzo Snow, later President of the Mormon Church. PART I. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. Physical History: 1. Original and subsequent owners: Brigham City Mercantile & Manufacturing assn., William Kemp, Kemp, Frederick Hillman, Daniel Stuart, John F. Leggett, Fred & Elizabeth Hillman, Louie B. Call, - present (Description: Brigham City Survey, Block 20 Plat 3, Part Lot 2, Lots 3 & 4. Section 13, NR2iJ 2. Date of erection: 3. Architect: Unknown. 4. Builder, suppliers, etc.: Members of the cooperative. 5. Alterations: Roof partly destroyed by fire since BRIGHAM CITY MERCANTILE AND MANUFACTURING ASSOC. TANNERY HABS No. U-46 (Page 2) B.

Historical Events and Persons Associated with the Building: The attempt at a "United Order Cooperative" communal insti- tution in Brigham City was made under the leadership of Lorenzo Snow, later a President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was called the Brigham City Mercan- tile and Manufacturing Association. In a letter to Bishop Lunt of Cedar City in October, Mr. Snow described the association as follows: "We commenced over twelve years ago by organizing a mercantile department, which consisted of four stockholders, myself included, with a capital of about three thousand dollars. The dividends were paid in store goods, amounting usually, to about twenty-five percent per annum." The incorporators were Lorenzo Snow, Samuel Smith, Alvin Nichols, and William p.

Thomas. The store and stock of Mr. Thomas was the base of the enterprise. The original stock of was divided into shares. The orig- inal stockholders were Lorenzo Snow, President; Samuel Smith, Abraham Hunsaker, James Pett, Alvin Nichols, Hans Peter Jensen, George W. Ward, John D. Reese, Directors; W. L. Watkins, Secretary. Mr. Snow then described the tannery to Bishop Lunt: "We erected a tannery building, two stories, 45 x 80, with modern improvements and conveniences, at a cost of Most of the materials, mason and carpenter work were furnished as capital stock by such persons as were able and desired an interest in our institution. The larger part of this work was done in the winter season, when no other employment could be had, one- fourth being paid in merchandise to such as needed.

We gained, by this measure, additional capital, as well as twenty or thirty new stockholders, without encroaching much on anyone's property or business. This tannery has been operated during the past nine years with success and reasonable profits, producing an excellent quality of leather, from to annually. We connected with this branch of industry a boot and shoe shop; also a saddle and harness shop, drawing our dividends in the articles manufactured in those departments." ^^K BRIGHAM CITY MERCANTILE AND MANUFACTURING ASSOC. TANNERY HABS No. U-46 (Page 3) # The Co-op Association was highly successful, with plans for expansion into other towns being formulated, although management problems were becoming unwieldy.

Then in a major fire in the woolen factory resulted in a loss of and a year later the Co-op was forced to default on a large lumber contract due to the arrest of some of their workmen for illegal cutting procedures; then a heavy tax was levied by the U. S. Government assessor, resulting in the closing down of many departments and disposal of properties to meet debts. Gradually, department after de- partment was sold off until in the only remnant was the general store. Finally as a result of the depression of the the cooperative store went bankrupt and the cor- poration went into receivership in In their char- ter expired and the properties were taken over by the Deseret Savings Bank. C. Sources of Information: 1.

Primary and unpublished sources: Abstracts of Deeds, Box Elder County, Courthouse, Brigham City, Utah, County Recorder's Office. Sanborn Map of Brigham City, Utah Room, Univer- sity of Utah Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. 2.

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS UTAH,2-BRICI,1-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Carter, Kate B., Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 1, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. History of Box Elder County, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Romney, Thomas C, The Life of Lorenzo Snow, Smith, Eliza R. Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow, Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 3, Prepared by John L. Giusti, AIA September 5, BRIGHAM CITY MERCANTILE AND MANUFACTURING ASSOC. TANNERY HABS No. U-46 (Page 4) # PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. General Statement: 1. Architectural character: Early industrial building of Mormon Pioneers. 2. Condition of fabric: Only stone masonry is completely intact. Adobe bricks are broken away at some openings. Roof and second story wood framing charred and partly gone. Description of Exterior: 1.

Over-all dimensions: Built into a hillside, the full two-and-a-half story height of this 81* x struc- ture is apparent only from the lower side. 2. Foundations: Granite 3. Wall construction, finish and color: Vari-colored granite rubble and white adobe bricks. Walls of the eastern 2/3 of the lean-to partition are all granite, the western 1/3 all adobe and the walls under the gables are granite below the second floor level and adobe above. 4. Structural system, framing: Masonry bearing walls and wood columns and beams support 2" x 10" floor joists @ 16" spacing. The roof was framed with wood. 5. Porches and stoops: The means of reaching the second story exterior doors on the south wall are now lost without having left any evidence. 6. Chimneys: Brick, one at each end. 7.

Openings: Doorways and doors: At opposite ends of the ground floor are large openings spanned by heavy timber lintels. There are also similar smaller doorways in the end walls of the ground floor and on the south wall of the second floor. A pair of doors in the large east doorway has stiles and rails intact but the pannel is missing. BRIGHAM CITY MERCANTILE AND MANUFACTURING ASSOC. TANNERY HABS No. U~46 (Page 5) * b. Windows: Only the masonry openings remain. Blocks of wood set in the adobe masonry show where wood frames were attached. 8. Roof: a. Shape, covering: A gable runs from east to west with a lean-to of less pitch. All shingles and most of sheathing extending the full length of the building on the north side are burned away. b.

Cornice, eaves: No millwork moldings, simple cornice returns at gable ends. c. Dormers: A deep dormer at the northwest contained a passage from the exterior stair to offices or an apartment. An old photograph shows a row of dormers on the south side. C. Description of Interior: 1. Floor plans: a. The ground floor is a single large space marked by two rows of wood columns running from east to west. b. The second story shows some partitioning in the north portion and partitions at the west end created small rooms for offices or an apartment, reached by an outside stair at the north. 2. Stairways: Parts of an exterior stair remain on the north wall near the west end.

There are three hatches in the second floor, one against the north wall, one against the south wall and one centrally located where a ladder is built against the wood column. 3. Flooring: 3" pine boards run lengthwise on the second floor. A concrete floor has been poured at the ground level. 4. Wall and ceiling finish: All construction is exposed: stone, adobe brick, wood joists. 5. Heating: No stoves remain. D. Site and Surroundings: Orientation: The tannery is near the center of a block bounded by 100 and 200 East Streets and 300 and 400 North BRIGHAM CITY MERCANTILE AND MANUFACTURING ASSOC. TANNERY HABS No. U-46 (Page 6) * Streets.

Box Elder Creek runs diagonally northwesterly, near the northeast corner and the ground slopes upward toward the south so that the long south side of the building has entrances at the second story level. Prepared by Paul Goeldner Supervisory Architect Utah Project September 2, PART III. PROJECT INFORMATION This record is part of a Utah Survey conducted in the summers of and under joint sponsorship of the Historic American Buildings Survey of the Office of Archeology and Historic Pres- ervation of the National Park Service and the Utah Heritage Foundation. Field work, historic research and record drawings were done under the direction of Project Supervisor Paul Goeldner, AIA (Texas Tech University) assisted by Project Historian John Giusti, AIA (University of Utah).

Photographs were made by P. Kent Fairbanks of Salt Lake City. Student Assistant Architects on the team were Robert M. Swanson and Charles W. Barrow, (University of Texas) and Kenneth L. Lambert and Keith Sorenson, (University of Utah). Student Assistant Architects were Keith Sorenson, Charles D. Harker and Robert Schriever, (University of Utah), and Donald G. Prycer, (Texas A. s M. University).