WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
ST. GEORGE BISHOPS' STOREHOUSE AND WORK CENTER
St. George, Utah
LOCATION
Located on the (which?) corner of Third East and Second South in St. George.DESCRIPTION
This was a one story structure with a full basement. The foundation was made of concrete and the walls of adobe. The exterior was of stucco, similar to the surface of the nearby St. George Temple.HISTORY
The lot for this building was purchased for $600.There was a barbecue on the site followed by a groundbreaking ceremony on May ??, 1939. The groundbreaking ceremonies included plowing of the first furrow with the stake presidency and ward bishops pulling the plow guided by Roscoe W. Eardley, supervisor of storehouse for the general committee who also attended the barbecue.
Construction was sponsored by the Stake Welfare Committee under direction of Grover Shakespeare, the Stake Work Director. On the first day of work, there was a good response to the call for laborers and the construction progressed well for a while. Work was scheduled to be completed in 60 days. But some delays developed due to lack of funds and labor. Work even came to a halt for a while.
Hyrum S. Thompson was chosen as the new supervisor of work in the first quarter of 1940.
On April 21, 1940, Roscoe W. Eardley took up storehouse management, Ira Jackson was the storehouse bookkeeper, and a Brother Schmitt was in charge of canning operations.
On July 12, 1940, the storehouse was completed sufficiently that a carnivale was held there. A dance was held in the upstairs where ice cream and pop were sold. The canning center became a busy dry goods store. The east store room was a cafe where the Relief Society served a hot lunch. The basement housed the M.I.A. fun house while around the building a dozen or so concessions were set up. A county store in front of the building sold every conceivable object. Commodities for the occasion were contributed by the wards and collected by the Aaronic Priesthood. Nearly $1,000 was raised to help pay for the building.
On August 7, 1940, a boiler and a number of vats and cooling tanks were received from Salt Lake City to be installed in preparation for the canning season. On the 8th and 9th, the boiler was lowered into the basement and set in place preparatory to connecting the steam lines and stoker. That plumbing was completed 10 days later when peach canning proceeded at full capacity.
On August 15, 1940, the Bishops' Executive Council selected Jed R. Fawcett to be storehouse manager and to supervise canning operations for the season.
PHOTOS
SUU-0006 St. George Bishops' Storehouse and Work Center
REFERENCES
A History of the St. George Cannery 1981-2011Compiled by Karen Doty, Sonja Dodenbier, Dale Hicken, Brian Passey, and Russell Wood
August 2001
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