WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
TERRACOR
Bloomington, Utah
HISTORY
Johnson Land Company was a partnership formed by the Clifton, Frank, and Glendon Johnson brothers. They had been buying up land around the west and had become interested in the Bloomington area. In August of 1966 they bought 700 acres around where the Bloomington Country Club is now from Daniel Heaton.The ground was fertile and the plan was to grow peas and carrots for the California Packing Company. Clark Ivory was hired to build a water system and manage the farm. He had been instrumental in locating and purchasing the farm for the Johnsons.
Clark Ivory was approached a number of times by people who wanted to buy pieces of the Johnson property for homesites. This led him to suggest to the Johnsons that they consider changing the Bloomington property from farming to land development.
Ivory & Boyer Company was formed in the Spring of 1967 by Ellis Ivory (Clark's son) and Roger Boyer (a Harvard Business School graduate). They became the exclusing marketing agents for the Bloomington project.
Continental Mortgage Investors (C.M.I.) was approached about financing. They were the largest mortgage investment trust and largest lender to recreational developments in the United States. They came out and investigated the Bloomington project. They concluded that to secure financing, Johnson Land and Ivory & Boyer would have to establish a more permanent relationship.
Terracor was formed in December of 1968 by the merging of the Johnson Land Company and the Ivory & Boyer Company. It was a privately held corporation with the principal owners being Clifton Johnson, Frank Johnson, Glendon Johnson, Ellis Ivory, and Roger Boyer.
A planned community was laid out and five salesmen were hired. They were thinking they might sell as many as 16 lots a month, but they sold 58 lots the first week and all of the approximately 1,400 lots within a year.
In the Fall of 1967, 1,300 more acres were purchased. The plan was to sell this off in 5-acre lots with irrigation rights. They hired an irrigation expert to help design the irrigation system. But he was an amateur golf course architect and suggested building a golf course. The Red Hills Golf Course had been very successful, so William H. Neff was hired to design the Bloomington Golf Course.
Rex Jackson put in the water lines, sewer lines, roads, and swimming pool. In 1968, a water line was brought in from 700 South in St. George. The only access to Bloomington was by the back road from St. George. There was no bridge across the Virgin River, so Jackson constructed a rock crossing about where the bridge is today. Then the Man 'O War bridge was constructed and dedicated on November 29, 1969.
The first residents of modern Bloomington moved in during the Summer of 1969. One acre lots were first sold for $3,000.