WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
UTAH-IDAHO SUGAR COMPANY
St. George, Utah
LOCATION
Pickett BuildingSt. George, Utah
Telephone 87 in the 1941 telephone book (Office)
53 N. Main Street
St. George, Utah
Telephone ORchard 3-2641 in the 1958 telephone book (Office)
208 N. Main Street
St. George, Utah
Telephone ORchard 3-2551 in the 1958 telephone book (Beet Seed Plant)
11 East 200 North
St. George, Utah
Telephone ORchard 3-2551 in the 1961 telephone book
Telephone 673-2551 in the 1972 telephone book
Douglas H. Quayle
596 East 100 South
St. George, Utah
Telephone 673-2502 in the 1972 telephone book
HISTORY
In July of 1907, Utah Sugar Company, Idaho Sugar Company, and Western Idaho Sugar Company merged to form the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company with $13 million in capital.Presidents of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company were:
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1902-1918
1918-1929 1929-1931 1931-1945 1945-1951 1951-1958 1958-1963 1963-1969 1969-1981 |
Joseph F. Smith
Heber J. Grant William Henry Wattis Heber J. Grant George Albert Smith David O. McKay J. Arthur Wood Douglas W. Love Rowland M. Cannon |
In the early 1930s, the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company acquired the old Opera House and Social Hall in St. George for use as a sugar processing plant.
The US Department of Agriculture created a sugar beet variety in the late 1928s, known as "U.S. No. 1." Using a newly discovered overwintering technique for growing sugar beets for seed by the USDA and the New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station, seed production plots were grown in 1930 in New Mexico, Hemet, California, and St. George. Very limited quantities of this seed were available for the 1931 growing season - only 5 acres were grown in Washington County. Larger volumes of seed were available for the 1934 season, and it was in heavy use by 1935.
In 1934, they build another building in that complex which was labeled Warehouse No. 3 and was where the seed was stored. There were 15 bins which each held 80,000 to 130,000 pounds of seed. From the bins, the seed was put into three sizes of bags, 20, 25, and 50 pounds and then stored until it was shipped.
By 1935, Utah-Idaho Sugar was planting 650 acres of beets for seed in St. George and Moapa, Nevada, with an additional 150 acres (0.61 km2) in Hemet, California and 80 acres (320,000 m2) in Victorville, California. They produced 2,000,000 pounds of seed in 1936.
By 1966, nearly all the sugar beet seed used by Utah-Idaho Sugar came from the beet seed processing plant at St. George.
Utah-Idaho Sugar Company changed its name to simply "U and I" in 1975. By this time, it had moved into potato production and was reducing its sugar operations.
In the late 1970s, market conditions were such that U and I closed all its factories in Utah and abandoned the production of sugar. The U&I brand disappeared from store shelves. The plant in St. George was shut down in 1979. The three buildings were eventually sold to the City of St. George. The main seed processing building was returned to its original function of the St. George Opera House. Warehouse No. 3 was remodeled and became the St. George Art Museum.
PHOTOS
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REFERENCES
A history of the Utah-Idaho Sugar buildings in St. GeorgeAnother history of the Utah-Idaho Sugar buildings in St. George
Wikipedia article about the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company
SOUTHERN UTAH MEMORIES: U & I Sugar
by Loren R. Webb, September 30, 2012
Beet Sugar in the West: A History of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1891-1966
Book by Leonard J. Arrington
University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1966