PAYSON–THE FIRST 100 YEARS–William R. Heaton–The Sixteenth Mayor

PAYSON–THE FIRST 100 YEARS–William R. Heaton–The Sixteenth Mayor

SUGAR FACTORY BUILT–PAYSON CITY WATER WORKS BEGAN
by L. Dee Stevenson–Payson Historical Society

    *William R. Heaton took over the office of mayor in 1912 and became the sixteenth mayor of the city.. Payson for sometime had been working toward new industries and improvements for the betterment of the community. The years 1912 and 13 saw the starting of some improvements and the completion of others.
    School was held in the new high school during the school year 1912-13. The building was dedicated in January, 1913. Previous to this the Central School had served as the high school. Melvin Wilson was the first principal.  Heber A. Curtis was the first student body president. Eight graduates received diplomas at the first commencement exercises.
    A very new and flourishing industry was the Pay- son Eagle Bottling Works under the management of  Mr. Messner and Roe Manwill. They converted the old adobe school house in the fourth ward into a bottling works. The plant was very modern. Two dozen cases could be filled every four minutes. The products were root beer, ginger ale, and soda water of all fruit flavors. They sold to Utah and Juab counties.
    A 500 ton sugar factory went into production the fall of 1913. It was built west of Payson. Because of insufficient beet supply it was dismantled in 1940.
    Payson was handicapped by its method of obtaining culinary water. Those who could, dug wells, but this water wasn't always pure. In Payson canyon were many springs of good pure water just waiting to be utilized. Beginning this year a reservoir was built at the mouth of the canyon, the water from the springs piped into it, then piped on down to the homes in the city.
    Payson was fast becoming known as a fruit growing center. Some of its prominent fruit growers joined the Utah Fruit Growers Association. This gave them a market for their fruit.
    During the summer,  a fly killing contest and clean up days were sponsored. It proved to be such a success that it was decided to make it an annual event.” *

*Quoted from “The Payson Story” page 17, published by the Payson Centennial Committee, October 1950

Remember When From the Past--Payson Lumber Yards

Remember When
Thursday, 13 March 2008
Kenna Holm  

Payson Lumberyards

    I’ve made a list of things I'd like to write about and a lot of people have given me suggestions. Hopefully,  I can get to all of them. This week as Iwas driving north and coming around the big turn by One Man Band, I looked over at the corner where Burdick Lumber Co. used to be. It is now an art and frame store and recently was a Baptist Church.   It got me to thinking how I miss that old place.
    The Burdick’s were in the same neighborhood as I grew up in.  Quince and Nettie (the parents of Don and Bob) lived a block north of the store and he with his two sons run the store.  They carried all kinds of building supplies, paint, hardware, lumber and so on. I always remember Quince with a big cigar in is mouth. He and Nettie were nice people. She was a real classy lady.
Their oldest son was Don, who is deceased now, Don and  his wife Cleo built a home two doors from where I grew up on 400 West. They had 2 little girls , Pat and Rebecca,when they moved there and   I tended them a lot. I just loved those  little girls. I even named two of my daughters Pat and Rebecca. They later on had a son, Brad who lives here in town now.  My mom and dad were good friends with the Burdicks.
    Bob was the younger son of Quince and Nettie and he and his wife Ardella lived around the corner from us when their kids were little. They had three children also, Barbara, Brent (one of our former city councilman), and Gloria.  Ardella was a very talented lady. She sang beautifully and also played the piano. She accompanied the trio I sang with many times.  Later, they bought the Erlandson  home on 300 East and restored it to it’s former glory.
    Quince and the boys worked at the store and Cleo did their bookkeeping. Bob later went on to construct motels and later the grandsons took over.  All the sons of Quince and Nettie have all passed away.   But their daughter-in-law, Cleo is still as beautiful as she always was.  Of course all the grandchildren are still around. I miss that store.
    I think I remember a lumber yard being where Dalton s Restaurant is now. It was called Tri-State Lumber. Later the building was sold  to Frank Beckstrom and he established his pharmacy and drug store in the building.  When he retired, the building was sold the Morganson brothers and Sandy Huff to build the Dalton’s Restaurant.
 

  I remember Chase Lumber on First East and Utah Ave. (across from Mi Rancherito Mexican Restaurant). It faced north. As I remember, George Chase had sold the store in the building on East Utah Avenue in the early 30's to Reed Money Sr. and his brother.  This was before my time.  Even after he sold to the Money’s, Mr. Chase kept an office in the building.  Reed Sr. bought his brother out and his son, Reed Jr. managed the store in later years.  Reed Sr. was the president of Nebo Stake for many years.
    Mr. Chase and his wife  lived down on 500 West Utah Ave on the corner by where Jim and Carol Sue Mortensen live now.
    In the 70's, the Money’s tore down the old lumber yard and built a small strip mall facing west. They had their store in the south part of the building and there was a Market call Self’s Food Mart in the north half of the building.
     The stores along Main Street then fixed up the back of their stores and a lot of them put in rear entrances like Forsey”s, Sherm”s, Roe”s Bakery etc. The parking lot was put in between the backs of the stores and in front of Money’s and Self’s.  Money s for a long time had building supplies and all kinds of hardware.
 

  

And then there was Schwartz Lumber out on 900 East. (there’s storage sheds on the property  now). They also carried a line of building supplies. Joe Schwartz had two sons that took
over after he died. Within a few short years the sons died and two of the son-in-laws whho took over. There was Darwin Haskell who was married to Nora (parents of JoAnn Stevenson) and Dorman Seeley who was married to Eleene.(she worked in the fabric department at Christensen for many years).  They carried such a big line of lumber and paint and such.   They ran the lumber company for several years and then sold out to Dennis Gay. He kept the name Schwartz Lumber. It was well known.
    In about 1980 the company had 3 fires in one week and totally destroyed the place. All 3 fires were set by an arsonist. They never found out who it was and the mystery still remains although some had their suspicions but it was never proven.
    I wasn’t much of a builder,  but I did go into those places for paint and such but it s kind of fun to remember the old places and you know--just remember when...

Remember When From the Past--Gambles-Western Auto

Remember When
Thursday, March 6 2008
Kenna Holm

Gambles and Western Auto

    I’ve been thinking about the old Gamble’s Store that used to be in Payson. Does anyone remember that?  It was on the corner of First South and Main Street on the east side of the road. Don McCoy (Dean’s dad and also Betty Jean Oberg’s dad) run the store. I don’t remember what was there first because it was before my time.
    Don McCoy was from Minnesota and started working with Gamble Stores in 1926. In 1927 he was transferred by the companyto Wisconsin. While in Wisconsin he met his future wife, Gertrude, and they were married in 1928.

Don and Gert in 1939 when they arrived in Payson







    In 1939 he came to Payson to manage the Gambles store here.  When they first moved here they lived in the home where Gene and Charlotte Colvin lives on West Utah  Avenue. They later built the home across the street from where they were living and moved into it.
    That little store carried about everything. You could go in there and buy car oil, bikes, guns, ammo, paint, bike parts, car parts and so on.   He later built his new store between Utah Avenue and First North on Main Street where Doug’s Auto parts was. He and Sterling Taylor both bought the property and Sterl built his barber shop next door (which is still a barber shop, but that’s a Remember When for another day)
    I remember during the war, bikes were hard to come by and Don would only get in 2 or 3 and my dad went up and stood in line to get me a bike the day they were to come into the store. He said one women was so angry that he got the bike she was ready to clean his wagon. But I guess that was alright because I got the bike.
    The new store’s name was changed from Gambles to Western Auto. It carried everything. You could get saddles, bridles, car equipment and parts, fridges, stoves, and all kinds of appliances, guns, ammo, lawn mowers, and about anything you can think of.
    Gert worked for J.C. Penney’s for a long time in the office but when theybuilt the new store, she had to quit and help Don. There were several different men who worked for Don at the store. Vernon Marshall from Benjamin, Gilly White, Stan Cole, Cy Reynolds (Carma Herbert s dad) Cleo Hill and a few more.
    Don had a pistol range in the basement of the store (like The Sportsman does now). They also reloaded shells in the back room of the store.
    Dean told me that his dad and Gilly White (I'm not sure who he was) even took a boat kit and built a boat in the back room. Then Cy Reynolds and Don built a camper for Don’s old Hudson truck. They were a bunch of talented and busy men. A lot went on in that back room of the store it would seem.
    Don was involved in many things. He was one of the Charter members of the Cockleburr Riding Club (My dad belonged to that also, along with many men from Payson), he was a charter member of the boat club, he was a member of Lions Club for over 30 years, he was on the South County Board of Health for over 12 years, he was also a charter member of the Loafer Mountain Snowmobile Club and was on the Board of Nebo District Boy Scouts of America. He was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1962 and was that until his death.
    Don was a doer . He loved to be involved and certainly did a lot for Payson.  He always said
he was too young for the First World War, too old for Second World War. He was small in stature
but had a large heart and was very giving.

Don and Gert when they retired

   Don and Gert retired and a Lindsay,  young fellow,  took the store over but could not make a go of it and so Doug Holt bought the building and put Doug’s Auto Parts in it in 1977. Doug also bought the place where JoAnn’s Head Shed is and also the Petal  Pantry building. He later leased the building to Car Quest and then to Keith Tribitt. Keith s wife Karen (daughter of John Olson) has a Calligraphy shop in the store now.
    Doug and Sally told me they have been cleaning  out the basement of those old buildings and found 6 or 8 gallons of vanilla concentrate. They had never gone through things down in those basements. Who knows, they may find some more treasures. Where they found the vanilla was under the Petal Pantry.  That building was built and run by Byron Staheli and was called By’s Cafe. Sally who ran around with By’s daughter Bea, said they would go there on their dates to have dinner. (probably a hamburger, she said).
    Gosh it s fun to go back in our memories and remember when....

Remember When From the Past--Lucky Pickering

Remember When
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Kenna Holm
 
Lucky Pickering–Man of Many Talents

    Lana Pickering Van Ausdal came in the other day and brought me some pictures that belonged to her father,  Wayne(better known as Lucky) Pickering. He was one of the most talented men we have ever seen. He could just about do anything.
    Sid Coray built a furniture store where the parking lot is across south from the old Huish
Theater and Lucky (who by the way, got his name for being unlucky with keeping a dog. They
    always got run over or killed some way) had a cabinet shop in the back of the furniture store.

   Lucky then went on to buy into the furniture store. It was then known as Coray-Pickering Furniture Store.Lana brought in the picture of a group that worked for her dad and Sid. In the picture is (L to R) Sid Coray (in the coveralls) Lucky Pickering, ? (couldn’t tell who this man was) Phyllis Simmons (Dick Simmons mother), ? (another unknown), Mel Swain (Fred Swain’s dad) Rex Patten, and Johnny Bott. This picture was taken in front of the furniture store windows with the windows reflecting the building across the street.
    It was fun talking to all his family and finding out so many things about Lucky. He was a perfectionist and he could do anything he set his mind to. He did photography, sculptures, pottery, jewelry, statues,wood carvings and so on and so on. Lucky s sister, Colleen, said when she was in high school in 1946, she painted the floor of the furniture store after school when theywere getting ready to open the store.
     Lucky thought everyone should know bookkeeping so he made Colleen come in after school and do bookkeeping for him when the store first started. Sherm Loveless then came in and was bookkeeper for them and also worked out on the floor selling furniture.  Their store had the first TV in town and the worker’s families would go up and watch TV in the store after hours. Pat (Loveless) Hill said she remembers going in on Thursday nights to watch “The Lone Ranger.” Karma Whitelock (Lucky s niece) said they also went up and watched the television.
The store carried a lot of nice furniture and appliances. Lucky had his cabinet shop in the back of the store, and later put in his Artisan Shop.
    Lucky loved animals and he made friends with a little squirrel which set up house keeping in the nursery section of the Artisan Shop. Lucky named him Bunny because he finally made an appearance for the photographer on Easter Sunday. When the squirrel was hungry, he would answer Lucky s whistle to replenish his storehouse with seeds and nuts.
     He also had a flock of ducks that stayed around the back of the store that he kept fed. They were so friendly that when Lucky would walk home for lunch, they would follow him. McKay Christensen didn’t have the same feelings for the ducks because they made messes in the back of his store.
Lucky designed and put all the rock in the Payson Park fish pond. His niece Karma said he wanted everything to be perfect for it so he would go up and watch how the sun would shine on that particular area and even go up and spend the night watching how the moon and then the sunrise also shown on the area so he could put the rocks of different colors in the right place to be the most effective.   Now that s is a perfectionist.
     He bought Sid Coray s share of the furniture store out and then leased it to Merlynn Tanner and the name was changed to Payson Furniture and Appliance. It was then that he opened his Artisan Shop, which was the name his sister suggested because it fit him so well.

    One Sunday he had been pouring hot bronze metal into a cast for a statue he was making as a hobby and he left to go home for lunch. While he was home, the furnace he had been using to heat the bronze caught the shop on fire. With the sawdust from the cabinets , the fire really took of, completely destroyed his shop.


     The Payson Fire Dept. was there within minutes and kept the fire contained to the shop and from not doing to much damage to the furniture store. The main damage to the furniture store was from water and smoke and plate glass windows that were smashed to carry furniture and appliances through. The roof of the Safeway Store (the building where the American Beauty Academy is now) and also the roof of the Payson Chronicle which was directly east of the furniture store received minor damage.
     Lucky s niece Diane (Beddoes) Hansen said they had all their home furnishings stored in a room by his shop and it all received a lot of smoke and water damage.  Diane and Jerry were in the process of getting their home ready to move into and needed a place to store their things for awhile and Lucky had offered his place to put them.
     Lucky never believed in insurance, so nothing was insured. Merlyn Tanner had his furniture
and appliances insured which was a good thing.  People in Payson were so good to rush in and help bring out his merchandise and put in the street to keep it from burning. Later scores of volunteers helped move the merchandise to vacant stores offered by owners of the buildings.
     The Fire Dept. did a marvelous job in getting to the fire and getting it out as soon as they could and were praised for the work theydid.  Payson Furniture and Appliance kept open for many years with Ray Sorenson taking over after Merlynn Tanner.
    Lucky Pickering was a talented man. Reallyone of a kind. He died in 1981 at the young age of 71.
Another remember when..

Remember When From the Past--February 7, 2008

Remember When
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Kenna Holm  

Early Payson Police Department

    Monday evening,  we entertained our Home Evening Group at our home. This is a group that was the young marrieds when the Payson 6th Ward was orgainized in 1961. We ve stayed in touch over the years and 9 years ago we formed an official home evening group and meet once a month. It has been such fun to get together on a regular basis and visit and have speakers of what have you. This week, we spent half the time talking about the Remember When in the paper and it was so fun having everyone tell what they remembered. I swear Kenneth Shepherd has the memory of an elephant. He remembers everything.
    Later,  I was talking to Shirlene Wood and we started talking about her dad who was one of the earlier policemen of Payson. They had four at one time that I first remember. Dick Chapple who was chief at one time, Page Peery (Shirlene’s dad and also Lynn (Sam) Peery’s), Bob Cartwright, and Deke Peterson.(Page Peery was also police chief at one time.)

  Page Peery s daughter brought me in some great pictures of her dad in his early days as a Payson policeman. He started out riding a motorcycle on his rounds.  Later they went to patrol cars.   I found out that the city sold those motorcycles later on to the Erickson brothers. Paul Erickson was my older brothers good friend and they use to ride that motorcycle all over. DeLynn (my brother) even wrecked it. Typical kids, always goofing off.
    The police station was on Utah Avenue just East of the old Payson Library on the corner of Main and Utah ave. The Library was on the corner and connected to it was the City Office (East of Library) and then next to the City Office was the police station. It was very small as was the City Office.
    The policemen would walk all over down town and visit with the people on main street and then at night whoever was on duty, walked around and checked all the doors on the stores both front and back to make sure they were locked.
    They were not men to just sit in an office or just ride around, they got out and helped with different things. (I’m not saying that our officers today sit around, they re all great)  It was nothing to see Dick Chapple or Page Peery shoveling snow on Main Street so people could get around. Everyone loved to stop and talk to them. They were everyone’s friend.
    Page Peery was a policeman for 23 years that began in 1928 and he retired at the age of 67. He was born on January 6, 1896 on the day Utah became a state.
I think they had one cell in the policestation (I never had the chance or opportunity to go into the police station)
    The City Office was small and we would go there to pay our city bill (which in those days was a fraction of what they are now). I remember several who worked at the city offices, Ogden DeWitt, Ted Bates, Sally Peery, Deon Gray, JoAnn Nielsen and Iknow therewere more. There was also a man named Marcel Chard that worked there and he had the most beautiful penmanship for a man I had ever seen. If I remember right, Ted Bates was the City Recorder. (I’m sure if I m wrong, someone will correct me)  I'm sure everyone knows that they give the "Ted Bates" award to a city worker every year. He was a great man.
    There was an opening from the city officeinto the library and they could visit back and forth. Upstairs over the library and offices therewas the citycouncil room where they met each month and also the city attorney, Dave McMullin, had an office there.
    All of the offices, the police and city office, were small but then so was Payson in those days. Gosh,  isn t it fun to remember when?

Remember When From the Past--November 29, 2007

Remember When
Thursday, November 29, 2007 2008
Kenna Holm  

PAYSON POST OFFICES


    Does anyone remember the post office when it was located where JoAnn’s Head Shed is now located?  It was really small and narrow.  But then Payson only had about 3,000 residents.  I can just remember going in there and seeing all the little gold-colored boxes for the mail. 
    In 1942,  the postal service in Payson was advanced from rating as Village Delivery to City Delivery.  (We were really something!)  In July 1949, parcel post delivery was started.
I remember Old Bill Clayson  walking all over the west side of town pulling his little mail cart with the mai pouch on it delivering the mail.  I don’t know who delivered the east side of town (later I found out it was Ed Patten–Don and Duane’s father.)  I do know that some of the mail carrier rode bicycles to deliver.

   Business increased and they needed a larger building.  They then moved to 41 South main Street.  It was the building just south of Roland Lindsay’s shoe repair.  This building was later torn  down and the Forsey’s  store was remodeled and increased in size. 

   The postmaster was Vernal Tweede at that time and his assistant postmaster was my neighbor, Grace  Goble.  Dot Beddoes, Diane Hansen’s mom,  also worked there until she got ill with cancer and passed away.  Grace Goble started working at the post office in 1928.  She and Dot both worked for a lot of years.
     When Vernal Tweede retired in 1964, James Durrant Sr. became the postmaster.  He held the  position until 1966 when Francis Haskell took the position.  Reed Argyle was named the assistant postmaster.

    A new building was constructed expressly for the post office at 91 South 100 East. It was built to accommodate twice the 4,200 population of Payson in 1967.  In 1968, we really got advanced. We now became a motorized department with 3 jeeps with right hand drive to replace the bicycles that were used for so many years.
We now have a beautiful post office building at 955 East 100 North that was built in 1997. It now employs 26 with 7 rural routes where the carriers furnish their own vehicles.  The current postmistress is Leona Gardner.
I believe there are now over 17,000 people living in Payson now.  Boy, how things change but it is fun to remember when...

Remember When From the Past--December 6, 2007

Remember When
Thursday, December 06, 2007
 Kenna Holm 

Payson’s Hospitals

    I just received a hospital bill (and it was staggering) for my husband's stay in the hospital a couple of weeks ago and it got me to thinking about the hospitals we have had here in Payson.
    The George Patten home located just east of Main Street on 300 North  was turned into Payson’s first hospital in 1901. The doctor was ParleyPratt Musser. His nurses were his wife, Jennie Patten, and a Miss Provstgaard. The parlor was his office. The kitchen was used as a kitchen and an operating room. The two front bedrooms upstairs each had two hospital beds.  

   The second hospital was located in rooms above the Modern Pharmacy located on corner of today's  Main Street and Utah Avenue.  Dr. A. L. Curtis located to Payson after graduating from Medical School.  He opened the hospital in 1914.

    The next hospital was the old Curtis Hospital. It stood where Dix and Joan Grace's home (and former Mt. Fuel building) is now.  Dr. A.L. Curtis opened the hospital in 1922.  The new hospital was the old John Huish home.  It was a 9 bed hospital and later increased to15 beds.
    The building burned to the ground one cold winter night in 1950. It was sad to see it go but as I recall it was not used an awfully lot after the new hospital was built where the City Offices are now. Dr. Curtis, Dr. Lynn Stewart, and Dr. Merrill Oldroyd wereth e first doctors to use these hospitals.

   Payson City Hospital at 439 West Utah Ave was opened in 1938. My parents had moved
here to Payson in 1936 and I was the only one of our family to be born in Payson, although I did not get to be born in the new hospital. I was born at home with Dr. Oldroyd delivering me.    The hospital had 35 beds and I'm sure everyone thought it was large at that time. I do remember going into the waiting room and waiting for my mom to visit someone. Children were not allowed to go in the hospital to visit unless they were 12 years of age.

   The entrance to the hospital was on the east side of the building with double doors going into a tiny waiting room. In 1952, they remodeled and added a larger waiting room and office on the east side. At this time, a laundry was built in a separate building to the south of the hospital. The laundry had been done in the basement of the hospital before.
    The kitchen was located in the south side of the hospital and then when later the laundry was sent out, the kitchen was moved to that building. They built a canopy between that building and the hospital so when they took the carts with the trays of food on from the kitchen to the hospital it was covered.
    Nola Heaps, my dear aunt, was the head cook there. Along with my aunt a few I remember working in the kitchen were Alice Reynolds, Twila McCellan, Clovis Jones, and Lilly Cloward.
    My aunt was a wonderful cook and every tome I had a baby and was a patient in the hospital, she would spoil me and whoever was in the ward with me. (the maternity ward held 6 beds) The ladies that were in the ward would all put in orders for me to ask Aunt Nola to make. I do remember asking her to make my favorite chocolate cake. Yum! She could make the menus and do as she liked and she really loved to spoil everyone including the nurses and doctors.
    Things were so different then. They had very few private rooms. They had a children's ward in one hall, a men's ward in another hall, a woman's ward in another hall and the maternity ward was in the northwest side of the hospital. They had a few private rooms scattered in between. The x-rays were taken by the manager of the hospital in a small x-ray room on the south side of the hospital. The first manager I remember was George Cheever. Sr.
    They had a lot of good nurses working at that hospital also., I remember Peg Butler, Jerry Wilson, Jeanne Lofgran, Florence Wride, who worked in the nursery and was like a loving grandma to all the babies,  Ruth Walton and I know there were many more but those are the few I remember.
    In 1960 they remodeled and constructed a new maternity wing on the west side of the hospital. My second daughter was born in that new wing. The manager was now called the administrator.

   In 1969 they took on a major renovation and changed the entire appearance of the hospital, with the exception of the maternity wing which was left as it was. The hospital now held 96 beds. The entrance was then moved to the west side of the building. The switch board was in the main entrance hall along with the waiting room. The gift shop and snack bar was also in that area.

    In 1979 they built the new Mountain View Hospital that is now standing out east of town.
Everyone was so thrilled to see this beautiful building being built.
    I worked at the old hospital startingin 1976 or 77 as Director of Volunteer Services. I moved with them to the new building in 1979 which would be named Mountain View Hospital. It was so fun to have a large gift shop and an office that wasn't in a closet, which is where it had been in the old hospital.
    My twin grandsons, Jeremy and Jeffrey Witham were the first set of twins born in the new hospital and on different days no less. Jeremy was born at 11:55 p.m. and Jeff was born at 12:30 a.m. the next morning.   Harold Harmer was now the  administrator.
    Mountain View has had many changes and as we look now we see morecoming with all the construction that is going on. It is now 130 beds and the administrator is Kevin Johnson.  The
hospital takes care of many, many patients everyday from all over the state and we are fortunate to have such a wonderful facility in our town. But it is fun to look back and remember when......