Thursday, 01 May 2008
Kenna Holm
WALK AROUND OLD DOWNTOWN PAYSON
I have so appreciated all the wonderful comments I have received about my Remember When column, even from people who have not lived here all their lives. One sweet lady in my ward, Thelma Langdon, told me the other day that she just wishes she could see a map of how it used to be so she could get it in her mind exactly where I was talking about. That gave me an idea I hope all of you will enjoy.
Not long ago Ivan Haskell brought me in some pictures and in it was a drawing of down town in about Payson in 1945. I thought maybe I would number each block and jog your memory a little and also give those who were not raised in Payson a chance to see how it was MANY years ago. Block 1..Where it says tabernacle--that was our Nebo Stake Tabernacle for all of Payson at one time. It is now Central Bank Next door South: A home is there..at one time it was a Dr. Tilson On the Corner: It says Ed Vance Garage...it went on to become Duke Page’s Garage and the building burned down in 1963. Bradshaw Auto Parts built a new building there in about 1974. It is now Payson Sports and Trophy.
To the East, was Don’s Cafe owned by Don Cloward--it went on to be Bob’s Cafe owned by Bob Wilson--Then the Mi Ranchireto Cafe and now it is a Mexican Market
Next door east of that was Dixon s Market owned by Doug Dixon. I have written about it earlier. It has been torn down and now on the corner is Rich s Conoco Service Station and market. The Highway that runs from Salem past the hospital and on down to Main street and makes the big turn to go south up by Smith s Food was the old Highway 91.
It is actually First North and goes around turn to the South and that is First West.
Block 2...The Third Ward church is still across from Central Bank. It used to have the old tithing house on the place where the parking lot is now. Also there were a couple of homes there on the south of the ward building. The Old Fairbank’s home was located in what is now the south part of the parking lot of the church. The home was moved and renovated at the This Is The Place State Park in Salt Lake City.
On the corner where the little park is now was the Oldsmobile dealership. The Snyder’s owned it and Franz Suter was their head mechanic. Later, Painter Motor from Nephi bought it and operated a car dealership there for a short time. It was torn down and a few years ago they made the little park.
West of the car dealership was Strawberry Water Users then it went to a movie rental place. I m not sure anything is in it now. The Strawberry Highline Canal office is in the basement.
Next to it, Ivan has Eckersley Apartments (I wrote about them). It was torn down and now the Car Wash is there but also between the car wash and the building where the Strawberry Water Office is the Mexican Restaurant, which used to be Jolley Mortuary. (that s a story for another day). Block 3...As you can see, the old Orem train depot and tracks I wrote about is there. It is now Crest with Daley Freez to the East of it and then Zions Bank on the corner.
To the South of the bank was and still is Apartments and on the Corner was the old Opera House that turned into the Utah Poultry warehouse and is now the beautiful Mi Ranchireto Restaurant.
Going down Main Street in #3. there was By’s Café which was operated by By Staheli. Several other business were there for a number of years before it became the location of the Petal Pantry Florist and is now Karen s Calligraphy. The post office (I wrote about it early on) was where Doug’s Auto was (or part of Doug’s. The Post Office was small), JoAnn s Head Shed is in there now also. Then there was an alleyway. That was bought by Don McCoy for his Western Auto Store (I wrote about that) and Sterl Taylor for his barber shop. It is still a barber shop.
Then came Daniels Drug Store that is now Memory Lane Photography and on the Corner was another drug store that was the Huish Drug and then it was City Drug run by Bill Hansen (not the attorney) and is now Behling Insurance.
Block 4.. Starting at Wells Fargo Bank that was Commercial Bank and then First Security Bank and now Wells Fargo. Next to it was Farmers Merc (I’ve written about it also) On Ivan’s map, it does not show that Farmers Merc ran around and took the back half of bank. (you can see now where the brick is different. That was also Farmers Merc.) It went from Farmers Merc to Bradshaw Auto Parts and then was torn down for the Bank s drive thru banking.
Next to that was DTR (Dixon Taylor Russell) Furniture Store. It then went to Spencer s Furniture owned by Bus Spencer and now is Get Away Furniture.
Next door is was a small food drive in.. It was operated by Hart Brown It then became the S&W Root Beer. We recognize it today as The Wee Blu Inn. Next door south was the two story Douglas Building. It was torn down several years ago. The old Douglas Building on the corner of Main and Utah Avenue hosed several different businesses. It was Dal Adams Appliance at one time. The Building was torn down and then City Drug moved from across the street to the south part of the new building. The shop to the north was the State Liquor store for a number of years. When the City Drug closed several business, Color Mountain Paint and then Jones Book Store that sold LDS books occupied the former drug store. It is now a Mexican market and eating establishment.
West of that going down Utah Ave., was the old fire station until 1954 and then it was the Old Firehouse Restaurant and then it was a women s dress shop and is now the liquor store. Next door west was Boots Billiards owned by Gordon “Boots” Barnett and then Tom Brown owned it. It is now Down Hill Cyclery owned by Troy Lerwill. Next came a small building that was once a restaurant operated by Bus Spencer. It later became the Bamboo Club. Then there was a small dress shop. Moving on down the street we come to the Star Theater, then It was owned by a Mr. Huish. It is now the parking lot.
Then came Naylor’s Market that was then sold to Harold Chipman and was called Chipman’s (I’ve written about that one too). Then there was a big vacant lot that later in 1949, Mr. Huish built the Huish Theatre along with all the little shops to the east of it. Around the corner to the north, there was a home and then an alley and then Snyder Apartments where One Man Band is now. The Poultry Plant was behind that where the parking lot of the Bank is now. I ve written about those places in the past..
That is 4 blocks of Payson and next week I ll do 4 more. Hopefullyit will give you an idea of where things were and are now and boy is it fun to stretch the old memory and remember when..
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