Midwest Casket Company Building at 440 W 600 South SLC

Midwest Casket Co Building, September 2024.
Note the recently demolished buildings to the east (right). 

Midwest Casket Co Building, September 2024.

The old Midwest Casket Company building at 440 W 600 South is one that you have likely passed by on numerous occasions. It is representative of the transition to modern funeral services, especially among the middle class.

The building was constructed in 1912 (although the Salt Lake County Assessor states 1905) for the Utah Casket Company for the manufacture of caskets, undertaker’s supplies, and a dressmaking department for burial dresses, shrouds, and robes.

The early 1900s was a busy time for the casket industry in SLC. Prior to about 1880, SLC had one primary undertaker – Joseph Edward Taylor (often referred to as the Pioneer Undertaker) and his family. He was appointed by Brigham Young to be the SLC Cemetery Sextant, undertaker, and provide coffins (through his father-in-law, William Capener, who was a cabinet maker).

Slowly, things changed around 1880. In James Farrell’s book “Inventing the American Way of Death 1830-1920” (so interesting!), he indicates the growth of the middle class demanded attention to the deceased “more in accordance with their surroundings,” meaning something more elaborate than a simple box lined with linen. At this same time in SLC, a greater influx of non-Mormons demanded a greater variety of services, commodities, and cemeteries.

Utah Casket Company advertisement showing an elaborate casket, 1913.
Clip from Salt Lake Herald 1913-04-04 Page14

 
At the end of the 1800s, there were a variety of funerary start-up businesses. Most only lasted a few years but several have endured to the modern time (some names you may recognize Evans, O’Donnell, or Larkin). Often, when one of these businesses ended, another would purchase their real estate and equipment, often at auction.

This is what happened with the original occupant of this building; in 1910 a newly incorporated Utah Casket Company acquired the equipment of the Crescent Manufacturing Company. 

Crescent manufactured caskets and its establishment in SLC was a bit of weird situation. Through my reading of the old newspapers articles, it seems that Mr. Edward H. Sherman re-established Crescent Manufacturing Company in SLC in 1908 from Butte, Montana and it seems he did so in order to escape a significant judgement against the company in Butte. In 1910 Sherman sold the equipment and supplies of Crescent in exchange for stock in the Utah Casket Company. At the time, Utah Casket Company was located at 32-36 E 800 South.

A year later, in December 1911, The Utah Casket Company announced it would build a new modern facility to manufacture caskets, undertaker’s supplies, and couches at 440 W 600 South. The two-story building is constructed of brick and cement and was constructed so that a third story could be added if needed. The building was “modern in every detail…with rest and lunchrooms for the employees, which will include a large number of women” who worked in the sewing department creating burial clothing, shrouds, and linings for the caskets. The building formally opened in October 1912.

Utah Casket Factory announcement illustration, January 1912.
Clip from the The Salt Lake Tribune 1912-01-28 Page 11

Utah Casket Company building completion, December 1912
Clip from the Deseret News 1912-12-21 Page 97

 
Two workplace accidents at 440 W 600 South were reported in the newspapers in January 1919. Sixteen year old Rulon Hanson lost his little finger of his left hand while working with the buzz saw and another employee lost four fingers of his right hand while using the same saw.

The Utah Casket Company occupied the building for about 8 years. They exhibited their caskets at the Utah State Fair and won a blue ribbon, which they proudly advertised. Around 1920, Utah Casket Company was defunct.

Around the same time period, there were competing casket business. The Salt Lake Casket Company was incorporated in 1910; this company was associated with Joseph E. Taylor (“Pioneer Undertaker”) and his son Alma O. Taylor and was the successor and outgrowth of Joseph E. Taylor’s operation. 

In 1919, Alma O. Taylor split from Salt Lake Casket Company (run by his brothers Samuel and Joseph Taylor) to form the Intermountain Casket company with Lafayette Holbrook. In 1920 the Intermountain Casket Company opened a new three-story building at 276 W 100 South and is still standing in SLC’s Japantown.

In 1920, it was the Salt Lake Casket Company that acquired the building at 440 W 600 South including the real estate, building, and equipment of the defunct Utah Casket Company. They occupied the building for several years. In 1937 the company was bankrupt and the building, real estate, machinery, fixtures, and equipment were sold at public auction.

Around 1938 the Midwest Casket Company moved into the building. Midwest Casket was associated with brothers Curt and Henry Skola. Midwest Casket occupied the building for decades. It became known for its custom caskets and interiors, including caskets for pets. They provided custom options in an ever-growing market of mass production with limited choices.

A 1991 article from the Salt Lake Tribune interviewed three women who worked as seamstresses at Midwest Casket. They worked in a sunny room on the top floor that was filled with bolts of fabric and antique sewing machines. (The casket production area was on the main floor.)

As an example of how the workplace environment has changed since 1991, there were posters of Chippendale dancers in thong bathing suites covering holes in the walls on one side of the room. In 1968 they provided 35 caskets for an airplane crash at the SLC Airport. They provided caskets for LDS church presidents, local politicians and in 1985 they sent a champagne velvet lined casket for actor Rock Hudson as one of the options for his burial. They are still in business and have relocated to South Salt Lake.

Recently the building and surrounding parcels are undergoing redevelopment as part of the Silos Block project in the Granary District. Many buildings on the block have been or will be demolished, the most notable being the Cereal Foods Silos.

The Midwest Casket building is to be preserved and adaptively reused as a commercial space. The adjacent building to the west (Euro Treasures) will also be preserved and adaptively reused (plans indicate a garage for 117 parking stalls). Rimini Coffee at 532 S 400 West will also remain.

Also of note, the old Portland Cement art-dec style building (554 S 400 West) will be demolished.


Sources

• Sanborn Maps for Salt Lake City, 1898,1911,1926,1950,1969
• Salt Lake Herald Sat, Sep 03, 1910 ·Page 15
• Salt Lake Telegram Thu, Dec 08, 1910 ·Page 10
• Salt Lake Herald Wed, Dec 13, 1911 ·Page 4
• The Salt Lake Tribune Sun, Jan 28, 1912 ·Page 11
• The Salt Lake Tribune Mon, Jul 08, 1912 ·Page 10
• Salt Lake Herald Fri, Oct 04, 1912 ·Page 12
• Deseret News Sat, Dec 21, 1912 ·Page 97
• Deseret News Sat, Apr 05, 1913 ·Page 38
• Salt Lake Herald Fri, Apr 04, 1913 ·Page 14
• Salt Lake Herald Tue, Nov 16, 1915 ·Page 8
• Salt Lake Telegram Fri, Jan 31, 1919 ·Page 13
• Salt Lake Tribune Oct 7 1919 Page 20
• Deseret News 1930-10-26 Page 32
• The Salt Lake Tribune Thu, Dec 31, 1936 ·Page 20
• Salt Lake Telegram Jan 6 1939 Page 16
• Deseret News 1939/05/17 Page 11
• The Salt Lake Tribune 1955-06-24 Page 54
• The Salt Lake Tribune 1980-07-17 Page 103
• The Salt Lake Tribune 1988-03-27 Page 41
• The Salt Lake Tribune 1991-03-11 Page 12
• The Salt Lake Tribune 1943-03-05
• Biennial Report by Utah Secretary of State 1913
• Kate B. Carter, Heart Throbs of the West, 1945, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. 
• James J. Farrell, Inventing the American Way of Death, 1830-1920. 1980. 
• USHS Files for Midwestern Casket Co Building
• USHS Files for Intermountain Casket Co Building
• Salt Lake City, Silo Phase 2 Staff Report - Final, 2023

The Hatchet Attack of 1933 at 863 E 600 S SLC

Rulon Stevenson in 1929, from the Utionion Yearbook

One sensational event that occurred in the house at 863 E 600 S in my last post occurred in the middle of the night on Nov 13 1933 when 27-year-old Rulon E Stevenson smashed a window with a hatchet and entered the vacant half of the house, which by now was converted into a duplex.

Rulon began hacking the interior woodwork of the parlor and eventually chopped a hole in the partition dividing the duplex. This awakened and terrified the young family living there, Anthony and Caroline Schetselaar, along with their 2 young children.

The Schetselaar family fled the house through a window and Rulon followed them outside the house. A neighbor tried to help and Rulon threw the hatchet at him, which missed its target.

By then, the SLC Police had arrived and taken Rulon into custody. Rulon was placed in the city jail under a “hold for investigation” charge. Soon after, Rulon’s father who was a prominent physician, Dr. Hyrum Stevenson arrived and the SLC Police Night Captain E. E. Brown released Rulon to his father’s custody with only a charge of drunkenness.

In the morning, SLC Chief of Police W. L. Payne changed the charges to second-degree burglary (later dropped) and assault with a deadly weapon. Chief Payne also demoted Captain Brown and transferred him to day duty where there would be more supervision over him.

In Aug 1934, Rulon pleaded guilty to assault and was imposed a 6-month sentence in the Salt Lake County Jail, with 3 months of that suspended. After serving about 2 months in the Salt Lake County Jail, Rulon was granted a reprieve and parole by Utah Governor Henry H. Blood.

A few years later, Rulon moved to San Francisco. The Schetselaar family remained in Salt Lake but soon moved out of this house.

Where the attack happened, The house at 863 E 600 S SLC, Photo taken in Jan 2023.

Sources:
The Salt Lake Telegram 1933 Nov 14
The Salt Lake Tribune 1933 Nov 15
The Salt Lake Telegram 1934 Aug 11
The Salt Lake Tribune 1934 Oct 5
Deseret News 1934 Sept 5

This Old House Was Built in 1889, Not 1849

The house at 863 E 600 S SLC as it appears today. 

The oldest house listed on the map from my last post was supposedly built in 1849 but my research shows it was actually built in 1889. This house is east of Trolley Square at 863 E 600 South SLC. Not surprisingly, the County Assessor’s data was incorrect and the house was actually built in 1889. However, the county data does tell part of the story of that property…

The house at 863 E 600 S SLC as it appears today.  Several modifications have been made and a large addition on the back.

A photo detail of the house at 863 E 600 S SLC showing where the original brick joins with the new stucco addition. Where the new and old join together.

The house at 863 E 600 S SLC, ca 1930s (?), from SL County Tax Assessor records. Note the upper window.

This house was built by Hyrum S. Laney in 1889; the 1849 date likely comes from when the Laney family originally inhabited this plot of land. It was Hyrum’s parents Isaac and Sarah Laney who arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in Sept 1847.

The Laneys first lived in a small house in the old fort at what is now Pioneer Park. According to Laney family history, they moved from the fort about 1850 (1849?) to the northwest corner of 600 S and 900 E, where they built a log cabin, a grain silo, and some infrastructure for their farm animals. This was the southeasternmost house on the original SLC grid for several years.

Of note, according to family history, Sarah Laney was the first non-indigenous person in the Salt Lake Valley to spin, dye, and weave a piece of cloth on a loom.

Detail of a tablecloth made by Sarah Laney, likely at their property on the corner of 900 S and 600 E. From FamilySearch.

Hyrum, the youngest Laney child, returned to SLC from law school in 1885 and immediately became a prominent lawyer. He built the 1.5-story brick house on the family property for him and his widowed mother to live in. His mother died in 1902 and Hyrum moved out of the house in 1905.

At some point before 1933, the house was turned into a duplex. I’m not sure when the rest of the apartments were added but the house serves as a converted apartment building now. As you can see in the photos a large addition on the back has also been added.

There are several unfortunate events and deaths in, and around, this house but they are too long to detail in this post. They will need to be their own posts…. Coming soon!   (posted here)

I found a new-to-me photo of Ms. Mignon Barker Richmond, Utah's first Black woman (person?) to graduate from college (Utah State University) and a prominent community worker and human rights activist in SLC.

Mignon at the Stewart School University of Utah, from Utonian Yearbook 1952, page 83.

This photo of Mignon is from the 1952 University of Utah Utonian Yearbook.

It took 27 years after her graduation from college in 1921 for Mignon to be hired for a professional position in her field - and that is the job shown in this image.

In 1948 Mignon was hired by the University of Utah to start the school lunch program for the old Stewart School on campus (the former location of the Anthro building, just south of The Crocker Science Center (The old Natural History Museum) on President's Circle. She held this job for 5 years.

Richmond Park at 444 E 600 South SLC is named for Mignon.

Read more about Mignon's life on the Better Days website: 

Mignon Barker Richmond, courtesy Mignon Mapp from Better Days.