Demolition of Salt Lake City Sears

I have been monitoring the progress of the demolition of the old Sears building at 754 S State Street in downtown Salt Lake City.  

This clip is of the last section to be demolished, the part of the building adjacent to State Street.  I filmed it on the morning of Friday, November 18, 2022. This was before the taco carts were set up and they were not present when this event happened.  

I have a few other posts about the Sears building.  

• The history of the Sears building, including information about the murals. Read that post here.
• A group of us had permission to enter the old Sears building during the asbestos remediation (before demolition) to look for the old murals and see if they were still there, and if they were if they could be preserved.  They had been removed at least 30 years ago, so no murals were damaged during the current demolition process.  Read about that post here. 

Demolition of the Sears Building at 754 S State Street in Salt Lake City. This is the last section, adjacent to State Street. This occurred on the morning of Friday, Nov 18, 2022. No taco carts were harmed or present.

YouTube direct link: https://youtu.be/OfpxLox2FFc

Sears Building Exploration

Sales floor, ground floor, Sears Salt Lake City

The Sears on 800 S and State St is being demolished so now is probably the time to remember back to June when some other brave preservationists and I went looking for the historic murals that might have been inside (they were previously removed many years before - more on that in my next Sears post).So, enjoy an inside peek into the old Sears building. 

I'm sure you will recognize the sales floor. But if you always took the escalator you may have missed the nice wood banisters in the staircases at the edges of the sales floor.

The more interesting parts to explore were those not normally seen by the public, especially the utilities, the service elevator, and the areas used by staff.

The executive offices were outfitted with wood paneling and shag carpet. And yes, the last pic is of an enclosed toilet in a yellow room, apparently, someone decided a private bathroom was no longer needed.

We also found an unusual picture of a flock of seagulls; initially, I thought this might be some kind of mural (not the ones we were looking for) but it turned out to be made of plastic. Still kinda cool though.

(Note, we had secured permission to enter and explore).

How Tom and Josie Found a Loophole in Utah's Interracial Marriage Law in 1907

News clipping headline from
The Salt Lake Herald Jan 6 1907

This is the story of Josie and Tom Sun who in 1907 found a loophole in Utah’s ban on interracial marriage.

Their marriage made headlines across Utah but this clipping from the Jan 6 1907 edition of the Salt Lake Herald certainly used the most racist language to describe the union.

According to newspaper articles printed at the time, Tom and Josie were schoolmate sweethearts when they both lived in San Francisco (but Tom was nearly 10 years her senior so maybe not so much) and the two corresponded quite often, even after Josie and her parents moved to Seattle. When Josie turned 18 they decided to marry.

Tom was of Chinese descent (records conflict on if he was born in China or California) while Josie was African American, described as an “octoroon” (a dated term meaning one-eighth black by descent) and as a "Negress."

Laws prohibiting interracial marriage were common in the U.S. The couple was turned away by 4 different states (California, Oregon, Washington, Montana) citing miscegenation laws.

When they arrived in Salt Lake City, the County Clerk initially turned them away, but Tom had secured an attorney and soon the Salt Lake County Attorney’s office was involved.

The Utah law prohibited Asians and Whites from marring and Blacks and Whites from marrying but the law was silent on Asians and Blacks marrying. So, the County Attorney said the couple could marry under Utah law and they married that day, Jan 5 1907.

Life was pretty good for the couple for a short time. They were respectable people, purchased a house at 208 E 800 South SLC, and had a daughter, Susie.

But life soon became difficult: Susie was a colic baby (and Josie being 19!), Tom was away to Nevada, and then Tom went bankrupt. Josie even gave up her baby for adoption once but soon changed her mind and got Susie back.

The last record I could find on Josie was in 1914 when she was sentenced to 14 days in jail for vagrancy on Ogden’s 25th Street.

The last record I could find of Tom was his death certificate in 1937 when he died at the County Hospital in Roy, Utah, with no known relatives.

Whatever happened to Susie Sun is a bit of a mystery. The 1910 census is the only record I could find of her. My guess (but I have no evidence) is that she was given up for adoption again to the same local Black family she was originally given to. Her last name probably changed and I lost track of her in the records.

Paul Cephas Howell: First SLC Black Detective

Detective Paul Cephas Howell

Who was Salt Lake City’s first Black police officer? 

Most references will name Paul Cephas Howell (1855-1915) but it seems like he is actually the second Black SLC police officer (Although, see note* below about Police Officer vs Detective and why Howell is likely the first Black Detective but not the first Black Police Officer).

R. Bruce Johnson, the first Black police officer in SLC will be my next post.

Paul C. Howell was born in 1855 and spent most of his early days as a farmer in Louisiana after the Civil War. He moved with his wife and children to Salt Lake City in 1889. 

He served on-and-off the Salt Lake City Police Department between 1892 and 1911, attaining the rank of Detective in 1908 (1st image). Howell’s great-grandson Jake Green Jr. also served on the SLC police force beginning in 1968.

Howell was a prominent and respected leader in the Salt Lake Black community. As examples, in 1894 he served as president of the Colored Voters Organization and in 1902 helped establish the Cooperative Commercial and Investment Co., an establishment to buy and sell real estate for people of color in SLC.

Segregation and racism were rampant in SLC and although Howell was well respected and believed to be a man of principle, he was also demeaned for his skin color and tall frame: he was described by the Deseret News as a “Darkey of mastodon proportions” (Deseret News 1892-06-22 p5).

Paul C. Howell died on February 11, 1915 at his home at 138 East 800 South SLC of Bright’s Disease (a kidney disease).

*Note: It is possible (and perhaps very likely) that Paul C. Howell was the first Black Detective on the SLC Police Force.  Although his predecessor, R. Bruce Johnson, was sometimes called a detective in the press I could not definitively find evidence that Johnson was formally promoted to that rank. Whereas, Howell attained the rank of detective in 1908.

Paul C. Howell house at 138 East 800 South SLC. Feb 2020.

Paul C. Howell house at 138 East 800 South SLC. Feb 2020.