Colonial Flower House Vintage Postcard

Colonial Flower House, Salt Lake's nicest flower shop, ca 1940s..
870 E 900 South Salt Lake City

Colonial Flower House was located at 870 E 900 South SLC. It was started about 1933 by Mort Jorgensen (1900-1975), a Danish Immigrant who came to Salt Lake City in 1920. Colonial Flower was in business at this location until 1973.

Mort, who also owned Dimple Dell Nursery, built and ran several greenhouses in the Salt Lake area.

Notably, he arranged the flowers for the funeral of LDS President Heber J Grant in 1945.

He also helped establish the Danish Garden at Salt Lake’s International Peace Gardens.

This building was originally a house built by James M. Michelson in 1907, similar to other buildings along this stretch of the 9th and 9th neighborhood, which have also been transformed from residential to commercial spaces.

The current inhabitants of the building are 9th and 9th Jewelers, 9th and 9th Book and Music, and Summit Sotheby's Realty. 

Advertizement for Colonial Flower from Deseret News Mar 21 1940

The Colonial Flower building as it is today, 2022

The Colonial Flower building as it is today, 2022

The surrounding buildings in this section of 9th and 9th (southeast quadrant), 2022. 

Franklin Avenue

Franklin Avenue will be the subject of my next series of posts.

 
Currently, the mid-block alley is known as Edison Street but before 1906 it was Franklin Ave and it was the area that housed most Black people in SLC.

Specifically the northern extent between 200 South and 300 South and between State St and 200 East (Block 56).

The Original "W" from the Walker Sign is now at West High School

The "W" from the original Walker Sign is now at West High School

The neon "W" from the original Walker Sign is now part of West High's history. It is mounted on the roof adjacent to the football field! It is best viewed from the bleachers during a football game. 🏈

The football field and bleachers on the west side of West High School, 2022

In 2008, the original sign letters from the Walker Building's weather tower in downtown Salt Lake City were removed and replaced. Only the "W" from the 24 letters survived and was placed in the backlot of Rainbow Neon Signs, who then volunteered to put the letter on top of West High.

Source: Fox13Now 2014/08/20

The Chinese Dragon That Toured the Intermountain West

A teaser for my next post…

Illustration of a Chinese dragon, from the Frank A Beckwith collection

Photo of a Chinese Dragon used during a celebration in Rock Springs WY, 1899

This Chinese Dragon was a big part of celebrations in the Intermountain West in the 1890s (including Salt Lake City) through what time period I’m not sure yet.

This illustration by Frank A. Beckwith (1876-1951) is based on an 1899 photograph taken during a celebration in Rock Springs Wyoming. The illustration and the photo are in two different archives (Utah and Wyoming).

Frank Asahel Beckwith has been dubbed “the Renaissance Man of Delta” as he was a well-known man in the deserts of Utah and his home being Delta in Millard County, Utah. He was editor and publisher of the Millard County Chronicle from 1919-1951. And he was an amateur geologist and anthropologist who collected many items.

These two images probably will not make the cut for my upcoming Chinese New Year post so I thought I would share them now.

Images:
1) Drawing: Chinese dragon, from the Frank A Beckwith collection of Delta City library, digital image housed at Marriott Library, University of Utah.
2) Photo: Chinese Dragon used during a celebration in Rock Springs WY, 1899. From Wyoming State Archives

Weechquootee Place

Weechquootee Place is a short mid-block alley located at 15 E 300 South in Salt Lake City.

Weechquootee Place in Feb 2022

The alley was named in June 1998 in conjunction with the opening of the 25-story American Stores Tower, now known as the Wells Fargo Center (299 S Main).

A contest was held among the children of the Ute Indian Tribe. Tamar Serawop, at the time a 5^th grader at Todd Elementary School in Ft. Duchesne, submitted the winning entry. 

Weechquootee, pronounced WEECH-kwoo-tee, means “tomorrow” in Ute, so the name of the street means “Tomorrow’s Place.”

Just 6 weeks later, Albertsons announced it would acquire American Stores. An FTC condition of the aquation required Albertsons and American Stores to sell 144 of their supermarket stores. This was when the Utah Albertsons stores were purchased by Fresh Market.

By June 1999, American Stores was defunct.

Weechquootee Place in Feb 2022

Weechquootee Place in Feb 2022

Image from Salt Lake Tribune June 17 1998

Sources: Deseret News 1998-06-17; American Stores Wikipedia article

How To with The HUB - Historic Utah Building database

Use “THE HUB” database to research historic buildings. Available from the Utah Division of State History.


The Historic Utah Building (HUB) portal will take you the scanned files of historic buildings in Utah (if the building has been researched, and if the file has been scanned – it is a work in progress).

Easy Steps to use the HUB

1. Go to The HUB Viewer HERE.

2. Zoom to the area of interest

3. Click on a dot for a popup screen with additional info

 

4. The popup shows some basic info about the building, make sure to scroll down for a link to the file

 

5. Clicking the link will bring you to a scanned file (if it exists)

 

6. Open the file for all sorts of great info

 

Updated 20240622 with corrected link to the  HUB. https://shpo.utah.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8e218e18c2b74477b5f520e5617bebaf

Brigham Young's Sauna

Brigham Young had a personal “steam bath” in the Lion House at 63 E South Temple, Salt Lake City.

Brigham's Steam Bath. Page 106, DUP Our Pioneer Heritage by Kate B Carter, Volume 2, 1959

Reading through the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) history volumes is much like visiting their museum – odd tidbits are hidden within, like this one!

Similar to a personal sauna (except no hot rocks are used), Brigham’s steam bath is a wood closet made of local pine. It measures 3 ft square and 7 ft tall. On the door is a vertical hatch made of wood that could slide open and closed for ventilation, and to let the occupant unlock the latch on the outside of the door to exit.

Boiling water was poured into a 6-inch-deep metal tray that was situated below the wood-slatted floor; the stream would then flow up from the boiling water and fill the closet for the steam bath. Later a circle was cut into the ceiling and a steam compressor was added to help boost the temperature and steam.

Tubs and sauna at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Musem SLC, from TripAdvisor

 

 Description of the Steam Bath

 
The steam bath was located on the ground floor of the 3-story Lion House which was built in 1856 for some of Brigham’s wives. (Mostly the wives with a small number of children as the wives with larger families were generally provided their own house.)

The ground floor of the Lion House was where most daily household activities occurred. In addition to the bathroom in the NE corner, there was a schoolroom, a laundry room, weaving room, kitchen, dining room, and storage rooms.

The top floor of the Lion House held bedrooms, each wife getting a room with a dormer window (20 gables for 20 bedrooms). The main floor also housed bedrooms as well as a formal parlor.

Lion House 1907, top is a postcard based on the below photograph.

Lion House basement floor plan, ca. 1868

 
Brigham often used the steam bath to treat his rheumatoid arthritis. He also liked the hot sulphur baths at Warm Springs, even having his own private entrance and room. That edition of Warm Springs has long since been demolished; the 1921 version, called Wasatch Springs Plunge, is the most recent and is located at 840 N 300 West (owned and boarded up by SLC gov).

The Lion House was converted into a reception center and restaurant in the 1960s and remains so today.

Brigham’s steam bath is now housed at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum at 300 N Main St.


Sources
- Lessons (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Nov 1968
- DUP Our Pioneer Heritage by Kate B Carter, Volume 2, 1959
- Brigham Young at Home by Clarissa Young Spencer, 1940