Large Murals and Other Attractions Were Once Inside the Sears Building

Various views of the Sears building today, May 2020.

The old Sears building at 754 S. State is on the demolition list.

Plans for the Sears building started in 1944 when Sears-Roebuck Co purchased about 6 acres of land, most of which was previously a baseball park (Cooley Park, then Lucas Field) where the SLC Skyscrapers played between 1911-1914.

Construction did not begin until after WWII ended, when materials and labor were available. The new store opened July 1947. The SLC mayor cut the ceremonial ribbon and more than 20K people browsed the new store on opening day. All 529 parking spaces were filled.

The new Sears featured a retail store, a cafeteria, snack bar, farm implement store, and a service station. It was also a new type of shopping experience as it was intentionally set outside the shopping district so that it could accommodate a large amount of parking.

Sears emphasized that they utilized local companies and workers to construct the new building. Architectural firm Ashton-Evans created the engineer drawings, Jacobson Construction did the building, Bennet Glass and Paint supplied the glass, and Salt Lake Cabinet and Fixture Company built the showcases and cabinets.

The store also featured 11 murals measuring 5x16 feet that depicted the history of the state. The murals were painted by Chicago artist Eugene A. Montgomery, who painted a number of these murals for Sears in various cities across the county.

Visit the Eugene Montgomery website to see all the murals in the SLC Sears as well as his work in other Sears buildings across the country. 

The Sears store closed Jan 2018. Architectural firm Sparano + Mooney has designed a mixed use affordable and market rate housing, commercial office buildings, retail center, and multistory boutique hotel that will replace the 8.5 acres Sears complex.

No word on if the taco carts will remain after redevelopment.

Grand opening SL Trib July 13 1947

Selection of 4 murals, originals would have been in color. From eugenemontgomery.com

Interior Sept 1947. Shipler Photo from UDSH.

Sears 1951, SL Trib negative from UDSH.

Sears Sign ca 1950s/1960s, from Marriot Library Special Collections

Cooley Park baseball field that occupied the Sears lot, 1911. Shipler 11904 from UDSH.

House at 1902 S 400 East to be Demolished due to Earthquake

The house at 1902 S 400 East after the earthquake and before demolition, May 2020.

This house at 1902 S 400 East SLC is on the demolition list because of extensive damage from the earthquake on March 18, 2020.

This country estate was built in 1892 by prominent businessman and prominent Mormon, Septimus Wagstaff Sears. The SL County Assessor states the house was built in 1896 but newspaper articles and city directories clearly indicate a 1892 construction date.

Sears was a polygamist and in 1892 he re-married and legitimized his second polygamous wife, Isabella (they had already been married for 23 years and had 9 children together). Two weeks later Sears purchased a 5-acre lot and immediately started construction on this Eclectic Victorian Style house. The family moved from downtown to this area, then known as Waterloo. His first wife, Mary, stayed with her children at her house in the Avenues.

The Sears mansion boasted a private pond and a huge orchard which produced large peaches and other fruits. The house was conveniently located at the end of the Waterloo Streetcar line.

In 1903 Septimus Sears died in the house and in 1907 Isabella sold the house and moved closer to downtown.

The house was home to some unusual characters after the Sears family left. In 1907, Linus W. Timby lived in the home and he jumped to his death at St Marks hospital in a Typhoid Fever delirium. In 1908, the infamous Anna Bradley (side girlfriend and murderer or Senator Arthur Brown – that’s another story!) lived in near destitute conditions in the house with her four children.

The home was purchased by Heber Bennion in 1909 and he lived there running a cattle and sheep ranch until about 1915.

By the 1920s the house had been converted to apartments.

The current owners intended to renovate the historic home but the recent earthquake intervened in those plans.

Capitol Motel at 1749 S State

Now and then: Now May 2020: Then is from SL Tribune July 2 1931

The Capitol Motel located at 1749 S. State Street is currently known as a sketchy property and is proposed for demolition and redevelopment. Its well-earned modern reputation was not always the case, when it was first built in 1931 it was nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood.

The Capitol was built by Marinus J. Gerrltse and his brother-in-law, Frank DeNigtre. Both were immigrants from Amsterdam and were previously in business together owning and operating the Wasatch Service Station at 1767 S. State, just south of the Capitol Motel (This 1929 building is still standing, although heavily modified; it is also proposed for demolition and redevelopment.)

Originally named the Capitol Tourist Apartments and Motor Lodge, this complex was designed by architects Lewis & Nelson and opened to the public in July 1931. This was one of the earliest motor lodges to open in this area of State Street.

The English Tudor style building featured 15 apartments for short or long-term rental, 14 of which boasted their own single-car garage.

Mr. Gerrltse was the general manager of The Capitol for a couple of decades. He mostly lived on site or in an adjacent house with his wife, and often various extended family.

About 1950 the garages of The Capitol were converted to additional motel units increasing its capacity to 21 units. It is also about this time that the two-story office building/cafe with additional units was built (it was later remodeled again to add a covered pool about 1961).

The Capitol is currently owned by the Housing Assistance Management Enterprise (HAME) which is a non-profit subsidiary of the Housing Authority of SLC. Redevelopment plans have been in the works since 2018.

Postcard ca. 1950s

 Postcard ca. 1960s.

SL County Assessor photos from a few years ago.
Note the sign which is no longer present.

SL County Assessor photos from a few years ago.
Note the sign which is no longer present.

May 2020.

May 2020.

May 2020.

Oak Glen house at 1871 S 1300 East is on the demolition list

1871 S 1300 East SLC in May 2020

1871 S 1300 East SLC in May 2020

This home at 1871 S. 1300 East is on the demolition list. It is one of the earliest houses built in the Sugar House area of 1300 East.

The county assessor lists the house being constructed in 1912 but I found references to the house at least to 1907. At the time, this area was outside the SLC city limits.

This country home was built for lawyer Daniel Brigham Hill Richards and his wife (2nd marriage) Hester Cannon Richards, both from prominent Sugar House families. The Richards’ purchased the land from Jeffery Hodgson in 1903, a few months after they were married.

Daniel B. Richards named the property “Oak Glen.” The property featured a large garden area and an orchard in the back.

In 1919 Hester and Daniel divorced and Daniel B. moved to a small house on the back of the property while his ex-wife and son lived in the main house on 13th East.

Sometime in the 1920s the main house was converted to a duplex and Hester and their son Daniel C. lived on the north side (1869 S.) while Daniel B. and his new wife Aurelia lived on the south side (1871 S).

The house was sold about 1931 and Hester moved to the Marmalade area and Daniel B. moved to Paris.

The house was last used as triplex rental. This house and the adjacent apartment building to the north at 1861 S have applications to Salt Lake City for demolition.

Tax appraisal photo for1871 S 1300 East.
From Salt Lake County Assessor. No date.

1871 S 1300 East SLC in May 2020

Daniel Brigham Hill Richards
From History of Bench and Bar of Utah 1913

Hester Telle Cannon Richards from FindAGrave

Selection of a few historic buildings to be demolished soon

To be demolished:

These are a small selection of the buildings with demolition permits in to Salt Lake City. None of these have historic protections so they will all likely be gone very soon.

Fish Given to SLC's Poor in 1910s

Current view of the old warehouse distribution site
at 325 W. Pierpont Ave SLC. May 2020.

In February of 1915 and 1916, this former Hancock Brothers Warehouse at 325 W. Pierpont Ave was once the scene of a massive fish giveaway to Salt Lake’s poor.

Non-game fish (mostly carp, catfish, chubs, and suckers) were seined (fished with a net) from Utah Lake and shipped by rail to Salt Lake City.

The 1914 giveaway was organized by the state fish and game officials who offered to furnish up to 25 tons of fish for a penny a pound- the penny going to the fishermen for their work. Salt Lake County officials did not think they could distribute that much so they bought only 10 tons, enough to feed about 3,000 families for several days. The 10 tons cost the County $200 (~$5K in 2020 dollars).

The 1914 giveaway was so popular that the County purchased 15 tons of fish for the 1915 giveaway.

“When more than a thousand hungry men and women stand in line for hours to get a few fish that are given away, it throws the lie into the teeth of those officials who say there are no unemployment in Salt Lake” said a receiver of the 1915 giveaway.

The distribution of fish was quite orderly. A few policemen were on hand to keep the crowd inline, but their services were not needed. “Men and women, black and white, rubbed elbows in the crowd in apparent good nature and forgetting lines of color or of caste.”

Sources: Utah Lake: a safety net for the needy, By D. Robert Carter, Beehive History 27; SL Telegram 1915-02-08

The old Hancock Warehouse at 325 W Pierpont Ave, ca 2010
from loopnet, before the adjacent Pierpoint by Urbana was built.

News clipping from Salt Lake Telegram 1915-02-08.

SLC's Huge Electric Sign

Auerbach Company and sign 1920, from UDSH

This large electric sign once hung at the intersection of Broadway (300 South) and State Street in Salt Lake City.

The sign was installed on July 10, 1916, and was the largest electric sign hung over any street in the U.S. up to that point (according to the Salt Lake Telegram). It measured 19 feet in diameter and swung 65 feet above the street. The sign was hung by 3 steel wire cables, 2 of which are 3/4 of an inch thick and the other is 1/2 inch thick.

The sign was in the form of a huge wheel with the hub representing the center of the shopping district; the spokes radiating from it the lines of industry; and the rim, revolving rapidly the symbol of commercial activity which characterizes the neighborhood. 

 Additionally, the words “Shopping Center” flashed on and off at regular intervals. The sign contained nearly 800 10-watt bulbs of various colors.

Electric signs were a novelty at the time, and this once was even more spectacular in that it rotated.

The sign was conceived by Herbert S. Auerbach and was an outcome of a plan by the Broadway Improvement Association and the State Street Improvement Association to promote that intersection’s businesses. The sign was made by the Intermountain Electric Company of SLC.

The sign hung at the intersection for several years and was removed sometime between 1920-1925.

Sources: SL Telegram July 11 & 16 1916.

Detail of sign 1920, from UDSH.

Local electrician James B. Pola standing above
the sign, SL Herald Republican July 12 1916.