Provo Downtown Historic District
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The Provo Downtown Historic District is a historic area located in Provo,
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
. The district is composed of four blocks of Center Street (100 East to 300 West) and one and a half blocks of University Avenue. The NRHP listing included 43
contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...
. The majority of the buildings in this district were built between 1880 and 1930, however there were buildings constructed all the way through the seventies. Many of the buildings, particularly the older ones, required some fashion of
remodeling Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...
. Within the district, twenty structures are considered
architecturally Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...
or historically significant, and twenty one structures are considered contributory.


History

In the year 1849, a group of about 150 people arrived in and settled what is now the city of Provo. This group was sent by the president of the LDS church at the time,
Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his ...
, for purposes of colonizing the area. The following year, the city was surveyed as a plot one square mile surrounded by several acres of land designated into eight lots. Brigham Young encouraged the settlers to build their homes and businesses in the proposed town site, and church leader
George Albert Smith George Albert Smith Sr. (April 4, 1870 – April 4, 1951) was an American religious leader who served as the eighth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Early life Born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territor ...
relocated to Provo to help encourage the city's development. The first merchant of Provo, Andrew J. Stewart, owned and ran a store out of his home on 5th West. He eventually relocated his business to Center Street. By the end of 1852, two years after the arrival of the settlers, Provo had several operating businesses including a pottery, two
grist mills A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...
, three cabinet shops, three shoe shops, one meat market, two
lime kiln A lime kiln is a kiln used for the calcination of limestone (calcium carbonate) to produce the form of lime (material), lime called quicklime (calcium oxide). The chemical equation for this chemical reaction, reaction is :Calcium carbonate, Ca ...
s, one sash factory, one wooden bowl factory, two tailor's shops, two hotels, and two storehouses. The businesses dotted 5th West and Center Street. Profits for merchants in Utah were fairly high during the 1860s. However, the farmers and LDS members who subsisted through agriculture did not receive much of a profit, if any, and began to resent the merchants for their success. Young instructed members to “Cease paying exorbitant prices demanded by disinterested persons...and hundreds of thousands of dollars may be saved annually by the saints".Thorley-Warnick 1984, p. 2 Young encouraged cooperative trading among the members of the church in order to ensure fair trade. The Provo West Co-op was the first cooperative store which was built, and it was built in the same building that Stewart operated and lived out of. There was a large influx of buildings into Provo in the late 1860s. Many businesses came in and located along Center Street. These buildings were built primarily of wood or
adobe Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for ''mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of e ...
. Commercial buildings that developed during this time included Provo's first kiln, W. Allen's brickyard, and the Provo West Co-op. The Liddiard Brothers, the sons of Samuel Giddiard, continued their father's cement business, contributing to many of the structures on Center Street. E. J. Ward and Sons, established in 1889, became a major competitor with the Beebe and Smooth Lumber Companies. The Provo
Foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
and Machine company produced heat and plumbing still apparent in the town. The Taylor family established several successful businesses on the west side of the downtown, including the Taylor Furniture Company.


Tintic Mining industry

The successful commercial mining of precious metals and minerals transformed Utah's economy from basically an agrarian base to a more industrialized state. Within this development, the Tintic Mining District, located approximately thirty miles southwest of Provo, was founded in 1869 and by 1899 became the leading mining center in Utah with a value of output placed at $5 million. A central figure in Tintic's success was
Jesse Knight Jesse Knight (6 September 1845 — 14 March 1921) was an American mining magnate, one of relatively few Latter-day Saints in 19th century Western America to find major success in the field. After the death of his father Newel Knight, Jesse's f ...
and the Knight family who resided in Provo. Knight attained wealth with his Humbug mine in the mid-1890s. The large silver producer allowed Knight to develop other mines in the East Tintic area. Knightsville grew around the workings and became touted as the only saloon-free, prostitute-free, privately owned mining camp in the U.S. His strict adherence to doctrines of the LDS church made the town one inhabited primarily by
Mormons Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...
. The Tintic mining effort had a large effect on Provo's commercial district. Jesse Knight, Charles E. Loose, and other entrepreneurs, made wealthy due to the mining industry, made Provo their home and set about to improving it. Loose spent his money buying up a large part of Provo's commercial property, such as the Loose Block. Knight established the
Knight Block The Knight Block is a historic building located on South University Avenue (U.S. Route 189) in downtown Provo, Utah, United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Description The Knight Block was constructed in 1900, a ...
(bordering Center Street and University), in addition to the Knight Mansion. Provo continued to grow. In 1883, construction began on a new LDS
Tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
. In 1887, a
chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...
was organized. In 1889, the Rocky Mountain
Bell Telephone The Bell System was a system of telecommunication companies, led by the Bell Telephone Company and later by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), that dominated the telephone services industry in North America for over one hundre ...
Company developed and secured a twenty-year franchise. The Provo Lake Resort was also established on Utah Lake.


Update

The district was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...
in 1980. The district includes the Knight Block, which was already separately listed on the National Register. and


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in Utah County, Utah This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Utah County, Utah. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah County, Utah, United States. La ...
* Provo East Central Historic District


References

* 2002. "Historic Provo" Provo City Landmarks Commission. * Mackay, Kathryn L. National Park Service. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form." May 1979. * Thorley-Warnick, Jill. National Park Service. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory -- Nomination Form." April 1984.


External links


NRHP Listings in Provo Utah
{{Provo, Utah Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Utah Tourist attractions in Provo, Utah National Register of Historic Places in Provo, Utah