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Show Pleasant Grove Library 1 1251 2 $ 1 PER ISSUE 30 East Center Street Pleasant Grove. UT 84062 8 VOLUME 3 NUMBER 094 WEDNESDAY, July 6, 201 1 www.timptimes.com AT A GLANCE PACE 2 LIFESTYLE Pleasant Grove BLAB Life's Moments Thoughts From The Garden. . . "Reflections" PAGE 3 OBITUARIES LIFESTYLE SCOUTING SOCIAL Senior News PAGE 4 SOCIAL Casual Critic "The Buskers" to Perform as Part of Sunday Concert Series PAGE 5 EDUCATION PGHS Honor Rolls SOCIAL PG Neighborhood Beautification Awards PAGE 6 PUBLIC SAFETY PG Police Beat Lindon Police Beat PAGE 7 CITY Cedar Hills Contests Utility Relocation Bill RG. Municipal Elections 2011 RG. City Calendar Concerts in the Park SPORTS PG Vikings Outlast Lehi Pioneers , PG Declaws West Jordan PAGE 8 Mustang League Winners Announced PG All Stars Win State Championship Adult Female Jazz Class to be Offered PG Rec. Crowns Softball Winners . . ... sx i i The Old Bell School Provided Education and Protection i t ' " '! : : ,. " " ' V " ' . - ". fty Geri Taylor Editor's Note: This is the sec-ond of a multi-pa- rt series on the Old Bell School. The first school house in Pleasant Grove was made of adobes patterned after the Pueblo villages in Santa Fe and was built near 600 South and Center Street. Finished in No-vember of 1852, it was finally opened the following month, with Alonzo Win-ters as the first teacher. Early in 1853, George A. Smith wrote orders for towns in the northern end of the valley ' to "build a good substantial fort in each of their settlements." While the council was fol-lowed by drawing up plans and beginning construction, the set-tlers did not act with haste until Chief Walker made a night raid on the un-bu- fort and drove off 23 head of horses. Brigham Young is reported to have said, "The Saints are slow in heeding my advice, but quick enough to obey when Chief Walker speaks." Kill-ings in Springville and Sanpete County were cause enough for the town to quickly get the resi-dents inside the fort perimeters before it was completed. It was decided to bring the newly built school into the fort also, and in one day it was dismantled brick by brick and moved to the south west corner. By autumn it was again ready for use and William Frampton joined Winters in teaching the growing number of students. The reconstructed school building had a stage at the east end and served as the commu-nity center for five more years. When it burned down in 1860, everything combustible was lost, but the adobe walls stood firm, becoming even stronger through their "fireing". Four years later these seasoned adobes were used to construct a one-roo- m school, designed by English immigrant Henry Greenhalgh, at its present lo-cation of First South on First East. Effie Adams noted in her history, "The Old Bell School," that "the arched ceiling, and floor with sand between the sleepers for sound deadening, gave the room excellent acous-tic qualities, and made it espe-cially good for entertainment." As the population in-creased, the building became so over-crowd- that some classes were held in city hall while others were conducted in private homes By 1880 if was obvious the school needed to be enlarged, so a room was built on the east side with a sliding door between the two rooms. The addition of a bell tower became an appreciated community asset as the bell not only "called students to school and volunteer firemen to put out fires, but it heralded other occasions in town." It was rung for both happy and sad events and announced that all children should be home by nine o'clock for curfew. "The Old Bell School" got its ad-opted name from this bell that became Pleasant Grove's pub-lic communication system for many years. When the third addition was completed in 1888, "it Eleroy West (left) and a friend play a game of marbles at Old Bell Schoolhouse. Photo courtesy of Gary Carlson gave the building a finished, balanced look." J.L. Harvey, school trustee who supervised the construction, kept an ac-count book of expenditures for the project which included: $3.50 for a load of lumber, $2 to haul it from Provo by team; coal $7.85; wood to burn $5; poles from Wamicks, $3.50; chopping wood 50 cents; pipe and nails $9; mason work to Olaf Mon-so- n, $7; lath and nails $1.75, and many other entries for work or materials used. It wasn't long before the increasing school population required more room and the higher grades were moved to a new building. In 1910 things were reversed and the lower grades were moved to the new buildings while the upper class-es were put back in the Old Bell School until the new high school was completed two years later. The center of the com-munity for more than 50 years now stood vacant, functioning only as a storage unit. Although used for various purposes, in-cluding a library, the building and grounds were unattended for many years and numerous motions were made to demolish the eyesore. By 1940 city of-ficials had decided to "do away with" the old building and use the property to better advantage. According to the history of the school, it was at this time the Daughters of Utah Pioneers stepped forward, determined to save the build- - ing. Recognizing its histori- - cal value, they felt it would be the perfect place to house their growing collection of pioneer relics. The local press reported it as such: "Pleasant Grove will preserve this old landmark. Loyalty and love for the pioneers of Pleasant Grcve and the ideals for which they stood, have saved this old building from being razed. . . . Mayor S. Alma Kirk promised "Old Bell" continued on Page 6 Richard A. Guernsey Retires After 30 Years of Navy Service .: . f ..." ' " : v .:''.".) A - '" J r : - ; I S v 1 I V, k- - A ...m .mwi m . Copt. Rich Guernsey and his wife Diana pose for pictures at his retire-inc-services at the Pleasant Grove Veteran's Memorial. Capt. Guernsey served in the US Navy fro over 30 years. Richard was deployed three times in the last 15 years, including two tours in Iraq and has been awarded the Bronze Star. Guernsey was also presented an award from President Obuina by Brig. Gen. Steven M. Anderson for outstanding service in the United Slates Navx. Photo courtesy of PicMyKid.com i .. , - -- i MTn . - - - - - - .( agin imr"" A blaze charred nearly 10 acres of cedar brush on the mountain above Cedar Hills on Frday, July I, 201 1. Photo courtesy of Geri Taylor Brush Fire Scorches Mountain by Geri Taylor The first major brush fire of the season was reported around 12:30 Friday afternoon and within two hours was inostly contained. The blaze, which charred nearly 1 0 acres of cedar brush on the mountain above Ce-dar Hills, is under investigation as suspicious, since no evidence of lightning, fireworks or camp fires were in the area. Lone Peak Fire Chief Brad Freeman said cases like this are hard to solve even if they find the cause, since there are no eyewitnesses. First responders came from Highland because the Cedar Hills department was on another call. Pleasant Grove, Ameri-can Fork, and Lehi Fire De-partments, along with the U.S. Forest Service, helped fight the fire. Ambulances were also dis-patched as a precaution. According to Chief Free-man, the fire could have been devastating had it started in late July or August, but because of the moisture content and lack of wind, it took only five or six hours to extinguish. No homes were threatened and no one was hurt, a positive ending to what could have been disastrous. 'pleasant grove n WEATHER Today H - 88 L - 63 Windy Thursday H - 86 L - 62 Rain Showers 30 Friday H - 83 L - 60 Rain Showers 30 Saturday H - 84 L - 60 Rain Showers 30 Sunday H - 81 L - 60 Rain Showers 30 |