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Show OREM MAYOR NO. 5 . MANNING JOLLEY Jome people say that a city has a heart, and that it is located in the center of town. In the case of Orem, it took 20 years from the time of its incorporation as a town, for its heart to be situated and to start beating. With less than 1,000 people living in this community in 1919, the Town of Orem was incorporated and placed on the Utah map. Homes and farms were scattered throughout the sagebrush-ridden bench land, and a few small stores and other commercial ventures stretched along the five-mile U.S. Highway No. 91, from 20th North to 20th South. Utah railroad magnate Walter C. Orem, running his Salt Lake and Utah Electric Interurban Railroad from Salt Lake City through the town which took his name, purchased a 40-acre townsite in the 800 North State Street area, hoping that the town would centralize there. He built one of the four Orem train depots by the train track at 700 North Street, and called it the "Orem Station." Two businesses, requiring railroad trackage in their operation-Pleasant Grove Canning Company and Wasatch Chemical-built large buildings just west of the Orem Station. However, because nearly all of the homes built in Orem, during the Twenties, were agriculture-based, very few people purchased separate building lots for residential use in Walter C. Orem's envisioned town site. Back in those days, there was no "center of town," as such. Even though the community had been incorporated into the Town of Orem, a score of years would pass, before Orem could boast of a town hall, or even a designated shopping center. The first country store in town was opened in 1890 by Melissa L. McBride at 520 North State Street. Jens Peter Pederson opened the first blacksmith shop at 400 South State Street. Orem's first dance hall was operated by Major Berry at 1300 South State Street. John L. Snow opened a grocery store at 333 South State Street in 1910. Park's Cafe, Orem's first eating establishment, was started in the north end of town in 1928. Also in J - ... t-.-, . 1938-1945 1928, The Flower Shop was opened by Rohbock's Sons in the south part of town. In the early 1930s a few small businesses opened in Orem, including service stations, grocery stores and fruit stands. Orem's few businesses seemed to be centering around two different areas: one in the 800 North State Street area, and the other around 800 South State Street, where the Lincoln High School had been completed in 1921. However, for nearly 20 years, the frugal Orem Town Board, struggling to develop its culinary water system, open streets, erect street lights and street signs and re-pay water bonds, had held its official meetings, variously at the Snow Store, Sharon Seminary, Sharon Chapel, and at private homes. Construction of a town hall was finally seen as a pressing need to centralize the functions of Page 33 |