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Show Page 8 The Ogden Valley News Volume XXX Issue IV October 1, 2023 West Point Cannery Finds New Home in Every Eden In January of 1925, the people of West brick, post, beam, truss, roof, and Point, Utah formed a canning company and built a beautiful red brick factory. By August 1925, the cannery went into operation with 63 people peeling and canning tomatoes. Some years later, Smith’s Canning Company bought the factory and ran it until the 1950s. It was located at the site of the Stanley Wise farm— at approximately 3100 W. 300 N. in West Point, Utah. Shown above is a picture of the cannery in its glory days. In 2015, the owners of Eden’s Blacksmith Village and Sunnyfield Farm (Sunnyfield) learned that West Point City was about to level this lovely old industrial cannery with a wrecking ball. Instead, Sunnyfield made the decision to disassemble the building and rebuild it here at Blacksmith Village, located west of Eden Park. Quotes at the time indicated that it would have cost $20,000 to demolish the building. Instead, Sunnyfield invested approximately $200,000 to take the cannery down one piece at a time. floor component waited in storage until 2022 when the disassembled cannery pieces were brought to Eden to save this piece of Utah history. Approximately 80,000 original bricks and about 80,000 pounds of reclaimed wood were saved and have been used in the cannery reconstruction effort. A representative of Sunnyfield, noted, “The acquisition of this historic cannery was very serendipitous because canneries were often built close to farms so that the foods could be canned at the point of maximum freshness. The re-build next to Sunnyfield Farm is well on its way with a planned completion date of November 2023.” According to Sunnyfield, “The original West Point cannery design was a simple brick construction with walls, four bricks deep, and a wooden post/beam/truss/floor/ceiling system. “This historic building technique did not meet modern standards, including seismic and other code requirements so the brick walls were replaced with cinderblock and the original bricks were added on the exterior and interior of the building, creating 19-inch-thick West Point Cannery ad walls! from 1927. “We also replaced some of the original load-bearing wooden beams with much stronger steel I-beams to create a free-span design. However, the original reclaimed wood has been used throughout the reconstructed building.” Sunnyfield is currently looking for tenants for the soon-to-be completed 7,500 squarefoot cannery, which offers one to eight units for lease. If interested, please contact Shawn Clegg at 801-232-4153 or visit sunnyfieldcannery.com. Moose and babies have been spotted on the Divide. Please take caution so as not to hit them! |