SPRINGDALE — Pioneer handwriting is still readable on a wall in one of Springdale’s original buildings built by its founders. And now, a grant will help honor the town’s tradition of neighbors helping neighbors in need.
The grant awarded to the town will help restore the Bishop’s Granary and hopefully uncover some of its mystery.
Springdale Principal Planner, Niall Connolly, told St. George News that historians are still determining locations the building has been. Its small size allowed it to be moved throughout the 1800s.
“Springdale has been awarded funding from the certified local government fund, which will allow us to hire a historian to do an intensive level survey of the bishops granary, and that will give us more information on the history of the structure and the story behind it,” Connolly said. “And that will then allow us to know the best way of interpreting the site for some interpretive signage telling the story of this building and how it would have been.”
The grant will allow the town to hire a historian to conduct an intensive property survey and in-depth research. Connolly said the wooden building is located northwest of the town hall. To qualify for the funding, the town has to match the expense.
“The building has been moved a number of times around the canyon. We don’t actually know the original location of it,” Connolly said. “It’s been suggested that it might have been moved around during the time it was been used from, so, whoever was the bishop might have had it on their property.”
The first step is the intensive-level survey undertaken by a historian hired through the grant. Connolly said depending on the results, the town may apply for the building to have listed on the National Register of historic buildings.
“Either way, we’re going to go ahead and do this title, landscape and interpretive signage whether or not it goes onto the National Register of Historic Places,” Connolly said.
Springdale Historical Preservation Commission Bob Carlton said they are using data from townspeople and historical societies to figure out what needs to be preserved. The grant has provided the fund for a historian to begin in August to learn more about the granary.
The commission also worked with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office to become a certified local government. The town is now eligible for federal grants for historic preservation. Carlton said grant money received helps with historical inventory, identifying the historical value and significance of structures over 50 years old.
In 2015 the commission’s first project was moving the granary, determined one of the earliest structures in the town from 1870s-1880s. It was relocated from resident Tom Burns’ property to just behind the Town Hall.
Springdale’s Community Development Director Tom Dansie said the structure was built of heavy, hand-hewn Cottonwood logs. It is believed to be a bishop’s storehouse since names with quantities of commodities and dates appear, including the names of well-known local pioneers, Alonzo Russell and Frank Petty.
Carlton said the Springdale building is unusual since most of the state’s granaries are permanent structures. The town’s granary appears to have been hauled around by a team of horses depending upon who the bishop was and then placed on their property.
“Then various people probably who were involved in the Relief Society at that time, would take charge and store grains and other things that people needed and distribute them as necessary,” Carlton said. “So there was never a permanent home for this greenery.”
The granary will finally have a permanent home near the town hall.
“It will be away from a lot of tourist traffic but accessible and we are now working on getting it secure and placed on either a pad or footings,” Carlton said.
The historian will conduct more research and interview some older town residents. Carlton said there will be interpretive signage and some landscaping at the site.
“There’s various writings on the wall. We figured that’s how their accounting practice was back then,” Carlton said.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.