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Show OMB No 1074·0016 NPS Fonn United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. § Page ~ Price Main Street Historic District, Pr ice, Carbon County, UT Another early influence in the commercial development of Price was the freighting~ or "forwarding" business, as Price residents called it. In ] 886 a road through Nine Mile Canyon east of Price ""\\ as completed, connecting the 1own to Fort Duchesne, about 60 miles to the n01iheast, and the lucra1ive hauling of freight between Price and the Fo11 began. Prior to ] 886 only four general merchandising businesses were known in Price, while by 1888 town businesses included two contractors, four mercantile or general merchandising establishments, a blacksmith, a hotel, two saloons, a butcher, a baker and a restaurant. 2 1 Early commercial activities in Price in essence created t\VO distinct communities. The industrial and business district was centered on the railroad yards and depot at the west end of town and al so included hotels and saloons, while four blocks to the east were the church, school and town governmen 1 buildings. As commercial and business activity incr ased, bu iness int re ts began to expand west from the railroad district to the east along Main Street, toward the civic and religious center near 200 East. 3 Sanborn insurance maps 4 clearly show this pattern of growth. Jn ] 908 commercial interests were clustered on either side of the railroad tracks and the densest grouping of buildings occuned on Main Street between l 00 and 200 West. By 1924 wall-to-wall commercial buildings had been extended along Main Street almost as far as 100 East. Price residents organized in 1892 to create a town government. By then, the population of Price had grown to 245, with businesses that included an attorney, a bank, two blacksmiths, a butcher, three hotels, two saloons, a livery and stable, four mercantile businesses, and a publisher. 5 Price was clearly becoming the dominant commercial center in the region, and sho:rtly after the organization of the town, residents tried to have the Emery County seat moved from Castle Dale to Price. Although this attempt failed, the effort helped persuade residents that they should separate themselves from Emery County. With a more diverse population and a very different economy in the northern po11ion of the county, the proposal seemed to make sense, although residents in some communities, sucl1 as Huntington, opposed the plan. Subsequently, petitions were circulated among the communities in the northern part of Emery County to convince the tenitorial legislature to create a new county. In spite of some opposition, the petition was finally delivered to the legislature, which enacted a bill on February 17, 1894 to create the new county. Ten-itorial Governor Caleb B. West signed the bill into law on March 8, and Carbon County officially came into being, with Price as the new county seat. As noted above, early business establishments were largely clustered around the railroad depot and yards. In 1892 these included the Mathis Hotel, the Oasis Saloon, the Emery County Mercantile Institution, Price Trading 2 Utah Gazetteer and Directory, 1888-89. Early Price leaders named city streets after letters of the alphabet and numbers, a system that was abandoned in 1926. This narrative uses the convention that was later adopted: I Street became Main Street, the principal east-west street, and Eighth Street became Carbon Avenue, the main road out of town to the south. Their intersection became the origin, or "zero" coordinates for block numbering and street addresses. (Attached Sanborn Map Company insurance maps from 1924 show both conventions.) The Main Street historic district extends from 100 West (formerly Ninth Street) to 200 East (formerly Sixth Street). 4 Sanborn Map Company insurance maps are available for 1908 and 1924 , courtesy of the Marriott Library, University of Utah. 5 Utah Gazetteer, 1892-1893, Stenhouse & Co . 3 |
