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Show OMB No 1024·0018, NPS Form United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. § Page 1 Manti Motor Company Building, Manti, Sanpete County, UT Narrative Statement of Significance The Manti Motor Company Building, constructed in 1916 with a circa 1920 addition, is significant under Criteria A and C. Under Criterion A it is significant as the first automobile dealership in Manti and in the Sanpete Valley. Originally named the Utah-Jdaho Motor Company, the business was the first established in Man6 to specifically deal in automobile sales. Jt is noteworthy that even in a rural community of just 2,500 persons in 1916, certain businessmen could see the need for and the profits that could be generated from the young automobile industry. There were fann implement bu sinesses in other towns tl1at sold automobiles, but that was not their primary product. Three years after the company forn1ed the name was changed to Man6 Motor Company, and would remain so until circa 1930, when the dealership went out of business. The building is also architecturally significant under Criterion C as an early rural example of a building constrncted specifically for sales and service of the rapidly growing automotive industry, both in Utah and across the country. The building is a fine example of the craftsmanship of a local designer/builder, Lauritz Peder Miller (LP. Miller) and incorporates some unique truss work to span the large repair and showroom spaces. Miller designed and built houses for numerous prominent citizens in Manti and a number of substantial commercial and public buildings throughout the southern part of Utah. The Manti Motor Company Building is an important historical and architectural contribution to Manti's Main Street commercial district that is comprised oflatenineteenth to mid-twentieth century architectural examples. Historica) Significance On December 2?1h of 1915, Lewis Anderson, John Mellor, Ernest Madsen, Peter Dyreng, Quincy Crawford, Lewis Anderson, J.G. Cravl'ford, Lawrence Lowry and John Lowry, all of Manti, met to fonn a new corporation, "to buy, sell , and otherwise deal in automobiles, auto trucks, and steam-, gas-, or electrically-driven vehicles of every kind" under the name of the Utah-Jdaho Motor Company, Division Four. Corporate officers were Lewis Anderson, President; Quincy Crawford, Vice President; and Peter Dyreng, Secretary and Treasurer. Capital stock was valued at $ 10,000, at $ 100 per share. In March of 1916, the corporation purchased a parcel of undeveloped land on no1ih Main Street in Manti from N .H. Felt and his wife, Elvira, and began construction of a new building for the sales and service of automobiles. This would become the first automobile dealership in Manti. One of the founding shareholders, Lawrence Lowry, became the manager of the new enterprise. Jn April of 1919 shareholders voted to change the name of the corporation to "The Manti Motor Company." By J 920 capital stock was valued at $50,000, divided into 500 shares at the par value of$ J 00 each. The introduction of the automobile was important to this rural valley. Agriculture and sheep raising were the two most important industries in the valley. When automobiles and trucks came along it opened the area to greater markets and less isolation. In fact, the Manti Motor Company leased the first "bus" to the South Sanpete |
