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Show A GUIDE TO LEHI CITY'S HISTORICAL SITES AND PLACES Published by the Lehi Historical Preservation Commission 1997 funded by grants from the ltab State Historical Society and I.chi CityCorporation JOHNSON GENERAL STORE Constructed: 1916-17 Address: 2005 Railroad Street Current owner: C.L. Johnson Lebi Junction in the early 1880s was a vibrant focal point of railroad, industrial, and commercial activities. The Salt Lake & Western and the Utah CemraI Railways spawned nwnerous business pursuits aloog historic Railroad Street. Heber Comer established the first mercantile in the area shortly after the Lebi Junction depot was completed in 1881 at the intersection of Railroad Street and 2100 North. Not much is known about Comer's store except that it was burglarized on 25 January 1883 by engine tender William H. Colton. The pickings were slim. AD 1he thief rec:eived from his eff'ons WI! IOIDe cbqe lad a poudl of tobacco. Comer sold the S10re in 1890, purchased a piece of property from Joseph Dorton at 116 West Main, and erected a large twenty-four-by-fifty-foot brick building. While John and Alma fitted the new place up for a saloon, the elder Comer devoted his energies to other enterprises-including an ice bt8ness. several ice cream parlors, a shoe shop, and a threshing business. The 19 October 1905 Lehi Banner reported that Charles L. Johnson purchased the junction S10re on Railroad Street from Wilham Melantbay. Johnson moved his family into a threeroom ho~ attIcbed to the south side of the mercantile. "Much of the store business," wrote his daughter Lucille (White), "was filling orders to be sent out to the mining towns of Sunshine, Topliff, and Mercur." Railroad work crews, who hved in outfit cars on a siding near the depot. were also a source of business. A popular grocery item (remembered by Lucille White) was the fresh baked bread dehvered daily by rail from the Royal Bread Company in Salt Lake City. In 1916-17 Johnson built a new brick store near the old frame one. Three years later he constructed a new frame residence just north of his store. For a time Johnson's wife Jennie became the shopkeeper while he worked in a gravel pit at the Point of the Mountain. In 1926 the family moved to Pleasant Grove, opened the Busy Corner Store, and leased their junction operations to WiD and Lizzie Evans. Five years later the Johnsons returned to Lehi, opening their Busy Comer Store at 101 West Main. This venture was not successful and they repurchased the junction store from Jessie Peterson in 1934. The Johnson General Store was managed by Dean Bamhurst, JoImson's son-in-law, until the mid-1950s. when it closed. The building, vacant today, remains a lonely sentinel from the past-a ghost-like memory of loog-ago years when RaiIroId Street was the hustling, bustling heart of commercial activity at Lehi Junction. 98 lill!!!~~~~:I~~J, t,-- _ -,i-;;---- ~1,,---- ! Johnson General Store in 19505 2005 Railroad Street today 97 |
