A History of Washington County

Modernization

11 MODERNIZATION Professional Medicine In the twentieth century, like elsewhere in the nation, county health-care providers increasingly were trained in medical colleges, and the dependence on herbal medicine was replaced. J. D. Affleck who came initially to Sdver Reef moved to St. George and is said to have studied medicine at the same Pennsylvania medical school attended by Salt Lake City's Dr. Ellis Shipp. In conjunction with Walter Keate and Robert Michols, Affleck also opened a drug store. The next generation of doctors in St. George included Frederick Cliff and Frank J. Woodbury. They were men with considerable pro­fessional training. Woodbury invited his brother-in-law, Dr. Donald McGregor, to move to St. George. McGregor had been practicing in Beaver since 1910 but moved to St. George in 1913. He was a surgeon who soon constructed what was known as the McGregor Hospital in the city center. This brought a whole new level of medical practice to Dixie. Dr. Woodbury's son, Clare, and Dr. McGregor's two sons, 345 346 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Alpine and Lorenzo, went to medical school at the University of Maryland and returned to practice in St. George. Dr. Clare Woodbury moved to Las Vegas and was replaced by Dr. Wilford Reichman who practiced in St. George from 1925 to 1975. Clark Mclntire practiced in Hurricane but took his patients to the Cedar City hospital rather than to McGregor's. George Westin is said to have practiced medicine on the Arizona Strip. The McGregors were known for their surgery, Dr. Reichman for his bedside manner. People stdl verify that Dr. Reichman never sent anyone a bid; he felt that the people were honorable and would pay if they could. If they couldn't, they needed his service anyway. Reichman's generosity endeared him to the local people who saw him as a leader as much as a doctor. He was the embodiment of the family practitioner. The McGregors were more specialized. Dr. Reichman often referred his patients who needed surgery to the McGregors, who developed a siz­able facility with their own pharmacy and even a dentist located in the hospital. There was no ambulance available; local mortician Henry Pickett and his son Elmer adapted their hearse to double as an ambulance to bring accident victims to the hospital. Sometimes the doctors went to the site of an accident. In 1952-53 Washington County built the Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital for $500,000. The new hospital was an imposing structure; but within two decades it required expansion and was renamed the Dixie Medical Center. When it opened, the McGregor Hospital closed, and the McGregors opened a new clinic. Dr. M. K. McGregor had come to Dixie by this time. Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital was the result of a community effort led by county commissioners Murray Webb, Truman Bowler, and Emd Graff. They and the hospital medical staff came to the con­clusion that a new hospital was necessary. The Pioneer Memorial Hospital had been a good step forward when it was constructed, but it served mostly famdy practice and surgery. The time of medical spe­cialization had come to Dixie, requiring highly specialized equip­ment. Commissioner Webb negotiated with the governor, the state Department of Health, and the LDS church to contribute a portion of the cost. It then was necessary to pass a bond election for the MODERNIZATION 347 Dixie Regional Medical Center, 1996. (Gene Butera) majority of the funding. The election was called for 2 May 1972, and it passed comfortably. Clearly the citizens intended that health care in Washington County should be maintained at a high level. When the $4 million addition opened in 1975 with fifty-four beds plus an intensive-care unit, there were six doctors practicing in St. George and one in Hurricane. By 1983 the hospital had been expanded to 106 beds, having been purchased by Intermountain Health Care of Salt Lake City in 1976. It was the first purchase by the IHC system following its takeover of Salt Lake City's LDS Hospital. By 1990 the St. George hospital was again updated, this time with Intermountain Health Care funding, to become a regional hospital, meaning that patients were referred to it from other hospitals, par­ticularly in southern Utah. Dixie Regional Medical Center became the major hospital between Provo and Las Vegas. Steve Wilson had become the administrator in 1986, replacing Gordon Storrs, who served from 1975 to 1986. Facdities were set up to adow patients to be life-flighted to Dixie Regional Medical Center. The number of doctors had increased from seven in 1973 to eighty-three plus twenty-one consulting doctors in 1994. The hospital employs 700 people and has 138 beds available at this writing. Its 348 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY out-patient services now exceed the in-patient care in numbers served. Already a new medical facdity is being planned to supplement it, perhaps eventually to replace it. Perhaps the most renowned part of the hospital is the cancer center. In the 1960s the hospital invested in a radiation detection machine, in part in response to the nuclear fadout the area had expe­rienced during the 1950s. Barbara Watson, chair of the board, and Gordon Storrs, hospital administrator, worked with Senator Orrin Hatch and the National Cancer Institute to create a detection center in conjunction with the St. George hospital. The funding provided staffing and reduced screening costs for over a decade. Now that funding has concluded, but the Dixie Regional Medical Center has its own qualified experts and is continuing to provide service. Recently Rhanee Ballard recalled names of many of the nurses who served in the Pioneer Memorial Hospital. She mentioned Eda Hafen and a Mrs. Rankin among the first certified nurses. Others included Francis Crawford Hepworth, Alice Whipple, Agnes Hunt, Beulah Cottam, Mary Holt, Roxa McAllister, and Nina Green. Marie Cottam was a head nurse. Hettie Burgess Hunt was Dr. Reichman's wed-known nurse. Mary Whitehurst and Roma Reber worked for Dr. McGregor at the old hospital and at the newer clinic. Badard points out that the nurses not only cared for patients but also initiated a fund-raising campaign to pay for a coronary-care unit. Their "Coronary Care Bad" raised $6,000 which was matched with a grant from the Intermountain Regional Medical District, enabling them to open a two-bed care unit. Another vital function conducted largely by nurses was the county nurse service. These nurses conducted clinics to give chddren immunizations. They promoted pre-natal and post-natal services. For many the most memorable work of the county nurses was their visits to homes to diagnose children with mumps, measles, and chicken pox. They brought quarantine signs to be placed in windows of homes when children had communicable diseases. For many fam­ilies, these county nurses provided their primary health care. Dentists in Dixie included Alma Dunford, Jed Gates and W. C. Cox. Dunford was trained as an apprentice in Salt Lake City and came to St. George during Brigham Young's lifetime. He married MODERNIZATION 349 Young's daughter, Susa, and they had two chddren whde he practiced in Dixie. He was caded on a mission to England, and upon his return, the couple divorced, whereupon he moved to Salt Lake City. Dr. Gates practiced in his home which had previously belonged to Brigham Young. He had an office in the upper story to which Donald F. Kraack remembers being sent by his grandmother. "He had a trea­dle driding machine, with a large wheel and belts which operated in much the same manner as an old-time sewing machine. He pumped it by using his foot on a pedal affair."1 In 1911 Dr. Wilford Charles Cox established a practice after receiving a doctor of dental surgery degree from Northwestern University. The young doctor returned to southern Utah near where he had been raised in Iron County and opened a dental practice in St. George. His daughter Carol Cox Watkins reports that he agreed to help his professor continue research. He was especiady observant of a condition in Nevada's Moapa Valley and "concluded that fluorine in the water from mineral springs was responsible for the mottling and resultant lack of decay. These observations predated the fluoride work in dental hygiene."2 Mary Phoenix reported that Bonita Pendleton Ashby was sent to Dr. Cox to have a tooth pulled. Her father had given her a dollar to cover the costs. She discovered that the charge was a dodar if the doc­tor "froze" the tooth but only fifty cents without the freezing. She chose the latter and spent the remainder on herself. Dr. Cox's daugh­ter Carol remembers that many of his patients paid with bartered goods such as peaches, pears, gooseberries, firewood, or coal. Dr. Cox even remodeled his house on the barter system during the Depression when people could pay with little else than labor. At the same time, he contracted for the dental work for the CCC boys, receiving a dodar per patient. Doctor Cox continued practicing untd 1953. By that time, there was an infusion of new dentists. Mike Hutchings had a dental practice in the McGregor Hospital and moved with the McGregors to their new clinic. A. J. Hutchings was also practicing dentistry in the 1940s and 1950s in St. George. Walter Snow, son of Harold Snow and grandson of Erastus Beman Snow, arrived in St. George to practice dentistry after graduating from the University of Southern California. Several other local men went away 350 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY to dental school, graduated, and returned: Lee Atkin, Jay Blake, Mervyn Cox, Richard Whitehead, and Wayne Christian. Joe Hamilton and George Sanford moved to the area during the 1960s. In the 1950s Richard Jennings was in the city a short time, as were Merrill Woodbury and Carlson Terry. El Myrrh Cox was kdled in an airplane crash while searching as a volunteer for a downed jet­liner over the Grand Canyon. Later in the 1950s, Alpine Prince was electrocuted the night before he and others were to have moved into a new dental facdity. Larry Staples joined Atkin in 1971, focusing on preventive dentistry. The same year Dr. Richard Whitehead was admitted to the fidl-time medical staff of the Dixie Pioneer Memorial Hospital as an oral surgeon. He reports that he planned to open his office on a Monday, but it was county fair weekend and a man whose jaw was broken in a fight became Dr. Whitehead's first patient on the Sunday before his planned opening. During the 1960s people began coming from Las Vegas to St. George for dental work. The quality of the dentists and the compar­ative lower prices attracted many. In 1974 the first dental implants were done. Dr. Jennings had returned to St. George and along with Dr. Whitehead introduced this special treatment. Currently there are two periodontists, two endodontists, four orthodontists, and five who perform oral surgery among the fifty practicing dentists in the county. There are dentists practicing in Enterprise (Craig DeHart), Washington (Kent Heideman), La Verkin (Hugh Howard), and Hurricane (Ken Heaton and David Mason). Law Enforcement The transformation of Dixie is dlustrated in the activities of the county sheriff and the marshal of St. George. For nearly a century there was one town marshal. The jail was in the basement of the courthouse, with two cells shared by the city and county. In 1880 it was moved to a budding right behind the courthouse that had three cells and a drunk tank. The county sheriff sometimes had a deputy. The sheriff and the marshal shared the same desk and often held other community responsibilities such as poundkeeper or sexton. During the county's first century, infringements of the law were generally confined to public intoxication, robbery, cattle rustling, MODERNIZATION 351 horse thievery, and fighting (particularly at Silver Reef). Homicides were rare but notable. In 1881 a man named Forest killed a mine overseer in Silver Reef. The murderer was arrested and jailed in St. George, but before a trial could be arranged, a mob lynched Forest. Two other men killed each other in a Silver Reef shootout. In Pine Valley, a father killed the lover of his daughter but was himself kdled in doing it. Two cattle rustlers were captured by Bdl Pulsipher, who had been deputized by Sheriff Jim Pearson in Pioche. They were placed in jad in St. George untd the sheriff came to get them. On the trip back to Pioche to stand trial, the two cattle thieves were executed near the Black Ridge at Dammeron Vadey by masked vigdantes. Royal Hunt was killed at his ranch by a vagabond he had befriended. In 1964 a husband killed his wife and in 1975 a police officer killed a man who was found with his wife. As the population has expanded, homicides have become more frequent; from a dozen in the first cen­tury, another dozen have occurred in the last two decades.3 Bank robberies also have been memorable. In 1919 two men entered the office of the Bank of St. George late on a Saturday night. They broke the lock to the cash drawer where $1,500 was deposited; however, they could not break the safe. Arthur Miles, the bank's cashier, discovered the robbery and alerted the police when he went to the post office on Sunday morning to collect the Saturday mail. The thieves made their escape from St. George by way of Enterprise, whose town marshad Arthur Huntsman, had received a tip that they were headed in his direction. He discovered freshly made tire tracks heading for the state line. Near Acoma, Nevada, two mdes from a rad­road stop, Huntsman found the robbers and the money in their Model-T Ford mired in the mud. Nevada officials agreed Huntsman could return the robbers to St. George where they were tried and con­victed and sent to the Utah State Prison. Thereafter, the bank hired two young men, Leslie and Clair Morris, to guard the bank for a dol­lar a night. That continued for six months until the door was fixed and reinforced. In the early 1930s, another dramatic burglary occurred at the Bank of St. George. The perpetrators were never apprehended. They used a radroad jack to lift the entire back roof off the small budding. They entered on a Sunday, took several thousand dollars, and 352 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY escaped. The bank's insurance company restored the loss. The Hurricane Bank also was burglarized once; its thieves were never apprehended.4 The reminiscences of county sheriff Will Brooks capture the homey nature of his office in the 1930s. Many of his efforts dealt with thievery or youngsters involved in rebedion toward parents. He took many of them to his home where his wife fed them and bedded them down to keep them out of the jad environment.5 More serious crimes tended to involve professional criminals on the move. The sheriff was often called to set up roadblocks or coop­erate with police from northern towns or Nevada officials. The case of Jack Weston, a sophisticated thief, was one. Weston stole through­out Washington County, Iron County, and the Arizona Strip over several years. Weston and his mistress were apprehended by Sheriff Lew Fife of Iron County, but they were able to overpower Fife, hand­cuff him with his hands backwards around a tree, steal his car, and escape. In the melee Fife shot Weston. For revenge, Weston wanted to pour gasoline over Fife and set him on fire, but his girlfriend per­suaded him to leave. Instead he left Fife to die, tied to the cedar tree in the remote desert between Newcastle and Pioche. In a heroic twenty-hour feat, Fife cut tree limbs and climbed up untd he got his arms over the top, then he resumed the chase. The sheriff knew the tire tracks and was able to fodow Weston and his female companion onto the Arizona Strip, enlisting the aid of Washington County and Arizona sheriffs along the way. While on the run, Weston died of his gunshot wounds; his female companion and his brother buried him. She was soon captured and led Fife to Weston's grave. Fingerprints of the corpse were taken to make a positive identification of Weston.6 Washington County experienced relative domestic peace fodow-ing World War II and the Korean War. During the 1950s and 1960s Sheriff Evan Whitehead and a deputy patrolled the county, Whitehead serving St. George and the west end of the county, his deputy in charge of the east end.7 During the same two decades, the St. George police department consisted of three officers. Law-enforcement problems began to steadily increase at about the same time as the completion of Interstate 15. Two additional St. George police officers were hired in 1966 with the increase of population and MODERNIZATION 353 the annexation of Bloomington and Bloomington Hills. The police force in the 1970s grew to nineteen officers. In 1994 there were forty-three police officers serving the rapidly growing population of St. George. Today (1996), according to St. George Police Chief Jon Podei, the city has about 1.3 officers per thousand residents, wed under the state average of about two officers per thousand residents and the national average of slightly more than three officers per thousand.8 The low number of law-enforcement officers suggests that St. George is stid relatively free of crime problems. According to former sheriff Evan Whitehead and Ken Campbed, who served with him, problems associated with dlegal drug use esca­lated beginning in the early 1970s. Illegal drug use in the county included marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines. Interstate 15 and the proximity of Las Vegas, Nevada, make dlegal drugs easdy accessi­ble. EquaUy disturbing for law enforcement officials in the county is the rise of alcohol abuse. More recently, Dixie has experienced the urban related problem of organized gangs. Law-enforcement statistics kept by the St. George police chief beginning in 1986 provide a clearer picture of problems in the city. Instances of spouse abuse increased from eighteen in 1989 to 144 in 1993. Burglary cases rose from 157 in 1989 to 251 in 1993. Thefts also increased from 905 in 1989 to 1,503 in 1993, and vehicle thefts increased from 67 to 96 for the same four-year period. Forgery, nar­cotic violations, and driving under the influence of alcohol also increased. Only the more violent crimes of rape, homicide, and arson remained low.9 More recently the county installed the emergency 911 telephone system to enable citizens to seek immediate police assis­tance. In 1993 the county 911 system handled 12,091 emergency cads. Dixie experiences problems plaguing the rest of the nation. In 1995 the Washington County School District stationed a law enforce­ment officer in each of the high schools in the county, mainly for crime prevention. The avadabdity of drugs and alcohol in the county and family crises take up the majority of the time of county law-enforcement officers. Clearly the growth of the county from 10,000 people to over 60,000 has its challenges. Isolation once insulated Dixie from most crimes, but no longer. The office of county attorney that Lang 354 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Foremaster filled with a part-time contract for two decades has now increased to three full-time attorneys. The story is similar for St. George City with three attorneys. Other communities in the county currently are getting by with part-time attorneys. The county is also facing other socio-legal issues. One such issue was the lighting at night of the St. George LDS Temple. In 1942 the St. George City Council decided that since the temple was a major landmark, it should be dluminated at night. An agreement between the city councd and officials of the temple was made that the city-owned electric utility should give the temple a credit on its electric bill if the church would keep it lit ad night. The credit was set at a fixed dodar value which amounted to about two percent of the total electricity used on the temple block.10 In 1985 local attorney Phdlip Foremaster filed suit in the United States District Court in Salt Lake City, arguing violation of the First Amendment dealing with separa­tion of church and state. The city argued that it wanted the temple lit as an historic monument and city symbol. The federal district court dismissed the suit; however, on appeal to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, the lower-court ruling was reversed. In October 1989 the city appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court which refused to hear the matter. In the meantime, the LDS church decided to turn off the lights between 11 P.M. and 4 A.M. and assume the costs of elec­tricity for lighting the temple. St. George City faced another issue over its logo. For many years, the St. George temple was included in the city's logo. City officials decided not to include the temple in a new logo. Coming on the heels of the temple lighting controversy, the change created considerable community discussion and extensive news coverage. Activities of the extreme right fringe of already politicady con­servative southern Utah occurred in the late 1970s. Two residents of St. George, Walter P. Mann III and Richard D. Cooper, were ousted from the local John Birch Society for being too radical. A legal notice published in the Washington County News on 13 March 1980 signed by fifteen followers of Cooper and Mann warned that anyone who attempted to oppress, threaten, or interfere with their activities would be subject to prosecution and fines of $1 million per day for each right violated. This was served upon the United States Attorney MODERNIZATION 355 General, the attorney general and governor of Utah, and most local officials. Cooper and Mann pushed for the establishment of small town­ships governed by the common law, recognizing the sheriff as the highest legady constituted authority. Mann created Zion's Township in Washington County. A mditia was formed and trained with pre­scribed uniforms and armaments. Cooper was named chief justice of the township's supreme court, and members of the Zion Township were exhorted not to obey laws considered to be unconstitutional, such as zoning ordinances, speed limits, driver-license laws, and con­cealed- weapon permits. In an administrative hearing, "Sheriff" Eugene Jones was asked to arrest an I.R.S. agent seeking to question Mann. A high point in their chadenges of the legal system was to con­duct their own trial against "the world" on the steps of the county courthouse in February 1983 when the courthouse was closed. The government slowly reacted. Cooper was hauled into circuit court for zoning and building permit violations and was ultimately jailed three times within a ninety-day period. This penalty was imposed for being in contempt. Mann was incarcerated in federal prison as a result of his activities in the sale of advice on how to defy the Internal Revenue Service. By 1988 Cooper had relocated to the sparsely populated Arizona Strip where the inattention of a distant Arizona government was more appealing than was increasingly intol­erant St. George. Cooper formed the Desert Springs Township and soon began challenges to the Arizona government. The Mountain Meadows Massacre Revisited In the fall of 1990 a unique event occurred in Washington and Iron counties. It took the form of a joint famdy reunion between the descendants of John D. Lee and the descendants of the eighteen sur­vivors of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. That tragic event, described in chapter 2, has scarred the history of the region for over a century. Certainly the most noted trial and the most noted violence in the county's history revolved around the Mountain Meadows Massacre. In July 1875 a trial of John D. Lee resulted in a hung jury. Lee was retried in September 1876 and found gudty of participating 356 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY in the massacre, the only one so charged and convicted. On 23 March 1877, Lee was executed at the Mountain Meadows. The causes of this event were never fudy clear, but an extensive study by Juanita Brooks brought some clarity.11 Stdl, the incident con­tinued to bother people of the region. In an attempt to bring about a reconciliation, some regional leaders promoted a formal public event to deal with the remaining agony. The reunion activities included a luncheon in Parowan for monument committee members who met together for the first time, a trip to the site of the massacre, and a barbecue at the Dixie Center in St. George with descendants of the immigrant group as guests. After the meal, a joint famdy reunion of 400 people was held in the M. K. Cox Auditorium. The fodowing day, 15 September 1990, in Cedar City, a large public program was held to dedicate a new monument erected to honor those who lost their lives in the massacre. Schools The county's nineteen school districts were consolidated to one in June 1915. The educational needs of the east and west sides of the county were now addressed together. Residents from ad communi­ties in the county share in the financial support and the administra­tion of the schools through a county wide elected school board. The county school district is stable, providing educational opportunities for the children. School district superintendents have provided, in part, the foundation for the stability of the school system. W. O. Bentley, financial administrator of Dixie College, served as superin­tendent from 1915 to 1929. Mdton Moody then served nearly thirty years from 1 July 1929 to 11 April 1958. T. Lavoy Esplin directed schools from 1958 to 1979 when business and almost everything else was booming. Jack F. Burr served from 1979 to 1985, and Steven H. Peterson served to July 1996. At this writing, Kolene Granger is the present superintendent. The main issue facing schools since 1915 has been finance. The county has always been below most of the state in per capita income, particularly until the 1980s. At one point, the Washington County School District was the third poorest in the state. When the state adopted an equalization law which diverted additional appropria- MODERNIZATION 357 tions from the legislature to poorer school districts, Washington County was able to construct many new buddings.12 Enrollment remained rather steady, growing gradually from 2,059 students in 1915 to 3,379 in 1964. Then, like everything else in Washington County, there was a boom-the 1972 enumeration showed 4,215 students, 1982 listed 6,782, and 1992 saw a doubling to 13,363, with 17,391 in 1996. These statistics make one essential point very clear: the population explosion in Dixie was not made up only of retirees and second-home owners-many young famdies also were attracted to the county following 1965. The explosive growth of enrodment required the construction of some twenty new buildings since 1955, the purchase of a fleet of buses, and the hiring of hundreds of new teachers. In 1932 the dis­trict had only two buses, in 1952 nine, in 1972 seventeen, and in 1992 a total of sixty-four. Per capita expenditures have also increased from $341 per student in 1964 to $2,567 in 1992. Because of the popula­tion growth, the school district has been able to use the additional revenue from local taxes to hire teachers and purchase supplies. The building of new schools has been funded by various school bonds approved by the citizens. County residents have approved every school bond that has been presented to them. The most recent, in 1994, was for $33.1 mdlion. The school board is preparing for a $50 million bond election in 1996. This kind of community support has adowed the expansion of school facdities to keep up with the growth of the student population.13 During much of the last two decades, Washington County schools have had the highest percentage of enrodment growth in the state. Enrollment has doubled in the years of Superintendent Peterson's administration (1984-1996). Almost all students attend public schools; only 2.12 percent are being home taught. The dropout rate is low (51 students out of 15,769 in 1993) partly because of the establishment of an alternative high school, Mdlcreek, located in the old school budding in Washington City. The school district has a joint relationship with Dixie College to sponsor an area vocational school which allows students from both systems to use the facilities of each for training in vocational prepa­ration programs. This is a most innovative vocational program 358 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY because it utilizes existing campuses and faculties. It is the pride of both the college and the school district. Another innovation has been adopting a year-round calendar for elementary schools. Parents accepted the plan partly because the district conducted many meet­ings where ad could comment and partly because there was really no other alternative with such rapid growth. Student achievement scores in 1993 were slightly above the national average in ad academic cate­gories. Banking Banking as such was not ready established in Dixie until after the turn of the century. Before that time, most commerce was by barter or through the bishop's tithing office or Woolley, Lund and Judd, merchandisers. In 1906 Edward H. Snow and James Andrus founded the Bank of St. George, capitalized at $12,000. Bennett Bracken and John Hafen were directors and Arthur F. Miles was treasurer. Miles was county treasurer at the time, and the bank operated from his desk in the county courthouse. The bankers deposited their capital in Zions Bank in Salt Lake City which was their correspondence bank. When Mdes's term at the county commission ended, the Bank of St. George moved to a smad adobe budding on Tabernacle Street. They moved periodically in the following years. By 1932 David H. Morris had become president (Arthur F. Mdes continued as cashier) and the bank's capital and surplus account had reached $100,000, a strong position that helped it cope successfudy with the Depression. By the end of World War II, Clair Terry became the cashier and later board member. In 1955 Bill Barlocker took over the bank. He also obtained control of the bank in Hurricane. Barlocker's style led the bank into overextending itself, and his huge turkey business also suffered reverses. Finady, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation intervened and completely reorganized the bank which was then sold to Zions First National Bank in 1970. In 1922 a competing organization, the Dixie Stockgrowers Bank, opened in St. George. Joe Atkin, A. L. Woodhouse, and Joe Prince started this organization and were aggressive at loaning money. Gordon Whitehead was cashier. When the Depression hit, they found themselves overextended in loans and the bank was liquidated by the MODERNIZATION 359 state. The Bank of St. George took over the building and operated from there. Another early financial institution was the St. George Building Society, founded in 1917 and based on the British idea of a mutual-aid society. The society was chartered with the intention of helping people build homes. Edward H. Snow was president; Hugh M. Woodward, vice president; Leo Snow, secretary; and Wilford W. McArthur, treasurer. Woodruff W. Cannon, Guy Hafen, Wallace B. Mathis, and Thomas P. Cottam were directors. Initially the society simply functioned from a desk in the Snow Furniture Store. In 1930 its name was changed to the St. George Savings and Loan. In 1960 Richard Mathis, grandson of Wadace B. Mathis, one of the founders, joined the company and later became its president. Mathis said that when he joined St. George Savings and Loan, it had assets of $1.25 million which had been achieved in its first 40 years; by 1993 the assets were $168 mdlion.14 In 1917 Claude Hirschi established the State Bank of Hurricane with his father, David Hirschi, as president. The bank remained inde­pendent until 1957 when Bill Barlocker bought it and made it a branch of the Bank of St. George. When Zions Bank bought Barlocker's interests, it became part of Zions Bank. . The financial turmod at the Bank of St. George was one factor in motivating a group of local citizens to found the Dixie State Bank in 1970 to support the building boom occurring in the county at that time. Bill Hickman served as executive vice-president and cashier. Among the founding directors were Jim Lundberg, J. C. Snow, Dexter Snow, H. R. Mdes, Clayton Atkin, Floyd Ence, S. Rex Lewis, and M. Truman Bowler. Leo Reeve of Hurricane was an advisor and later a board member. Dixie State Bank began humbly in a house trailer but soon moved into the old Snow Furniture Store, remaining there from 1970 until it moved into a handsome new building constructed for it across the street in 1980. Dixie State Bank opened its first branch in Hurricane and in 1987 acquired the assets and liabdities of the Bank of Iron County under a FDIC receivership. The La Verkin office of the Bank of Iron County was closed whde the Parowan and Escalante 360 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY branches remained open as Dixie State Bank branches. In 1993 Dixie State was acquired by First Security Bank. The establishment of Sun Capital Bank resulted from another local initiative. Dan Schmutz, Ken Metcalf, Doyle Sampson, and Dean Terry founded the bank on a state charter in 1974. Sun Capital Bank quickly developed a loyal clientele, and once Dixie State Bank was sold to First Security, Sun Capital advertised the fact that it was the county's only home-owned bank. The bank supported local pro­jects such as the restoration of the Pioneer Center for the Arts in downtown St. George. In 1995 Dan Schmutz retired as president and John Aden succeeded him. The Vdlage Bank opened in 1996, terminating Sun Capital Bank's claim to be the only home-owned bank in the county. Douglas Bringhurst became the president with James Grey Larkin as chair­man of the board. There have been and are other financial institu­tions in Dixie. First Interstate Bank operates currently in St. George. Williamsburg Bank existed during the 1980s but closed when its national headquarters had trouble. American Savings and Loan budt a handsome budding on the Boulevard, but closed in 1990. Recently, the State Bank of Southern Utah, headquartered in Cedar City, opened a branch in the building vacated by American Savings. Merchandising Merchandising in Washington County was clustered in the center of the various communities in the county. The arrival of the 1-15 freeway helped alter that concentration. Other influences for change were the increasing use of automobdes which allowed store owners to locate their businesses outside the downtown and attract people by including parking lots, and the arrival of franchises which required the building of new facdities that looked Idee their counter­parts in national chains. For example, two blocks of stores marked the Hurricane city cen­ter until the 1970s. The connecting highway to 1-15 changed the commercial pattern. New stores began fronting a several-block strip, and the old stores downtown became vacant and remained so for a decade until they were taken over by Chums, a manufacturing com­pany. Drive-ins, gas stations, and other stores have stretched the MODERNIZATION 361 Hurricane shopping area westward. That trend is ldcely to continue because the Gateway project is re-drawing the configuration of the community ever westward toward the freeway. In contrast, Washington City's core of stores has remained con­centrated in the city center on Telegraph Street instead of moving toward the freeway exit. The interstate has taken most of the traffic off that street which is no longer the highway into St. George, but growth of Washington as a St. George suburb has secured business for the few stores which now serve those residents. Santa Clara's shopping district has nearly disappeared as the free­way has diverted traffic away from old Highway 91. Only one fruit stand and one smad grocery store remain from the many which ben­efited from U.S. 91 traffic. Santa Clara has attempted to prevent busi­nesses or multiple-unit dwellings in the city limits, preferring to remain residential. Santa Clara, like Washington, has become mainly a suburb of St. George. The trucking business that was once the lifeblood of the town has moved to the St. George Industrial Park. A few stores still remain in Leeds. There is no merchandising in Virgin. Rockvdle has consciously banned stores, whereas Springdale has become a strip town with tourist-oriented stores multiplying and thriving on the highway to Zion Canyon. This development stems almost wholly from the ever-increasing number of visitors to Zion National Park. Commerce there has not been directly impacted by the arrival of 1-15. Enterprise has always had its own locally owned stores. The town is far from both St. George or Cedar City, so having services available there is necessary. Veyo has been the site of a well-known swimming pool, with roder skating and a dance had that have drawn fun lovers for decades. It has been a spot where drinking often accompanied high-spirited fun. The town has gas stations, a motel, trailer park, laundry, cafe, stores, another roder rink, and a pizza parlor. Ivins, untd recently, had only a convenience store. The Ivins now emerging is quite a different place. Location in the town of the National Institute of Fitness, a health spa, brings many outsiders each week and a considerable payrod. Development of Tuacahn, a major performance center attracting tourists, wdl only hasten development of the town. Ivins also features new housing developments which are 362 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY changing the tone of the town from one of low-cost housing to ele­gant neighborhoods. Nearby Kayenta, one mde to the west, also sets a tone of elegance with its strict budding regulations that require Santa Fe style architecture, native landscaping, and large lots. There are two dining establishments in Pine Valley and one in Dammeron Valley, but the towns have remained free of other commerce. Home budd­ing has mushroomed in both in the 1990s. Merchandising in downtown St. George has been revolutionized since the 1950s and 1960s. Up to that period, commerce was almost totally concentrated in three downtown blocks. People were com­fortable with Snow's, OK, and Mathis grocery markets, whde the J. C. Penney, Sprouse Reitz, and Center department stores attracted shop­pers. Three drug stores-Fenton's, Bateman's, and Dixie Drug-and three gas stations were found in those three blocks. The Liberty Hotel and its well-patronized cafe was on the Boulevard; Dick's Cafe was just up the street. The Big Hand Cafe and later the Sugar Loaf were nearby. J and J Mill and Lumber Company was north and east; Pickett Lumber was near the courthouse and Pickett Mortuary was on the block to the east of the Liberty Hotel. Across from the Tabernacle was the telephone company, with Snow's Furniture on the opposite side of the street. Other establishments included the Arrowhead Hotel and the St. George Bank. Dixie Codege campus occupied the southeast part of the taber­nacle block and much of the block to the east of the Dixie Codege administration building. Other buildings on the tabernacle block were the Woodward School and the Recreation Hall. Codege struc­tures included the Science Building, Industrial Arts Building, LDS seminary/institute, and a World-War-II barracks for lunchroom and other purposes. Other downtown commercial establishments in the 1950s included Milne Truck Line, the Sun Bowl Club, McArthur Bakery, Wadsworth Fountain, and Wadsworth Theater (now Dixie Theater), a Firestone store, Bleak's Jewelry, Whitehead's Ice Cream, and the Whiteway. On Tabernacle Street were the Gaiety Theater, Bdl Baker's pool hall, the College Cove, and Dixie Drug. Judd's Store, across the street north from the Tabernacle, was serving as a candy and treats store, as it still is. Motels occupied the blocks immediately east and MODERNIZATION 363 west of the city center on Boulevard. Until the interstate freeway opened in 1973, these captured the tourist business because St. George was the half-way point between Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. Highway 91 routed traffic directly through town. St. George commerce was concentrated and owned mostly by local families who raised their children to work in the family busi­ness and to pass it on to each generation. This pattern has gone through a nearly complete transformation since the 1970s. Some of it has paralleled the coming of the freeway; some of it was changed because national firms came to Dixie. Several local business owners foresaw the changes in the commercial pattern the freeway would bring. They sensed that the center of the city would decline as a com­mercial location. The changes were unstoppable. The automobile particularly changed people's shopping habits, requiring large park­ing lots and adowing stores to be spread out over a wider area. The new freeway exchanges deliver tourists to two specific loca­tions in St. George. In addition there is also one exit at Washington and one to the Hurricane highway. The existing businesses in St. George were not located at those exits. This meant that the property adjacent to the exits became valuable and new businesses, generally national franchises, have taken up that prime land. New motels, fast-food outlets, and gas stations have been built on the east end of St. George Boulevard in the mid-1990s. This happened over a decade earlier at the exit south of town. As national companies considered opening stores, they chose locations outside the three-block town center. In 1959 Safeway opened a grocery store with a large parking lot; that was a turning point. There was both anxiety and excitement connected with Safeway's arrival. To some it seemed to threaten generations of sac­rifice and community building by local merchants. Brent Snow recads the revolution in the grocery business. The coming of Safeway chadenged the concept that grocery stores would be downtown.15 He consulted with Gibson Discount Stores and visited larger stores throughout the country. Eventuady the Snows decided to take a huge leap-they built a 35,000-square foot store on the eastern edge of town. On opening day, the store did more business than the old store had ever done in a week, even more than in some months. The new 364 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY methods of merchandising were so attractive and the discounts so appealing that people changed their habits and adopted the super­market concept. The building of the first mall, the Commercial Center in 1983, was as big a change as the arrival of the supermarkets. It was a twenty-store facdity. Today the visitor who takes either 1-15 exit into St. George is greeted by businesses with names seen in almost any American town: Denny's, Taco Time, Wendy's, McDonalds, Sizzler, Holiday Inn, Shoney's, Hdton Inn, Best Western, Arby's, and so on. The franchising system has come to Washington County. Real estate agencies, travel bureaus, and banks have linked with larger systems. It seems that little of local origin is left; but that is ready an dlusion. Many of the franchises are leased to local people, and the majority of the 4,500 businesses presently licensed by the City of St. George are not franchises. Other developments furthered the commercial growth of the county. Mountain Fuel Supply completed a natural gas line to the county in 1990. Its availabdity helps attract industries to Dixie. The City of St. George solved its occasional power shortages by complet­ing new lines to bring additional electricity purchased from Utah Power and Light and other sources. Two recent developments have increased competition and the volume of merchandising in St. George. John Price, with support of Bruce Stucki, developed the Red Cliffs Mad. Yet another merchandis­ing undertaking has developed, Zion Factory Stores. Located at the north 1-15 exit, this complex of thirty stores attracts tourists from the freeway. The emergence of several small neighborhood shopping plazas is also of interest. Another important facdity was a Wal-Mart distribution center built in 1992. Located near the exit to Hurricane, it is said to be the largest one-story building in the state, some twenty-three acres under one roof, employing over 300 people. Scores of semi-traders arrive each day, bringing dry goods to the huge warehouse and then delivering materials from the distribution cen­ter to Wal-Mart stores throughout the West. The National Institute of Fitness in Ivins is a nationally-known health spa that attracts clients from outside the city who come to the "live in" center to improve their health. Located at the mouth of MODERNIZATION 365 Zion Factory Stores, 1996. (Gene Butera) Snow Canyon, the awesome scenery and the spa's isolation help attract patrons. A new group arrives weekly and stays for a few days to a few weeks; people follow a strict diet and an exacting exercise regime. Its founders Marc and Vicki Sorenson recently sold their enterprise to Hyrum Smith of the Franklin Institute but remain as directors. A second elegant spa created by Alan Coombs at Green Valley brings clients to St. George every week. Both advertise across the nation in health and fitness publications. St. George has promoted the organization of a historic district and a downtown redevelopment agency. These have succeeded in helping the area change from a merchandising emphasis to a finan­cial/ professional center. Office complexes have been developed in the downtown area and more are planned. The new Zions Bank at Main and Boulevard is a handsome addition to the city center with an adjacent city-sponsored historic plaza. Ancestor Square, diagonally across from the bank, is an attractive novelty area with five restau­rants, three art gaderies, several offices and tourist shops. Historical restoration advocates have urged the city to spend funds emphasizing tourist attractions. The city government orga­nized a downtown historical district that helped many businesses 366 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY finance the restoration of the historic facades on their buddings. The restoration of the pioneer opera house, adobe house, and adjacent St. George Art Museum also testify to the appeal of historical renova­tion. Private funds are responsible for the Greene Gate Village-a handsome restoration of seven historic homes and Judd's Store; the Seven Wives Inn; the Olde Penny Farthing Inn; and other bed and breakfast facilities and commercial establishments that use historic buildings. In 1993 the LDS church completed an extensive restora­tion of the St. George Tabernacle and reopened it to visitors and civic events. All of these elements have combined to bring renewed life to historic downtown. Art Art has become an increasingly important dimension of cultural life in the county. Artists have congregated in Kayenta, Ivins, Santa Clara, and as far east as Apple Valley on the road to Colorado City. Since 1979 St. George has sponsored an annual art festival on Easter weekend which draws 150 artists who sell their creations to the throngs of tourists who come south for the weekend. Dixie Codege sponsors the Dixie Invitational Art Show that brings paintings of fifty to seventy-five well-known artists to the community for a month beginning on Presidents Day in February. Among the widely exhibited artists who currently live in the county are Greg Abbott, Jerry Anderson, Lynn Berryhill, Floyd Breinholt, Farrell Collett, Milton Goldstein, Jim Jones, Roland Lee, Gaell Lindstrom, Del Parson, David Pettit, Frank Riggs, Maynard Sorenson, L'Deane Trueblood, Lyman Whittaker, and Erla Young. Robert Shepherd, who died in 1993, was a guiding inspiration to the art community for nearly twenty years. Several commercial galleries have been opened, three in St. George's Ancestor Square, one at Sdver Reef, another at Leeds, two more in St. George, two in Springdale. The Artists' Coop Gallery in Ancestor Square is an association of twenty-four local artists. Dixie College faculty members have influenced art in the county. S. Ralph Huntsman, who died in 1995 at age 99, was a pioneer in this endeavor. He was a regionalist, bucking the tide of impressionism dominant in his day. Beginning in the 1930s, he proclaimed the MODERNIZATION 367 beauty of the desert his theme for sixty years. He helped people in Dixie look at the desert with new appreciation, to see it not as oppressive but exotic. Huntsman began an annual invitational art exhibit. Gerald Olson, Roger Adams, Ross Johnson, Gene Karl Riggs, Roland Lee, and Max Bunnell have each taught at the college. Glen Blakley, Dennis Martinez, and Del Parson are the current faculty. The public schools are also promoters of the creative process. Viola Cornwall was an art teacher who had great influence on young people in the public schools. In 1989 the City of St. George converted some space in the base­ment of city hall into a small but nicely appointed art museum. The museum staff began a series of presentations of Utah artists and theme shows. One of the promoters of the new art scene has been the St. George Magazine. Issues feature artists, galleries, and art shows. Construction of a permanent city art museum is underway at the Pioneer Center for the Arts in downtown St. George. The budding is slated to be finished in 1996 as part of the statehood centennial. Reflections about Living in Dixie Today As citizens in Washington County celebrate the Utah statehood centennial, they can look back on the county's history with consid­erable appreciation. The first century of white settlement in Dixie saw people working the land for a sparse yield but spurred on by frugality and commitment to a common mission. Isolated from the American mainstream and to a degree from the rest of the state, they possessed a sense of mission. The transformation into a recreation destination, a commercial crossroads, and a highly desired southwestern retirement center has occurred in the last four decades. It is a story of moving from isola­tion to destination. Since the 1960s the number of retirees moving into Washington County has outpaced that in the rest of the state two-fold.16 Others live in Dixie because they always have, but they are not likely to be sustained by agriculture as were their ancestors. They most likely have sold land at a profit for residential uses and found a way to turn that money into a business or other means of sustenance. Many also keep a hand in either farming or ranching but make sure their offspring go to college and qualify for some other profession. 368 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY Other people work in the service sector, supporting tourism and retirement-restaurants, motels, commercial stores-and creatively try to make modest salaries support a famdy. Stdl others teach school or college; education is clearly the largest single undertaking in the county and the largest payroll. Often those famdies hold two service sector jobs. A favored few work in professions or in industrial parks, construction, high-tech, transportation, or federal and state govern­ment positions which provide salaries comparable to the Wasatch Front.17 The employment services, despite many low salaries, are crowded with job applicants. Unemployment is lower in the county than in the rest of the state, which is lower than the nation. Professional posi­tions in the county usually draw scores of applicants, an indication that many people prefer living in the Dixie environment at a lower income to seeking opportunities elsewhere.18 Some of these people have roots in Dixie, have taken advanced education outside the state, and have returned. Others come with no ties to the area but have a desire to live in the American southwest. They have read of St. George in one of many magazine articles that have rated it among the top retirement places in the nation or have heard of Dixie from friends who have been there. More likely they have visited the area for a con­vention or for recreation and decided to seek residence there. Because so many visitors come to Dixie, people who live in Washington County sometimes feel they are running a "bed and breakfast." Visiting was a favorite pioneer pastime; it is still a high priority today. Relatives and friends come to Dixie for business or pleasure. Hosting guests is a regular part of the Dixie lifestyle. Most visitors, however, come to Dixie for more than a casual stay. St. George, particularly, has become a significant convention site. The Dixie Center hosts up to 4,000 people at a time. More modest meet­ings bring other groups. Community celebrations bring visitors in large numbers, often crowding motel space. The annual St. George Marathon in October now brings over 3,000 runners and their fam­ilies. The World Senior Games, also in October, attract even more. The Dixie Roundup (rodeo) is a popular event for several days in September. The Dixie Art Festival comes on Easter weekend, while three other art exhibits throughout the year also draw large crowds. MODERNIZATION 369 Easter weekend attracts thousands of high school students who come for spring break. The Rotary Bowl, a national invitational football bowl for community codege teams, draws crowds and press attention the first week in December. Softball tournaments draw as many as seventy-two teams for weekend competition in winter and summer. The Dixie Center hosts the Celebrity Concert Series, Southwest Symphony, and major concerts. The Burns Arena at the Dixie Center has various sporting events. The 125 events in 1993 ranged from the elegant Jubdee of Trees to the Air Force Band. Ad of this is in addi­tion to a full schedule of Dixie College athletics, music instruction, swimming classes, fitness, dance courses, and student activities. The Washington County School District, St. George Leisure Services Department, and Dixie College publish a combined calen­dar and support a joint promotion of continuing education. This includes a series of team competitions, craft courses, language instruction, and courses for retirees. Volunteerism and Philanthropy Volunteerism thrives in Washington County. Perhaps because of the many retired people settling in the region or because of the com­munity ethic that has always emphasized cooperation and mutual support, many Dixie residents are engaged in volunteer service. This includes visiting patients in nursing homes, teaching preschoolers, serving in scouting programs, being docents at art shows, picking up litter on the highways, being a volunteer firefighter, functioning on one of the community boards-library, hospital, zoning, town coun­cil, historic preservation, historical society-working with illness support groups, or serving in the Dixie Regional Medical Center Auxdiary, among others. Another measure of community vigor is the vitality of service clubs in the county. Chambers of commerce are active in St. George, Hurricane Valley, Enterprise, Washington, and Zion Canyon (includ­ing Springdale and Rockville). The Lions Club is active in both St. George and Washington. The Elks, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Rotary, Kiwanis, and Exchange Clubs in St. George join with them in undertaking projects such as raising scholarship funds, 370 HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY The restored Pioneer Opera House, 1996. (Gene Butera) supporting international students, helping the disadvantaged, and promoting parks and events. Donating to public causes is also a vital dimension of Dixie life, as it has been since pioneer times. A recent major project includes the Dixie Center. Citizens were solicited to buy seats in the Burns Arena and the Cox Auditorium to make furnishing those facilities possible. Citizens were also asked to buy seats in the Hansen Stadium on the Dixie College campus. ENDNOTES 1. Donald F. Kraak, "Dentists and Dirt in Early Dixie," Senior Sampler IV (7 August 1992), 1. 2. Carol Watkins to author, 11 December 1994. 3. Kelly Larson and Kerry Larson, "History of the St. George Police Department," 1981, Dixie College Archives. 4. Clair Terry, 14 December 1994, Dixie College Archives. 5. Juanita Brooks, ed., Uncle Will Tells His Own Story, (Salt Lake City: Taggart 8c Co., 1970), 32. 6. Ibid., Chapter 15. 7. Evan Whitehead and Ken Campbell, interview 24 October 1994 MODERNIZATION 371 8. Jon Pollei, "Annual Report of the St. George City Police, 1993," Dixie Codege Archives. 9. Ibid. 10. Ted Shumway, interview, See also Washington County News, 13 March 1980. 11. Juanita Brooks, The Mountain Meadows Massacre (Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 1950). See also John D. Lee: Pioneer Builder, Zealot, Scapegoat (Glendale, CA: The Arthur Clark Company, 1962). 12. Robert Hafen Moss, "An Historical Study of the Factors Influencing the Organization of Education in Washington County, 1852-1915," Master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1961, 183. See also T. Lavoy Esplin, interview 18 February 1994, Dixie Codege Archives. 13. "Your Washington County Schools Today," Spectrum, 28 May 1995, supplement. 14. Richard Mathis, interview, 28 November 1994, Dixie College Archives. 15. Brent Snow, interview, 6 January 1995, Dixie College Archives. 16. James A. Wood, "The Changing Demographic and Economic Structure of Washington County, Utah 1970-1993," Utah Economic and Business Review 54 (1). 17. Ibid. 18. Boyd L. Fjelsted, "Personal Incomes in Utah Counties, 1992," Utah Economic and Business Review (September 1994): 13. Per capita income in Washington County in 1992 was $12,660 compared to Weber County at $16,616; Utah County, $13,052; Salt Lake County, $17,408; Cache County, $13,610; and Iron County, $12,154. In Washington County total personal income was $700,516,000 in 1992; farm income was $2,051,000; agricultural services were $4,191,000; mining was $4,752,000; construction was $46,624,000; manufacturing was $33,872,000; transportation and public utilities were $25,372,000; wholesale trade was $17,766,000; retail trade was $70,433,000; finance, insurance and real estate were $24,832,000; services were $127,471,000; federal government was $9,833,000; military was $2,696,000; and state and local government were $53,199,000.