Businesses
The following are some histories of a few of the many businesses that have graced Main Street in it’s day.
A walk down Main Street, 1947
The following is from the book - Thru the Years, it is a walkthrough of the business district of Monroe during the Sevier County Centennial in 1947. We have tried to name the current business that occupies each building, but we are unable to for every one because many no longer exist.
“Now let’s join the march up and down Main Street in this Centennial year of 1947, and call on every business house. East side first, starting from the north. The Dolly Merc. Operated by Marius Nielson [Sunmart Gas Station]; Carol Theatre owned by Alvie Peterson [Vacant]; past the Postoffice where Elliot Larson passes out papers [Sagebrush Grill]; Monroe Billiard, Eldred Nilsson, proprietor [Encore Dental Lab]; Hansen Gift Shop with Amelda Hansen [No longer exists]; then the Co-op Service where Walter Thurston smiles as he dishes out gas [Bullies Drive-In]; Herman Jensen’s Barber Shop [Spruce Mousse]; Wilford Hansen Merc. Rings with his laughter [Vacant]; next the Centennial Café with W.C. Depue [Vacant]; and McRay Nilsen’s Radio Shop [Vacant]; Deleal Yergensen’s Store [Vacant] stands beside the Monroe State Bank [Monroe City Hall] on the corner. Around the corner, going east we find the Olcott Shoe Shop [Vacant] and the newly established Cleaners, operated by Lionel Payne [?].
Set across the street to Monroe Clothing and meet Melba Bowman and Madeline Madsen [Vacant]; then a few paces farther south we find Forbush Auto Repair with Guy and Forrest [Vacant]; in the next block is the new Barber Shop of Melvin Smith[Vacant].
Starting north again on the west side, we must go down past the South Ward Chapel to find F.D. (Fay) Nay & Sons Welding [Building no longer exists]. Back on Main we see Dixon Freezers, owned by Junior Dixon; then Joe Asay’s Electrical shop and the Ideal Market, operated by Orion Nielson[Buildings replaced by Cisholm Dentistry]. That old landmark, the Monroe Drug [Monroe Main Center], is now in the hands of Ernest Lee. Across Center street we find the newly remodeled and added to, Monroe Sales and Service where Mayor Calvert (KY) Bell and family sell everything; next the White Spot with Ivol White in the kitchen[Building no longer exists]. Then past the beautiful City Hall [Library] and Public Park, we find Stringham Furniture of Richfield moving into the Presbyterian church where Vance Nielson will act as manager [Private Home]. Charles F. Nielson Hardware & Lumber [Anna’s Shop] is doing big things, and then we drop down to the Western Creamery Plant, owned by Sego and managed by Var Porter [Vacant]."
“Now let’s join the march up and down Main Street in this Centennial year of 1947, and call on every business house. East side first, starting from the north. The Dolly Merc. Operated by Marius Nielson [Sunmart Gas Station]; Carol Theatre owned by Alvie Peterson [Vacant]; past the Postoffice where Elliot Larson passes out papers [Sagebrush Grill]; Monroe Billiard, Eldred Nilsson, proprietor [Encore Dental Lab]; Hansen Gift Shop with Amelda Hansen [No longer exists]; then the Co-op Service where Walter Thurston smiles as he dishes out gas [Bullies Drive-In]; Herman Jensen’s Barber Shop [Spruce Mousse]; Wilford Hansen Merc. Rings with his laughter [Vacant]; next the Centennial Café with W.C. Depue [Vacant]; and McRay Nilsen’s Radio Shop [Vacant]; Deleal Yergensen’s Store [Vacant] stands beside the Monroe State Bank [Monroe City Hall] on the corner. Around the corner, going east we find the Olcott Shoe Shop [Vacant] and the newly established Cleaners, operated by Lionel Payne [?].
Set across the street to Monroe Clothing and meet Melba Bowman and Madeline Madsen [Vacant]; then a few paces farther south we find Forbush Auto Repair with Guy and Forrest [Vacant]; in the next block is the new Barber Shop of Melvin Smith[Vacant].
Starting north again on the west side, we must go down past the South Ward Chapel to find F.D. (Fay) Nay & Sons Welding [Building no longer exists]. Back on Main we see Dixon Freezers, owned by Junior Dixon; then Joe Asay’s Electrical shop and the Ideal Market, operated by Orion Nielson[Buildings replaced by Cisholm Dentistry]. That old landmark, the Monroe Drug [Monroe Main Center], is now in the hands of Ernest Lee. Across Center street we find the newly remodeled and added to, Monroe Sales and Service where Mayor Calvert (KY) Bell and family sell everything; next the White Spot with Ivol White in the kitchen[Building no longer exists]. Then past the beautiful City Hall [Library] and Public Park, we find Stringham Furniture of Richfield moving into the Presbyterian church where Vance Nielson will act as manager [Private Home]. Charles F. Nielson Hardware & Lumber [Anna’s Shop] is doing big things, and then we drop down to the Western Creamery Plant, owned by Sego and managed by Var Porter [Vacant]."
Monroe Drug Store
Monroe Drug
Lou Ella Lee
1996
Lou Ella Lee
1996
Old Monroe Drug Building
Monroe Drug is out of the ordinary because it has always been a family owned business, and has encompassed a variety of enterprises within its doors.
The first proprietor was H.S. Bell, a native of England. While working at the mines in Kimberly, Utah, he was badly injured and was forced to find another way to make a living. He decided to become a druggist and took a correspondence course in Pharmacy. He
The first proprietor was H.S. Bell, a native of England. While working at the mines in Kimberly, Utah, he was badly injured and was forced to find another way to make a living. He decided to become a druggist and took a correspondence course in Pharmacy. He
interned for a short time under Dr. Loring, a Monroe doctor, passed a state test and acquired a pharmacy license, number 62. In 1909, Mr. Bell purchased a building on West Main and Center Street (This building now houses Monroe Main and Center Video & Guitar). It was originally built by Walter Jones, and had been used as a mill where farmers brought their grain to be ground. In front of the building, on Main Street, were two gas tanks where Shell gasoline was sold for 38 cents per gallon. An irrigation ditch ran in front and kids often took off their shoes and waded up and down. On the corner was a water fountain.
As you opened the front door of the store there was a candy and cigar case on one side. On the other side was a scale where you could weigh yourself for a penny and a soda fountain where you could but an ice cream cone for nickel. The ice cream was made in the store at night. In the far end of the store were the prescription room and liquor store.
Interior of Monroe Drug
Mr. Bell married a Monroe widow with six sons who always helped out with small jobs. A procession of things went on in the back room to the drugstore.
There was a delivery service where caskets and freight of all kinds were delivered in the area. There was an ice plant where huge blocks of ice were frozen, hauled around in the ice truck, and delivered in broken-up pieces of different sizes to fit housewives’ ice boxes. Later on, this entire space was converted to a doctor’s office.
Mr. Bell owned and operated the store until his death in 1942, when the youngest of his stepsons, Ernest H. Lee, having attained a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Idaho, purchased the store.
There was a delivery service where caskets and freight of all kinds were delivered in the area. There was an ice plant where huge blocks of ice were frozen, hauled around in the ice truck, and delivered in broken-up pieces of different sizes to fit housewives’ ice boxes. Later on, this entire space was converted to a doctor’s office.
Mr. Bell owned and operated the store until his death in 1942, when the youngest of his stepsons, Ernest H. Lee, having attained a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Idaho, purchased the store.
2nd Monroe Drug Building
Eventually the liquor store vanished, but the pharmacy occupied the same place until 1957, when it was moved down Main Street to the building, formerly owned by Eldred Nillson Billiards. Here the prescription room was larger and to the fountain, along with Forsey Ice Cream, was added a lunch counter to serve the students from the High School, Junior High and new Elementary.
There was now a telephone office in town, and customers came to Monroe Drug to pay their bills. There was a Continental Bus Agency housed within the store and so, as the bus stopped at all hours of the day and night, the store was kept open. A large adjoining space was leased by the US Postal Service. All the townspeople picked up their mail there, and this added to the general activity of the store.
In 1975 Ernest H. Lee retired and sold his business to his son Richard E. Lee, who had obtained a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Utah. By then a new Post Office had been built, and the space it formerly occupied was converted into a Café with a door opening into the drugstore proper. In time the telephone pay-station and new bus agency were discontinued, but the many activities centered around Monroe Drug, still go on.
In 1975 Ernest H. Lee retired and sold his business to his son Richard E. Lee, who had obtained a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Utah. By then a new Post Office had been built, and the space it formerly occupied was converted into a Café with a door opening into the drugstore proper. In time the telephone pay-station and new bus agency were discontinued, but the many activities centered around Monroe Drug, still go on.
You can send a package by UPS, purchase a veterinary or hardware item, fax a letter, pick up a book or video, eat breakfast or lunch and have your prescription filled by your friendly pharmacist. Monroe Drug has always been the hub of Monroe's small town life and continues to be after almost ninety years! [Monroe Drug closed its doors circa Fall 2002]
Banking in Monroe
Interior of Monroe State Bank
The first bank in Monroe was organized on Sept. 23, 1910, as Monroe State Bank. Monroe State Bank began with $25,000 in capital and assets. The first officers were: President - Joseph H. Lowe, Vice President - John C. Cutler, and Cashier – Heber Swindle. Its first building was two doors north of the present City Hall. Then in 1914 they completed the present City Hall building to use for their offices, its original cost was $8,000. The bank did very well in the small community; it was even able to stay open during the great depression.
On May 1, 1957 Monroe State Bank was purchased by First Security Bank of Utah. The reported assets as of May 1, 1964 were $2,422,701, pretty good for a small town bank that only started with $25,000.
On May 1, 1957 Monroe State Bank was purchased by First Security Bank of Utah. The reported assets as of May 1, 1964 were $2,422,701, pretty good for a small town bank that only started with $25,000.
First Security later built a new building on 1st west and moved the bank into it, Wells Fargo then bought the holdings of First Security 2001, they continued in the same building until fall of 2004 when they closed their doors. The following year Utah Independent Bank opened up in Monroe, originally located in a small trailer on the corner of Main Street and 1st North. Then later that fall the Bank bought and moved into the building on 1st west that had been vacated by Wells Fargo. Utah Independent Bank still continues to serve the people of Monroe, and surrounding areas.
Exterior of Monroe State Bank
Monroe Creamery
n 1910 a group of citizens organized the Monroe Creamery Company, and they built a small plant. The first President was John A. Johnson, with Jacob Magleby, Nels Sorensen, Austin Yergensen, James Brown, and Alma Magleby as officers. Almost 2200 pounds of milk were gathered per day from the producers, by teams and milk wagons. The producers of the milk were paid by the hundredweight for the milk; most of these producers if not all were South Sevier citizens.
Then on July 1, 1919 Vern, Leonard, and Levi Mortensen leased the plant and operated it, until it was sold to the Pet Milk Company on January 1, 1930. The plant was then renamed Western Creamery Company and Vern Mortensen continued as the manager of the company. In 1937 a large addition was made to the north of the building allowing for powdered milk and butter making. In 1962 Federated Milk Company
bought Pet Milk Company and acquired the plant building. They keep the name of the plant Western Milk Company and in 1964 they were processing 95,000 pounds of milk a day, and employed twenty-four people making it a very important industry in Monroe. Later the creamery was shut down, but the building and it smokestacks still stand at the north end of Main Street.
Utah Potash Company
In 1919 a huge “Get Rich Quick” opportunity came to Monroe, but today near Poverty Flat lays the crumbling remains of this huge “Dream”.
It began in 1919 when a man named Billy Johnson laid claim to about 500 acres of land, hoping it would hold billions of tons of ore. This would be processed for Potash, and in turn be sold for hundreds more than it cost to produce. He asked for the local community to support him financially, but very few did. So Ed Nelson acquired the interests of Billy Johnson and went back east to find investors. And soon the Utah Potash Company had taken off with F.F. Thompson of Chicago heading the project; a huge plant was under construction which contained three floors. The Richfield Reaper wrote: “It covers the hillside and looks like a huge rambling castle from the old world”. Men were hired to build a pipeline to the mill, and equipment worth $200,000 dollars was delivered. Unfortunately development soon stopped on the Mill and the Utah Potash Company vanished, leaving only the foundation of the once “rambling” mill.
It began in 1919 when a man named Billy Johnson laid claim to about 500 acres of land, hoping it would hold billions of tons of ore. This would be processed for Potash, and in turn be sold for hundreds more than it cost to produce. He asked for the local community to support him financially, but very few did. So Ed Nelson acquired the interests of Billy Johnson and went back east to find investors. And soon the Utah Potash Company had taken off with F.F. Thompson of Chicago heading the project; a huge plant was under construction which contained three floors. The Richfield Reaper wrote: “It covers the hillside and looks like a huge rambling castle from the old world”. Men were hired to build a pipeline to the mill, and equipment worth $200,000 dollars was delivered. Unfortunately development soon stopped on the Mill and the Utah Potash Company vanished, leaving only the foundation of the once “rambling” mill.
Remains of the Utah Postash Company Factory