Used by permission, Utah State Historical Society, all rights reserved.
I don't know where these buildings were located, although there is a two block area in downtown where they probably were, so I decided to cover the entire area. I did however, forget to mention one building that was in yesterday's photo (here it is again to remind you):
I forgot to mention the white building just to the left of the one that says "The Oxford" (the building says "Company Store" but it is a little hard to read). This building was the original post office for the town. A plaque on the building reads: "Built circa 1894, this building served as the town post office until 1922, when a new post office building was constructed. In 1926 a merchandising company known as 'Everybody's' occupied the building. It is a good example of the commercial architecture in Eureka and is one of at least three commercial buildings in town that are of similar size, constructed of stone, and have brick facades."
Now onto the new buildings. Just to the left of the group of buildings that I highlighted yesterday are a couple of the two most impressive buildings in downtown. Here they are:
The building on the left is the Shea Building and the building on the right is the BPOE building. The plaque on the BPOE building reads: "Constructed in 1909-1910 by the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Tintic Lodge #711 was designed by architects Richard C. Watkins and John F. Birch and built by contractor Martin E. Anderson, a Logan contractor. Cost of the building was $30,000. The meeting hall for the Elks Lodge was on the upper floor, with rooms rented to doctors, lawyers, etc., and the lower floor was rented, initially to the Hefferman-Thompson (general merchandise) Company. Later, it was occupied by Norman and Jensen and J.C. Penneys. The small structure on the west was added sometime between 1910-1923 and in 1929 the second story, five rooms for office suites, was built. At that time the lower floor of the small building was occupied by the Eureka Mercantile Commission Company. The Elks 'Tintic Lodge' was organized June 20, 1901."
I couldn't find any information about the Shea Building except that it went through an extensive renovation in the past couple of years. Part of the BPOE Building is currently being used by a consignment shop, which opens and closes every so often. I also wanted to show a picture of the cool painting on the side of the BPOE:
The one last building that I wanted to cover in downtown is the current post office (which replaced the old one that I previously talked about in this post). Here is a picture of it:
Photo Courtesy of utahandidahoparanornal.com
For some reason I didn't take a picture of it while I was there so I got this photo from utahandidahoparanormal.com. According to this website, "Regional folklore has storied of ghosts, UFO's and trolls being observed in the area." I just thought that was a funny side note. The plaque on this building reads: "The Eureka Post Office was constructed in 1922 by the United States Government for the commercial center of the Tintic Mining District. James A. Wetmore served as 'Acting Supervisory Architect.' The structure represents the only example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style in the Tintic area. It continues to serve its original function."
So that's it for downtown. It is a cool place that I would totally recommend visiting. I wanted to conclude with this final picture that I think summarizes the whole area quite well. It is an old port-a-potty that is in downtown. It isn't usable, but it is a good representation of a town that hasn't changed much in the last 100 years, and if it has changed, it has been falling into disrepair:
The Elks are still established in the BPOE building.
ReplyDeleteNot a port a potty, its called an outhouse.
ReplyDeleteEUREKA is making a comeback
ReplyDelete