1 Thornton Lumber Yard — This turn-of-the-century lumber company was owned and operated by A.K. Thornton at 185 W. 200 South. It was later known as Pleasant Grove Lumber and Supply and at present is Gurr Mill and Supply. Thornton’s company furnished lumber and supplies for building contractors, one of which was Fage, Fage & Olpin Planing Mill, located just west of the lumber yard. Thornton’s carried a line of hardware items and sold hay and coal along with lumber supplies. The company was a valuable asset to the community, providing employment and commodities. Pictured at far right is Albert H. Olpin. Others are unidentified.

2 Old Central School — This was the fourth schoolhouse built in Pleasant Grove. It was constructed between 1891 and 1893 at 193 N. 400 East. The picture is a sketch of the school. The part on the left was built in 1891 with a wooden stairway on the outside of the building. In 1893, four more rooms, a hallway, a new stairway and a principal’s office was added on the north. The building did not have modern restroom facilities. It had separate entrances for boys and girls. The elementary grades were moved from the building in 1912 when a new elementary school was built to the south. It was then used as a high school until 1921, when a new high school was constructed. The structure was sold to the LDS Church.

3 Schoolteachers — The picture shows some of the early school teachers of Pleasant Grove. Front row: Alvira “Vie” Smith Olpin, Carry Nelson Nielson, Susie Brown Swenson. Back row: Hannah Nelson Robison, Eliza Swenson, May Beers, Millie Robison Paulson.

The life history of Alvira Smith Olpin provides interesting details in the life of a teacher: “I graduated from the BY Academy May 26, 1893. The next two years, I taught school in the Pleasant Grove School District. The first Year, I taught on the Hicselt Bench (Manila), about 5 miles from home. I had 25 pupils aged from 6 to 18 years. I taught 6 months and was paid $35 a month. The next year, I taught second and third grades in the Central School [old LDS Third Ward]. I received $30 a month and taught seven and one-half months. I did all of my own preparation work. I had 76 children in one room that winter. The room was completely filled with benches around the sides as well. Some of the benches had no tables, so pupils did their work at the teacher’s table while the teacher stood. The pupils wrote stories, drew pictures, did work in their readers and did arithmetic. Words were taught by charts and pictures and writing them on the blackboard. Action words were taught by acting them out — running, jumping, etc.”

4Smith Drug — Smith Drug is one of the oldest family-owned businesses in Pleasant Grove. Roy Smith began in the drug store business in 1910, washing prescription bottles and making ice cream for the store. The store was known as Pleasant Grove Drug and was located where the Pleasant Grove Review is now located.

Hedquist Drug Company purchased the store in 1915, and Roy, then 20, managed it. In 1917, the store was moved across the street to its present location. Roy purchased the business from Hedquist in 1929 and ran it with his brother, Burton Smith, until Burton’s death in 1932. The store’s name was changed to Smith Drug in 1935.

Until his death, Roy operated the store with his sons, Harvey and Don. Standing at left in the photo is Vivian Smith; on the right is Burt Smith.

5 Flour mill — Archibald Gardiner built and operated the first flour mill in Pleasant Grove. The mill was located between 400 and 500 East on 200 North. Water power furnished from Grove Creek, Battle Creek, American Fork Canyon and Provo Canyon powered the mill, which was built just below the hill, with water stored above on a flat bench in a small reservoir. The mill was later converted to electricity and sold to David Adamson and Sons.

6 Strawberry Days — Pleasant Grove’s first Strawberry Days was held during the second week of June 1921. It is the oldest continuous celebration in Utah. The initial celebration was sponsored by the Old Wasatch Club, a business group similar to a chamber of commerce. It consisted of a public program held in the street. Bleachers were erected in a pasture, where spectators watched a pony parade and a pulling contest for horses. Out-of-town visitors arrived on the old Orem Interurban railway. Provo businesses closed for the celebration and joined the fun by bringing the Provo band to join with Pleasant Grove’s for concerts. Strawberries and cream were served to the throngs, and dances went on into the evening hours.

7 Water Works — The picture shows a construction crew working to upgrade the first city water works project, which was built in 1905-1906. Up to that time, water for household use had either been taken from irrigation ditches with buckets or drawn from wells drilled to the underground water table — again by bucket. Wells were also used to keep perishable food cool. The culinary water system, begun in 1905, made use of wooden stave pipes into which water from Battle Creek Springs was diverted. The wood pipes were later replaced by cast iron.

8 Planing mill — An interesting part of the turn-of-the-century building trade in Pleasant Grove was the planing mill located first in Lindon and then moved to about 185 West and 200 South in Pleasant Grove in 1905. The mill was first powered by horses hitched to a turnstile. All the lathes and other machinery were driven mechanically in this way. Later, a steam boiler and system of pipes was installed, and then electricity. The planing mill produced window casings, decorative porch posts, decorative scroll work and cabinets that can be found in many of the early homes of Pleasant Grove. The Manila School, the Tabernacle and the Pleasant Grove Cannery were some of the significant buildings built by Fage, Fage & Olpin.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page C2.