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You've Come
A Long Way - Ephraim Sesquicentennial
By Suzanne Dean
From a dugout in the side of a creek bank to a glittering reception
marking the dedication of an $18 million performing arts center...
From a hydro plant with a capacity of 100 kilowatts to four plants kicking
out 5,000 kilowatts, from burning barrels to municipal garbage collection,
and from dirt roads to citywide curb and gutter...
Morris Casperson and New Ephraim Sign
Ephraim Mayor Morris Casperson stands next to new city entrance sign
erected in May, 2004. In the 150 years from 1854 to 2004, the city grew
from a humble, 17-acre fort to the largest city in Sanpete County, with
a population approaching 5,000.
Without a doubt, Ephraim has come a long way since June 5, 1854, when
a Sanpete County Court established what was called "Ephraim precinct."
The Scandinavian Heritage Festival, falling a few days before the 150th
anniversary, is an opportune time to reflect.
Ephraim started with a few hundred people living in a 17-acre fort.
Today, the population hovers around 5,000.
Over its history, the town has experienced blood and tears, such as
the infamous day in October 1865 when seven residents were massacred
by Indians, and an incident in 1878 when seven residents drowned in
Palisade Lake during a Sunday School picnic.
The town has weathered controversies, such as the fuss in the 1890s
over whether to give a just-completed city park to the LDS Church for
a college campus, the debate in the mid-1950s over whether Ephraim and
Manti should combine their junior high and high schools, and the battle
in the late 1990s over whether to let Wal-Mart into town. In all three
cases, the community opted for change and, most would agree, was better
for it.
There have also been triumphs, such as dedication of the Snow Academy
building (now the Noyes Building) in 1909, completion of a water tunnel
though the mountains in 1937 that still brings water in from 16 miles
away, and two big private donations in 2002 that made the dream of a
performing arts center a reality.
Through all the changes, the town has been anchored by stable, shared
values. Residents have a sense of ownership in the town; many take on
a particular community project and stick with it for decades. When faced
with a task, whether building a wall around a fort or a ballpark for
youth, people band together and get the job done. And if a family is
in trouble, neighbors come to their aid.
The first settler in Ephraim was Isaac Behunin, who moved from Manti
in 1853. He built a dugout in the creek bank, farmed for a season, but
encountered Indian troubles and returned to Manti.
The next winter, a half-dozen men began building a fort where people
could settle yet be protected from Indian attacks. The fort, located
where the Ephraim Co-op now stands, started out at 1.5 acres but within
a year was expanded to 17 acres.
Ephraim City Plan
The original plans for For Ephraim, showing locations
for a church/school, sawmill, church leader residences, houses and chicken
coops. The fort stretched from what is now Main Street to 100 East and
from Center to 200 North.
As soon it was ready, people moved in--some from Manti, some from Spring
City and wagon-loads of newly arrived Scandinavians. In fact, English
settlers had to learn Danish to get along within the fort.
Many of the surnames of the fort dwellers are still prevalent in Sanpete
County today--Allred, Madsen, Larsen, Anderson, Hansen, Neilson, Poulsen,
Sorensen, Willardson, Thomson, Peterson, Schow, Beal, Beck, Olson and
Stevens.
In the 1860s, the pioneers moved out of the fort and laid out a town
running from 300 South to 300 North and from 200 West to 400 East. All
families were allotted the same amount of land--a home lot of just over
and acre, plus about 26 acres of garden and farmland outside the town.
That was barely enough for survival.
According to "Our Yesterdays, A History of Ephraim, 1854-1879,"
by the 1880s, the notion of equality started breaking down. "Individualism
exerted itself and consolidation began," laying the groundwork
for some of the larger farms in the county today.
Noyes Building
It took nearly a decade for Snow Academy to complete the first school
building and move out of the Ephriam Co-op. The Noyes Building, shown
here as only an arch, was completed renovated in 1999.
In 1888, Canute Peterson, the first Sanpete Stake president, whose house
still stands on Main Street just south of the Bank of Ephraim, made
a proposal that became the biggest shaping force in the community's
history.
He called for creating a stake academy on land formerly occupied by
Fort Ephraim. A stake conference congregation unanimously supported
the plan, and Snow College was born. In November 1988, the first class
of 121 met on the second floor of the Ephraim Co-op.
By the time the college was ready to build, the city had developed a
park on part of the site. Some city council members didn't want to sell.
But after a turnover at the next city election and a land trade between
city and church, construction of the Snow Academy building, now the
Noyes Building, began.
"The actual construction of the building is another story of forthright
determination and dauntless courage," says "Our Yesterdays."
"Thousands of hours of work were donated voluntarily by all ages,
even the very young. Funds were procured by donation of 'Sunday' eggs,
butter and other produce, 'nickel' Sundays, dances and parties."
The next building to be constructed was a gymnasium, complete with a
running track in back. After that, Snow remained a two-building campus
until 1937.
The most significant expansion occurred during the 1990s. Under President
Gerald Day, a west campus was developed, and the Lucy Phillips Library,
Greenwood Student Center and Humanities Building were added.
But Day's most significant project was a $6.6 million renovation of
the historic Noyes Building, culminating in rededication of the building
in 1999, 90 years after the first dedication.
"This building is graced by sweat, sacrifice and a bushel of eggs,"
Day said at the rededication. "...I hope you will feel the spirit
of the people who sacrificed to make it an ensign and icon to education.
May we be true to their trust?”
Initially, Ephraim's economy was centered on agriculture. The town had
mills, a canning factory and a creamery. By the 1920s, many residents
were making their livings in family-owned service businesses, such as
restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, a dress shop
and a department store.
A few of those companies are still in business, but most have fallen
victim to competition from "up north" (Utah and Salt Lake
counties) and national firms and franchises, such as Subway, McDonalds,
Gandolfo's, Auto Zone and Wal-Mart.
Community life has always been intertwined with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints. In the early 1900s, the town had two LDS
wards--the North Ward and South Ward. In 1923, a third ward, the West
Ward was established. Today, not counting Snow College student wards,
there are eight LDS wards housed in four buildings.
Noyes Track
The cinder track on the perimeter of Badger Plot was a popular spot
during meets. Older athletes showed up to time contests. Today, the
track and gymnasium building are gone, but the renovated Noyes Building
remains.
The town also has two non-LDS churches--St. Jude's Catholic Center near
Snow College, which particularly serves Hispanics who have moved to
the county to work in agriculture and at the Moroni Feed turkey processing
plant, and the Church of the Bible, which started about a decade ago
in a shed and now has an attractive chapel at 400 East and 400 South.
As Ephraim moves into the last half of its second century, what makes
it unique? How is the town different from a Draper or a Woods Cross?
If anyone knows, it's Eleanor Madsen, 91, a lifelong Sanpete County
resident and one of the authors of "Our Yesterdays." She lives
in a 130-year-old house that fronts on College Avenue, the route Sanpete's
famous sheep travel on their way to summer grazing lands in the mountains.
"It's the association of the people, the friendliness," she
says. "They have the attitude that 'Ephraim's mine.' They feel
a relationship with each other and with the community. That feeling
is still here more than in other places. It's just a close-knit community.
We take care of each other."
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