EXHIBITS
The Island Market: Logan's Historic Corner Market: Timeline: 1934-1950, Many Changes
Timeline 1934-1950:
Many Changes
For the period between 1934 and 1950, the store at 400 East and Center Street was transferred frequently between local business owners and often changed names. The business of being a grocer at this time seems to have involved much risk, although many of the store’s owners would go on to operate their stores at other locations after leaving the Island. The instability of this period would end when the store was acquired by Floyd and Thelma W. Saltern in 1950.
Floyd Burgin
Shortly after Lorenzo O. Skanchy was recorded as the owner in 1934, the market was passed to the hands of another business owner: Floyd Burgin.
Floyd Burgin moved to 400 East and Center Street in 1934 and called the store Burgin Cash Grocery. The name would later be shortened to "Burgin Grocery," continuing to operate at 400 East and Center Street until 1938.[42]
Earl and Vera D. Nielson
The Burgins would go to rent a cafe on Logan’s Main Street in 1938 and lease “Burgin Grocery” to Earl Nielson and his wife. Earl Nielson would own the lease for the grocery store but his wife, Vera Daines Nielson, would be the direct operator while the Burgins focused on their cafe on Main Street. This was located near Capitol Theatre (now known as the Ellen Eccles Theatre).[43]
It is unknown what the Nielsons called the store at 400 East and Center Street, or even if they changed the name.
Cleve and Melva K. Hansen
As of 1946, the grocery store at 400 East and Center Street was owned by H. Cleve and Melva K. Hansen.[44] It is possible that they had just taken ownership the year before, as this photo—most likely taken in front of the building at 400 East and Center Street—was taken in 1945. This is the only photo we have of the building before the tax assessment photographs from the 1950s.
By 1949, the Hansens would connect their store to the Independent Grocer’s Alliance (IGA).[45] This would be the start of an influential turning point for the grocery store. (See the “Turbulent times and the IGA” page for more).
After leaving this store location, the Hansen family would go on to open another store, “Cleve’s Foodland,” by 1953.[46]
Sometime in the 1940s, the owner, Cleve Hansen, chose to expand the market over the river during its time as “Hansen’s Grocery.”[47] The Little Logan River, which originally separated the building Lorenzo Skanchy first built from the pastures surrounding it, now flows beneath the building.
This marks the first renovation of the Island Market building on record. The Island Market is also one of the very few buildings built on top of a canal in Cache Valley.
According to this plat map, the river bed of the Logan River (now an underground canal) is not part of the property owned by the lot owners. Circa 1869, the riverbeds of both branches of the Logan River were required to be deeded to Logan City.[48] As a result, the lot containing the Island Market is now split into two triangles, excluding about ten feet in the middle for the riverbed of the Little Logan River.[49]
Robert F. and Fay R. McCann
Sometime before 1949, the grocery store at 400 East and Center Street would pass to Robert F. and Fay R. McCann, who would rename the store “McCann Market.”[50] But, like the Hansens, the McCanns would go on to move their grocery business elsewhere, to 440 North Main Street, by 1953.[51] The building at 400 East and Center Street was bought by the Salterns by 1950.[52]
This instability, demonstrated by the repeated changes in store ownership, was likely natural for the time period, as the Great Depression and changing shopping habits were both disruptive influences on corner markets around this time. (Continued on the “Turbulent times and the IGA" page.) The next owners of the building would be an exception to this trend. The Salterns would acquire the grocery store by 1950 and own it for nearly thirty years, staying well beyond the usual two to three years seen so far.
Endnotes:
[42] “Business Changes” on page 3 of Cache American, August 18, 1938. Digitally published at Newspapers.com. Available at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98710373/burgin-grocery-leased-to-mrs-nielson/
[43] “Business Changes” on page 3 of Cache American, August 18, 1938. Digitally published at Newspapers.com. Available at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98710373/burgin-grocery-leased-to-mrs-nielson/
[44] 1946 Logan Polk's City Directory, (Omaha: R.L. Polk and Co., 1946) Pages 89, 405. Found in USU Digital History Collections, Logan Polk Directories. Call number: 979.2 L828d 1946. Available at: https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/p16944coll42/id/14/rec/5
[45] “Well Known Brands Cost Less at IGA” on page 11 of The Herald Journal, March 15, 1946. Digitally published by Newspapers.com. Available at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98086515/hansens-grocery/
[46] “Cleve’s Foodland” on page 7 of The Herald Journal, October 23,1953. Digitally published by Newspapers.com. Available at: https://universityofutah.newspapers.com/clip/98364367/58-west-center-1953/
[47] Information provided by Richard Hansen, Son of Cleve and Melva Hansen former owners of the store at 400 East and Center Street (later the Island Market). Richard Hansen, conversation with Darcy Pumphrey, research consultant for this exhibit, August 19, 2022.
[48] Property Deed for the river bottom of the Logan River running through the lot containing the Island Market (400 East and Center Street). Island Market Land 1. Pdf. Page 2. Provided by email from Mark Lunt, Co-owner of the Island Market, to Sydney Lehenbauer, exhibit curator, August 18, 2022.
[49] Information provided by Mark Lunt, Co-owner of the Island Market. Mark Lunt, email message to Sydney Lehenbauer, exhibit curator, August 18, 2022.
[50] 1949 Logan Polk's City Directory, (Omaha: R.L. Polk and Co., 1949) Page 250. Found in USU Digital History Collections, Logan Polk Directories. Call number: 979.2 L828d 1949. Available at: https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/p16944coll42/id/9/rec/6
[51] 1953 Logan Polk's City Directory, (Omaha: R.L. Polk and Co., 1953) Pages 136, 374. Found in USU Digital History Collections, Logan Polk Directories. Call number: 979.2 L828d, 1953. Available at: https://digital.lib.usu.edu/digital/collection/p16944coll42/id/13/rec/7
[52] “When People Still Keep Coming Back” on page 20 of The Herald Journal, February 27, 1970. Digitally published by Newspapers.com. Available at: https://www.newspapers.com/clip/98713033/salterns-celebrate-20-years-of/