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**Attention**
**Attention**
The object that is described in this article is located on private property. Trespassing is punishable by up to six months of prison time. Permission should be granted before passing on private property.
History
History
Alfred Augustus Thomas was born July 19, 1875 in Llandybie, Wales to David Palmer and Margaret Davies Thomas. The Thomas family immigrated to the United States in 1878 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on June 13. Alfred attended private school in Salt Lake and graduated from the University of Utah studying pharmaceuticals. In 1897, Alfred served as a Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany.1
After his return from his mission, Alfred married Frances Josephine Farnes, a native of Logan, Utah, on June 26, 1901 in Salt Lake City, Utah. They soon moved to Richmond and opened the first pharmacy in the city and built this building the same year.1 They operated until 1919 when Alfred died. The property was passed to Frances and sold the building to Glacus Godfrey and Constance Bernhisel Merrill in 1935.2
The property was passed to some other individuals before landing in the hands of Champ Eli and Theda Bair Webb in 1962. Theda transformed the building into a hair salon that operated for many years. Sometime between the 1980s and 1990s, the building was transformed into a home and is currently as is. After Theda's death in 2012, the building was passed to the current homeowners.2
The home was nominated to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002 but was not added to the registry.2
Sweet's Candy
"Leon Sweet started the Sweet Candy Company in Portland, Oregon [in 1892]. The early varieties Leon offered for sale had two distinguishing characteristics: they were made mostly by hand, and people loved them. Customers loved Sweet’s candies back then for the same reason they love them today—quality. Leon moved the operation from Portland, Oregon to Salt Lake City, Utah [in 1900]. Upon relocation, he merged several small specialty stores into one general manufacturing company. Over the years, Sweet’s has become more innovative and more automated, embracing technology to create better and even more delicious products."3
On the west facade of the building are the faded remains of an ad promoting the pharmacy that once occupied the building. On the top displays "Richmond Pharmacy." In large letters cut by some windows in the middle displays "Sweet's Chocolates. Sold from Alaska to Australia"
"Builders take a break while constructing the Richmond Drug Store at 11 East Main in 1912."
L-R: Axel Carlson, George Bair, Roy Shepard, George E. Doty, Ernest Hope, Arnold Wall, Martin Anderson, Oscar Anderson, and George Anderson.
(Colorized) Photo by Ray Somers
Old Drug Store, 1960's.
(Colorized) Source
Sweet's Chocolates ad on a side of a building in Panguitch, Utah.
Photo property of Jesse Levy. Source
Old Drug Store, 2001.
Richmond history papers USU_COLL MSS 434, Box 1. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah
(Colorized) Photo location: Bair, Amos W. (1976). History of Richmond, Utah. The Richmond Bicentennial Committee. pg 18
Northeast side of Main Street, 2014.
Photo property of Bryce Holt
Sources
Sources
Margaret Natalie Thomas. (1977) Alfred Augustus Thomas, Uploaded to FamilySearch.org by lacyt, March 16, 2014. https://www.familysearch.org/memories/memory/5893930?cid=mem_copy
Utah Office of Preservation (May 2002). Utah Office of Preservation Historic Site Form: A. A. Thomas Drugs Building (By Beatrice Lufkin / Richmond Historic Preservation Commission). Richmond history papers USU_COLL MSS 434, Box 1. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah
Sweet Candy. "About Us". Sweet Candy Company. Retrieved April 30, 2024. https://www.sweetcandy.com/pages/about-us
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