Former Orem City Hall

Address: 870 West Center Street
Although less than 1,200 people constituted the town of Orem when it was incorporated in 1919, there were still matters of business for the community. The first concern addressed by the City founders was the construction of a water distribution system for the residents and a 175,000 gallon tank on the foothill north of the mouth of Provo Canyon. For many years, meetings of the Orem Town Board were held in Mayor Lawrence J. Snow's store for which the rental was $14.00 a year.

The location of the new town hall had been a controversial issue on the 1937 election, in which B.M. Jolley, who favored a location in the center of town, was elected town board president. In 1938, the new Orem Town Board named Trustee W.P. Williams, chairman of a special committee to study the construction or acquisition of a building for a town hall. One of the locations studied was the former home of James G. and Nina V. Stratton.

In 1924, the Strattons, some of Orem's most successful fruit growers, had built a large two-story, prairie-style house at the intersection of State and Center Streets, at a cost of $19,000. The Stratton family was among those hard hit by the Depression, losing the house and the surrounding property to foreclosure by the Utah State Banking Department.

The Town Board purchased the 37 and one-half acre farm and home of the Strattons on February 28, 1938 for $14,000. Thus, the new Town Hall was established as the center of town, and the numbering of the streets and houses was planned to start at that point. The building housed City offices, the Post Office, and City library until 1969 when the city, having outgrown its quarters, built a new City Center on the same site.

Van Washburn bought the building for $100.00 and moved it to its present site on August 10, 1970, where it was eventually converted into an office building.

(Orem Historic Homes and Sites of Interest.  Orem, UT: Historic Preservation Advisory Commission, 2009.) Used with permission.