I have  packed up my mineral collection for storage.  these old wall cases date to 1914 when the store opened.  Back then they held china dinnerware, crystal, silverware , flatware ,  clocks & pocket watches.   The glass fronts lift straight up.

The glass is as old as the cases! they came with ripples & bubbles!

Interestingly, when viewed at a 90 degree angle the distortion almost goes away.  the photo to the left was taken at a 10 to 20 degree angle.

No the store was not a bank.  This is a watch makers booth. Not every Jewelry store had a watch maker working for the store. So if you did, you put them by the front window or front of the store where they would be seen fixing watches. The store was the time inspector for the U.P. From the county line south of Brigham to the Idaho boarder.

The rail road crews, conductors, & engineers had to have working accurate time pieces, lives depended on it. Trains ran on schedule & often on the same track line.  The passenger train had to know when to pull off to a side track   And let the freight train pass!  A train might be coming from the other direction on the same track & has the right of way.  Watches had to be inspected & timed for accuracy. The crews had a booklet they carried with them. And the foreman could demand to see the booklet any time the road man was on duty.  The Brigham city train depot (still there) is about 1 mile west of main street. The crews would come to the window & hand their pocket watch to the watchmaker for inspection. Didn’t take long unless there was a problem, & they would be on there way.

The Jewelry store is located in Main Street frontage of -The Hotel Brigham -  built in 1914.  There were 2 commercial spaces on the ground floor  with Main Street frontage.  Olger Christian Jacobson was the proprietor

of  O.C. Jacobson Jeweler.  In 1920 the store proprietor was John D Peters. His son Milton Peters operated the store until 1951  when Milt sold the store to an employee: Jay Carl Hansen (my father)  I started working with my parents full tine in 1977.  They retired in 1988. And I retired in 2021.   

In the 1920’s the Hotel expanded to the west with 3 more commercial spaces with frontage on Forest St.  

The Jewelry store is still here,  all the other businesses are  gone - - -  even the Hotel Brigham!

NONE of the business on Main street in private hands in 1914,  are still in business. except the jewelry store.

There were 2 other R.R.s that the store was a time inspector for.  The Oregon Short Line  and The Utah Idaho Central.

In the 1880’s there were a number of R.R. start-ups & a lot of mergers. The Oregon Short Line was incorporated in Wyoming 1881 & built a direct line to Oregon  thru’ Idaho. In 1889 it merged with 6 Utah R.R.s to become 

The Oregon Short Line & Ut. Northern ( O,S. L& U.N.) The U.I.C.R.R also called the Utah Inter Urban.  Starting in Ogden Utah it went north thru’ Brigham City, Honeyville & Logan then north to Preston Idaho. These R.R.s were very important to the economic development of Norther Utah and Southern Idaho  in the 1880’s It allowed farmers to get there products to the Ogden Train Station for shipments east,  west & south.