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Historic Tithing Granary
The Springdale Bishop’s Tithing Granary, built circa 1891, is a gable-entry log building. The building is significant as a rare example of a log building identified as a tithing granary used by the bishops of the Springdale Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The door and interior walls of the granary feature penciled notations of names and other information for tithing donations between approximately 1892 and 1902. The notations provide the names and amounts of commodities donated as tithing to the church. Because the granary has been moved at least three times, the period of actual church use is unknown. The period of significance is estimated to be 1891 to approximately 1931, when the building was located near the church property.
According to Springdale historian, Nancy C. Crawford, the community built a tithing granary in 1891, originally located not far from the meetinghouse/school on the north side of the main road [Figure 1]. A nearly identical structure to the Springdale granary can be seen in a photograph taken of the William R. and Cornelia Crawford farm in Oak Creek (built in the 1880s). The Crawford family homestead is now the site of the Zion National Park Visitor Center. Some believe the Crawford granary may be the same building. However, the photograph was taken around 1905, more than a decade after the building described by Nancy C. Crawford [Figure 2].
Figure 1. Known and Potential Locations of the Granary
Figure 2. Similar Granary shown in this photo of the Crawford Farm (current location of the Zion National Park Visitor’s Center)
Tithing donations to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the late-nineteenth century were typically made in-kind, particularly in rural communities where cash was scarce and most residents were farmers. Between roughly 1892 and 1902, the granary was both a building and a document. The granary described by Nancy Crawford was built four years after Springdale was officially organized as a ward of the LDS Church. William R. Crawford was the first bishop of the ward with Squire Hepworth and Oliver D. Gifford as counselors. The ward clerk was Freeborn D. Gifford. Between September 1895 and December 1913, Oliver D. Gifford presided as bishop over the ward with Thornton Hepworth and Isaac H. Langston as counselors. There are at least three styles of handwritten notations. Freeborn D. Gifford continued to serve as ward clerk through subsequent bishoprics, and most of the granary notations are similar to a letter written in his hand. The letter is signed by his father, Oliver D. Gifford, and at least one notation is similar to his signature.
Notations in pencil on the planks of the door and the interior describe the amounts and types of donations received and stored in the granary. Though some of the writing has faded and is indecipherable, many of the names, quantities and types of commodities are readable. The majority of notations are not dated. An early partial date of 1892 was noted for A. Beal’s donation of 40 lbs. of corn. A more complete date is October 11, 1899, for O. D. Gifford’s donation of 120 lbs. of flour. A later donation on July 24, 1901, was for 104 lbs. of flour from W.L.C. (William Louis Crawford). The year 1902 is the last date noted. Donations of flour and corn were the most common products, varying in quantity from five to 339 lbs. Wheat and barley also appear in the notes. One donation written on the front door was for 55 gallons of molasses from the Dennett family. Photographs of these notations are provided below:
Photographs courtesy of David Pettit
There has been some speculation that the Springdale tithing granary was used by the ward women’s auxiliary, known as the Relief Society. Relief Society throughout the church were encouraged to store grain, particularly wheat, in order to provide for the poor and all members during emergencies. The LDS Church Relief Society donated tons of wheat to victims of the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and to the troops during World War I. It is unlikely that the Springdale Relief Society used the extant surviving granary for two reasons: 1) the Springdale organization meticulously kept their donation records in a notebook, and 2) the Relief Society members owned property separate from the church and school properties.
The small tithing granary was not the only storage facility available. An article in The Dixie Falcon reported that a tithing barn was being built by Bishop Gifford and John J. Ruesch with expected completion in mid-November 1900. In A Pioneer History of Zion Canyon and Springdale, written in 1947, the co-authors Nancy Crawford and Merwin G. Fairbanks, provide more details about the tithing granary and barn. The authors cite “a record of one hundred and ten dollars and eighty five cents” for construction costs with most of the labor donated. It is unclear if this is a reference to the granary or barn. They describe the barn as “an L-shaped affair [that] stood quite a distance back on the north side of the road,” most likely on the east side of today’s Winderland Lane. The tithing granary “stood next to the side walk” where the school garage was located in 1947 and approximately where the entrance to the current school driveway is today. The old tithing scales were originally next the granary but later moved in front of where the Standard Oil Station was located in 1947.
Crawford and Fairbanks made it clear that the granary was no longer standing at its original location in 1947 but did not provide any information about its location at the time. Two important events suggest the move likely took place sometime between 1923 and 1931. On July 22, 1923, a violent hail storm blew the tithing barn over. According to an article in the Washington County News, Mr. Elliot, a traveler, had just driven his car into the barn for shelter from the storm. After the roof fell in, Mr. Elliot was found unharmed with only minor damage to his vehicle. The barn was completely razed soon after this incident. There is no record of the tithing barn being rebuilt or replaced. Although in-kind donations were common to the Church through the depression years, the Springdale Ward records from the 1920s saw an increase in cash donations suggesting the tithing granary and barn may have outlived their usefulness.
If the granary was not moved after the 1923 demolition of the barn, it was almost certainly moved within a couple of years after the frame building used as both the Springdale Ward meetinghouse and local schoolhouse was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours of November 17, 1929. By November of 1930, the community had completed a new brick school on the property formerly occupied by the tithing granary and a frame house. The Church’s new Springdale Ward Chapel was completed the following year east of the wash where the first church had been located.
Some Springdale residents believe the tithing granary was moved onto a property owned by one or more of the ward bishops. Thorton Hepworth served as bishop between 1913 and 1926. The Hepworth family lived at the south end of town, near today’s Gifford Park Drive. Historic aerial photographs of the Hepworth farmstead taken before it was demolished for the park and subdivision show few outbuildings on the property. A photograph of the family home from his tenure shows a granary behind the home, but that granary has a centered, not offset, door. It would be unlikely that Bishop Hepworth had the church granary on his property, he had a temporary granary handy for donations and the tithing barn was not razed until 1923, ten years into his service.
In 1926, Daniel Crawford, the son of William R. Crawford, began his service as bishop of the Springdale Ward. The Crawford family lived in Oak Creek at the north end of town. Crawford was released as bishop in 1931 when he moved to Parowan after the family homestead was sold to Zion National Park. Given the distance and ongoing negotiations with the National Park Service at the time it is unlikely that the granary was moved to Oak Creek.
The next bishop, Alvin Carl Hardy, had two tenures as bishop of the Springdale Ward, the first between 1931 and 1947, and the second between 1963 and 1968. In the late 1920s, the Hardy family lived near the school and would have been familiar with the granary. Alvin Hardy built a home for his family at 563 Zion Park Boulevard soon after he was made bishop. This property is believed to be one of the locations of the Springdale Tithing Granary by locals. Aerial photographs show this small farmstead with several outbuildings, most of which has remained remarkably intact. Although just under a half a mile from the school property, Bishop Hardy’s farm is only a few hundred feet from the tithing granary’s penultimate location at 29 Canyon View Drive, where it was relocated around 1992.
For nearly three decades, the granary was tucked in the corner of the lot at 29 Canyon View Drive, which is now operated as a bed & breakfast called the Harvest House. The granary was donated to the Town in 2014 and relocated to its current position by Town Hall. The Town carried out some restoration work on the granary in 2024 to ensure this special part of Springdale history endures for many years to come.