BRIGHAM CITY CO-OP

In the Oct 1865 conference Brigham Young announced that the saints should help one another. 'Let every one of the Latter-day Saints, male and female, decree in their hearts that they will buy of nobody else but their own faithful brethren, who will do good with the money they shall obtain. I know it is the will of God that we should sustain ourselves, for, if we do not, we must perish, so far as receiving aid from any quarter, except God and ourselves....We have to preserve ourselves, for our enemies are determined to destroy us."

The first LDS cooperative institution was founded in 1864 in Brigham City under the direction of Lorenzo Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve. Initially the towns name was Box Elder which was changed to Brigham City. This was so successful that it served as a model to other Co-ops to come.

Elder Snow wrote in an 1875 letter to President Young that his main objective for the cooperative movement was 'to unite together the feelings of the people by cooperating their interests with their means and make them self-sustaining according to the spirit of your teachings and to make them independent of Gentile stores.'

The "Brigham City Mercantile & Manufacturing Association," for which several very rare notes are pictured, was the first of the Co-ops to open in the Utah Territory. It was established in 1864 under the direction of Lorenzo Snow. Snow would later become President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Virtually everyone in the Territory was poor, and the Co-op's allowed them to own shares which eventually helped them achieve prosperity. Part of the workers wages were also paid in part with scrip from these Co-op's. As a result there was an explosion of Co-op's in the Territory many of which issued scrip. Some additionally issued tokens.

Settlement of Brigham City began in 1851. Originally called Box Elder due to its proximity along Box Elder Creek. Renamed Youngsville and finally named Brighan City in 1855. The coop failed in 1877 due to a devastating fire in the Woolen factory. This was followed by an excessive federal tax assessment on coop scrip in 1879 which ultimately crippled coops. Most of the coops' holdings were sold off to private individuals over the next few years.