Broadbent’s Store to finally receive historical marker

The Lehi Historical Society is once again excited to host the unveiling of the Broadbent’s Store historical marker on Thursday, May 22, at 6 p.m. The unveiling will be held in the Broadbent Community Room at the Lehi Police Department at 128 N. 100 E. The marker was originally planned to be unveiled in February, but a freak snowstorm caused the event to be cancelled.

“Broadbent’s was Lehi’s longest-running family-owned business,” said Lara Bangerter, director of the Lehi Historical Society. “It’s exciting to have this opportunity to share with the public what four generations of the Broadbent family accomplished.”

Family members will share stories of the much-loved department store that once sold everything needed to run a home. The store closed in 2017 after 135 years in operation. There will be displays to view and refreshments. Members of the Broadbent family will unveil the marker, which will stand at the northeast corner of 100 East and 100 North in front of the Police Department. 

The Broadbent’s Store collector lapel pin will be for sale after the unveiling, along with all other historical marker lapel pins. The marker will be the tenth of 36 large historical markers to be installed over the next three years through the Lehi Historical Marker Program. 

When Joseph Lees Broadbent and his wife, Sarah, decided to join the saints of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah, they came from England for religion and the association of those who believed similarly. 

When they arrived in Lehi in 1859, Joseph tried to be a farmer but found little success in the dry desert. He returned to his former profession of repairing watches while Sarah brought in money by making work clothes, with copper rivets added by Joseph for durability. As it turned out, both enterprises were in demand. By 1882, the couple built a small shop onto their home and their children, Joseph Samuel and Geneva, helped run the family business.

Over the years, the store sold everything from dry goods, groceries, fine hats, Christmas trees, pump organs, hardware, paint and china to linens, sugar, seeds, garden supplies, fabric and notions, furniture, makeup, clothing and babywear. 

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When second-generation owner Joseph Samuel died unexpectedly in 1937, the store passed to his 20-year-old son John, who ran the store with his new bride, Alice, for five decades. Daughters Nann, who passed in 2015, and Betty, who had grown up in the store, transitioned into the store’s leadership as their parents aged. The property was sold to the city in 2017.

The historical marker program was founded in 2022 when the Lehi Historical Society won funding for the program through a generous donation and continued support from the John David and Danaca Hadfield family of HADCO Construction and a large Lehi City PARC grant.

The next Lehi Historical Marker unveiling will be held on Thursday, June 12, at 7 p.m. at the Thomas Austin Home, located at 427 E. 500 N. For more information, call the Lehi Historical Society at 801-768-1570.