Memoirs of an Oremite

The other day when my girls took me out for my birthday, the mall and the movie and whole of that area was so crowded.  There were hardly any parking places. The Orem mall and the theater were packed. I got to thinking about Orem and how it used to be here.

Having spent my whole life in Orem, I can remember when the mall used to be a bunch of orchards with pears, apples and cherries. I used to pick fruit in those orchards. The only theater in Orem was the Scera. The only two grocery stores was Scott Wilkins and Wilbergs, both small family run stores. We used to go to Provo to shop for groceries sometimes and they only had Happy Service, (where the Deseret Industries are now and Safeway and Skaggs.) Orem later got Safeway. 

Center street in Orem did not exist until 1962 and then albertson's came in.  You could not even buy thread in Orem until Woolworths came in and then Cornet's. Provo was where went to buy clothes. Firmage's Penny's, Lerner Shop Clark's. There was Kress and Woolworth's as well. Walgreen's had a fountain where you could get sandwiches and ice cream. So did Woolworth's. We loved Kress for toyland at Christmas. It was considered a five and dime store.

800 North in Orem was a dirt road with a turkey farm located nearby. University Parkway was just being built. There was not college. There was a large swamp there. Where Wal-mart is was a dairy farm where you could buy raw milk. Jeppson's Potato chips factory was located on Sandhill Road. Geneva Steel was the main emplyoyer at the time. There were two drive in theaters in Orem. 1200 West where I live now was a dirt road and the hills above were vacant and it was called Lizard Valley. Our telephone had a party line. The phone company had to come to your house and install the phone which was their property and you paid more for a colored phone. Coal was still being used as the most common method of heating the home. Natural gas came in later.

Most mothers did not work and one car per family was the norm. Girls had to wear dresses to school. There were not very many large homes in Orem. they were usually small except for some very old homes. When you moved to a new neigborhood, the people next door always welcomed you with a treat and if there were kids, they immediately became friends. They had neighborhood clubs and my mother belonged to one. Orem was small enough, that my dad, working at the post office knew every family by name and address in Orem.

If you chewed gum in school, you were expelled. For recess there was jump the rope, jacks, roller skaing and tether ball. School lunch was a full coarse meal for 20 cents.  We finally got the mall in Orem and Grand Central. A lot of orchards were cut down. Since then, Orem has never stopped growing and traffic and crowds abound.