This history was written by Jennie Afton Skeen Cook and found in her personal belongings after her death. She had written it by hand and never told anyone about it.
My Father Lyman Stoddard Skeen was born December 18, 1850 in Keg Creek, Pottawatamie, Iowa. Died April 4, 1933 in the Ogden Hospital. Buriedin the Plain City Cemetery. My Mother’s name was Annie Skelton Skeen.
On January 26, 1906 I was born to Lyman and Annie Skelton Skeen in Plain City, Utah. I was baptized on June 1, 1916. Married February 11, 1925 in Brigham City. Endowed February 8, 1935 in the Salt Lake Temple. I attended Sunday School, Primary, and Religion class when young and Mutual (MIA) when I got older. I attended school in Plain City. They only went to 8th grade and then I had to go to Ogden, Utah. I thought I was so smart, 8 grades were enough.
I was the 18th child of the family so my childhood days were happy ones. By the time I came along the hard times were over and we had plenty of ponies to ride, even mules, and we have mules today. We had bobsleighs, cutters, buggys, toboggans and plenty of horses to pull them. My ponies names were Lucain, Dolly, and Old Jack. We always had the best saddles, bridles and halters that could be had.
At the age of four years old, me and my brother Elwood (Dick) rode at the fair in Ogden. He was two years old. I had to bridle his pony and leg him on. I can remember the wire screen they had around the ring. It wasn’t too big but there were plenty of people looking on. We each got ten dollars for the show. It was put in the bank for us and when I got married I had 50 dollars. I suppose Dick had the same. He never told me that. We always had plenty of skating ponds close by and hills to sleigh ride on. The neighborhood was always full of kids and they like to come to our place for there was plenty of things we could do.
My dad used to pull teeth for all the kids and older people in Plain City. He didn’t charge for pulling teeth, but paid them for letting him pull their teeth. That was his way of getting around the kids. I can remember getting under the bed and holding my fingers in my ears so I couldn’t hear the kids cry.
The kids in the neighborhood would gather around about every night and we would play Kick-the-Can and Run-sheepy-run. Everyone had a pair of homemade stilts and we would try to catch each other on them. On stilts you couldn’t go fast but you could take big steps. It’s funny we didn’t fall and kill ourselves. Another game was Hide-and-go-seek. Other fun things we did was “tin can”, stray cows, horses, calves and dogs. There were always plenty of them in those days on the streets.
There were plenty of stores in Plain City where you could get candy. I can remember “Dark secrets, Black licorice, Jaw Breakers” and many others. The stores I remember were John Maws, Olsens, Garners, Pete Folkmans, George McElroy, Eliza Coys and Tom Englands.
I. John Maw’s store was on the northwest corner of the church’s parking lot. II. Olsen’s store was where the Pack Shack is now on the north east corner of the town park. III. Garner’s store was where the Pool Hall is now, but there was also a store called the Red and White Store. Later it was Waterstrats Store, and then it was run as a Pool Hall again with Gilbert Maw and his wife Grace running it for years. It’s now a Pool Hall with new owners. IV. Pete Folkman Store was where the old Folkman home is now, one block north of the town square on the east side of the road, Main Street. There also was an ice house, there back of the store. They would down to the lake and get the ice, cut it up in pieces and bury it in the straw. It would last until spring. People would go and buy ice for ice cream, later they had wooden Ice Boxes and could put a big piece of ice on one side to keep their food cool. V. Tom England’s store was in the north end of town, it was on the corner where Merle England’s home is now, that was the old home and the store stood on the left side of it (4262 W 2650 N). VI. George McElroy’s store was on the corner where Jack’s Garage is now. They lived in the old home that is still there and the store was where Jack Etherington has his cash register and supplies in the front part. It was handy to visit on the way to school and on the way home. VII. Eliza Coy had a small store on the corner where Bill Nozaki lives now. Her husband’s name was Billy Coy. But he left her with a big family and she ran the store. Their home was there too. VIII. The Walter Coy store was located on the corner where Irene Skeen lives now. She is my brother Blaine’s wife. My brother died and Irene still lives there in the old home.
There were three Black Smiths shops, Post Office, and a telephone office. The telephone office was on the corner where Marvel England’s home is today. The Post Office was where Neta Charlton’s home is today. Roll Taylor owned one Black Smith shop, it was located on his property that is owned by his son Rolla Taylor. Another run by Low Erickson was located just east of Neta Charlton’s home. The other one was run by George Davis, it was located just west of Eldon Weston’s home on the property Jack Woods bought and lived for years.
Four schools I remember were the North School, that was on the corner where Walter Christensen lives now. The south School was on the corner across from Eldon Weston’s home. We bought the old school house from Francis Thomas and his wife Defina Thomas. We made it into a home and lived there for years. The other is the school we are using now. It has been remodeled and built on quite a few times since I went to it. Another one was on the North east Corner of the Square of Park. It was a one room building. They tell me there was one in what we called Poplar Lane, but I don’t remember that one. At one time we had two churches, of course the Mormon Church was the most important to us. The other one down where the Lion’s Club is now. It was called the Episcopal Church. They had a bell on the top of the Church which is still there now and they used to ring it at church time. Once in a while we would go to it. We were not very old but curiosity got the best of us and we had to know what was going on. A lady by the name of Mrs. Sheppard was the one who took charge. We were a little bit nervous when we got inside, so we didn’t go very often. Our old Church was torn down but I still have many memories of the dance hall and stage. Every Saturday night they would have a dance and on Wednesday night a picture show. That was about all the entertainment we had. They had good old time dances. When I was about twelve years old I got to go with Mother and Dad to them and I love dances. In the winter after the dances, we would have sleigh riding parties until nearly morning.
Plain City always had a Canning Factory. The one I remember when I was a kid was on the Ben Marriott farm. The Weber County School Board has bought that property now. The other one was owned by a North Ogden man named Randall. Lawrence Cottle ran the factory as long as it ran. When the factory quit running it was bought by Elwin Taylor and a partner. When Elwin Taylor died, our son George Cook bought it and has made it into a warehouse and storage unit. Plain City is also know for its asparagus. They cut it in the spring and processed it and then it was taken to Salt Lake City and sold.
Plain City has a day which is called Black and White Days. Farmers bring cattle to the show from all over the state and they are judged for the best cattle. They have a senior and a junior day. Years ago they had a day called Potato Day which was a big affair. It was held on the Fourth of July.
The train used to run to Plain City and they would load box cars and ship them all over. When they shipped them they loaded many a car for 25 cents a hundred. Finally they quit shipping and started to truck them. We also had a street car called the “Dummy” that came out from Ogden three times a day, morning, noon and night. There wasn’t many cars then and people would ride it but as time went on they took the tracks up and that was the end of the railroad in Plain City. Many a time the “Dummy” came in handy for us because me or Dick would put a cherry stone in our nose or our ear and would have to go to the doctor, and it was handy for workers and kids that went to Ogden to work and school. As time when on my Dad bought a seven passenger car. It was big and roomy. It was called a Chandler, that was the name of it. If George had that today to put with the rest of his cars he would be proud and so would I. I drove my Dad to Ogden about once every two weeks. There were not many cars then and so we got along fine. I was about 15 years old then. That’s why I drive so well today.
P.S. added by daughter-in-law, Dorothy T. Cook
Jennie married Harvey Belnap Cook. They lived in West Ogden and Hooper until 1937 when they moved to Plain City where they lived the remainder of their lives. They had four sons. Harvey passed away October 9, 1979, Jennie passed away September 15, 1991. Bert passed away November 24, 1998. Lyman passed away January 17, 2001. They are all buried in the Plain City Cemetery.