The Start Up Candy Co:
Wiliam Startup started up his candy business in the 1830's in Manchester, England. Little did he dream his descendants would continue his buisness in America into the Millenium. In Utah his grandsons created the very first candy bar, as well as the predecessor of breath-sweeteners.
At present Harry and Jon's next goal is to establish a candy museum in the factory building. They want customers and groups to be able to understand more about candy making over the past 160 years since Harry's great-grandfather William Startup "started up" his candy business in England. Jon teaches and trains family members, along with other employees. Some day another descendant, with sweet blood, will be skilled and trained to carry their special treats into the sixth generation of Startups.
The Reed O. Smoot House:
"The Smoots were one of Utah's leading Mormon families, and Reed was the child of one of his father's several wives. After receiving his basic education in church schools, he entered Brigham Young Academy (later University) as a member of its first class in 1877. Upon graduation in 1879, Reed joined his father's business in Provo. By the time he was 18, he was manager of the Provo Co-op Institute, a general store, and 5 years later was managing the Provo Woolen Mills. Within a few years he had acquired widespread business and agricultural interests, and by the time he was 35, Smoot had accumulated a considerable fortune. At the same time, he advanced in the hierarchy of the Mormon Church. In 1900 he was ordained as one of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, a position in the church second only to the presidency."
Along with the important position of senator, smoot also was advisor to five presidents, dean of the U.S. Senate, and an apostle in the LDS Church. This latter role proved to be a tough one, not only because of the responsibilities it entailed, but because Smoot's involvement with the LDS church jeopardized his involvement with the U.S. senate. From the year 1903 to 1907, there was a nationwide campaign to unseat Senator Reed, including a movement backed by petitions bearing more than one million signatures claiming that he was a high official in an orginzation that endorsed polygamy and violated the constitutional tenet of separation of church and state.
This campaign was a significant event, and according to historian Thomas F. O'Dea, the "last major flareup of the Mormon-gentile conflict on a national scale.After four thousand pages of testimony, numerous witnesses, and hearings occurring from the year 1904 to 1907, the senate, under pressure from Theodore Roosevelt, refused to expel Smoot from the Senate. Smoot biographer Milton R. Merrill claimed that "No one did more than he in changing the public's opinion from one of scorn and obloquy for the despised Mormons to one of respectful admiration.
Containing many of the original furnishing, including the family China, collection of pitchers, and the collection of paintings by Lee Green, the house still stands strong today. Smoot lived in his home until his death in 1941, and since that time his descendants have retained the home and kept it in excellent condition.
Jesse Knight House:
perhaps the wealthiest man in Provo at the time, Jesse Knight was born in the year 1845 in Nauvoo, Illinois. Jessie’s family migrated west, and reached Utah in the year 1857. Following an impression that he had, Jessie began a mining operation in the Eureka area and became rich. He subsequently bought other mines, founded a bank, purchased real estate in Provo, bought the Provo Woolen Mills, and started farming and cattle interests in Canada. Throughout all of these efforts Jessie remained an active supporter of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and his mines were called the “cleanest mining camps in the west." Jessie Knight died in 1921, designating much of his amassed fortune to B.Y.U. and various other institutions.
The house has been remodeled to serve as a mortuary since 1948.
