Broadbent's

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Address: 100 E 100 N Lehi, UT

Most certainly one of the longest-running family businesses in Utah, Broadbent's called it quits after 135 years on Aug. 31, 2017. It all began in 1882 when Joseph S. and Sarah Broadbent opened a small 15’ x 30’ store off the side of their adobe home on First North and First East. Joseph repaired watches, and Sarah made work clothing. By the mid-1880s, the size of the store had doubled with a second wooden addition on the north of the original store. With their son, Joseph Samuel, it soon had two departments: dry goods and groceries. In 1891, the Broadbents purchased the first sack of beet sugar from the Lehi Sugar Factory and from then on refused to carry cane sugar which was cheaper. It cost them business, but it was a price they were willing to pay to support Lehi’s farming. In 1889, Geneva Broadbent, daughter of Joseph L., became a full-time clerk. Today, you can still see the two-story section with arched windows and a flagpole on top that was added in 1892. Geneva established a millinery (hats) department on the first floor of the new section. It was the “Gay Nineties,” and every woman wanted the latest hats. In 1893, a photography studio was installed upstairs for women to obtain a picture in their new hat. Different studios were housed there until the mid-1930s when it became an apartment for the family. The Lehi Banner says of Broadbent's at that time, “And shoes! They undoubtedly have the largest stock of shoes ever brought to Lehi and the excellence of the different lines carried and the low prices should convince everyone that now is the time and place to buy their shoes.”

In 1920, Joseph L. Broadbent died. From 1922-1927, Joseph Samuel served as mayor of Lehi. In 1933, Joseph Samuel revamped the grocery store with a “help yourself system,” where customers could choose their own items. Joseph Samuel died in 1937, leaving his 20-year-old son John to take over the business. In 1938, John married Alice Davis, and together they ran the store. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the store in 1942, John and Alice renovated by demolishing the original 1880s buildings and the old adobe home. A new brick “Food Market” was built where the original store had been. In 1944, Alice’s tradition of setting up a nativity in the display window began. Residents looked forward every year to the bigger-and-better Christmas display she would create.

In 1948, the addition to the south side of the store was built for appliances and gifts, and in 1954 the large neon “Broadbent's” sign that still hangs from the outside of the building was installed. In 1957, a large clothing and dry goods addition, where the fabric was most recently, was built on the north side of 1892, a two-story structure. In 1967, a large showroom for furniture and a Merle Norman Cosmetic Studio was added to the south side of the building where the old adobe home had been. John and Alice Broadbent died in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Betty Anderson, daughter of John and Alice and owner of Broadbents, sold the building to the city in 2017 to be the future site of the Lehi Police Department. Study the lines and the changes in building materials of the store. Can you see where many of the additions were made in the building?