Tremonton's small piece of history in the middle of town

By Rachel R. Keoppel

TREMONTON -- In one building in Tremonton you can see parts of history, as well as being able to hear about it.

Tremonton City Museum is located in the same building as the Senior Citizens Center. The main floor of the building contains history that you can hear about from firsthand experiences. If you make your way through a door and up a staircase you find that you will be able to see many items from the city's history.

Bonnie Grover, director of the Senior Citizens Center said, "We have quite a few people visit the museum, especially in the summer, but not in the winter -- it's too cold. There is no heating upstairs." Grover also said that the construction of the museum started around 1973.

The Tremonton City Museum contains mementoes from many of the early
settlers of Tremonton and surrounding areas. There are many displays of what some of the early shops and homes would have looked like if you lived during pioneer times.

"I think it's wonderful to be able to look at all of these thing that you have experienced, and be able to see them," said Louise Cramer, a Tremonton resident who just celebrated her 90th birthday.

In the museum there are displays of a dentist office, barbershop, post office, school, and two different homes. Each of the different displays are full of tokens that make the museum come to life before your eyes. The detail in each of the exhibits ranges from FBI wanted posters in the post office, a kerosene heater in the barbershop, and an old rocking horse in one of the homes. The community and descendants of the early settlers have donated many of the items that are on display in the museum.

"I was just looking at the typewriters and they seem old, but back then they were sure a nice thing to have," said Cramer. "I think it's wonderful, because you not only saw it, but you were a part of it."

Aside from the museum being full of just interesting artifacts, it is also full of stories.

On one of the walls in the hallway of the museum there are four large pictures of four brothers in military attire. The four brothers were Clyde, Leroy, Rubin, and Rolon Borgstrom. Their story is one of the most interesting that is hiding in the walls of the museum. All four brothers served in different divisions of the military during World War II. All four Borgstrom brothers were killed in action within six months of each other, and in different locations around the world. The brothers were brought back to Utah and were buried under the same headstone, near the farm where they grew up. The display of the four brothers tells their unique story through many newspaper articles and pictures.

The history about the four Borgstrom brothers is just one of hundreds of
stories that lie in the museum. Whether you visit the Tremonton City Museum to see history through the belongings of the early residents who experienced it, or you want to hear a firsthand account, you will probably be surprised with how much history a small city like Tremonton can have.

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