Fruit farms and POW camps are not things that usually come to people’s minds when they think of Orem.
The Orem Heritage Museum, which opened last week at a new location next to the SCERA in Orem, showcases the city’s rich agricultural and military history.
“There’s really something for everyone,” said SCERA President and CEO Adam J. Robertson. “We hope that it will help people appreciate those that have come before to make it a wonderful city to live in.”
Brent Farley, director and curator of the museum explained Orem’s humble beginnings.
“Orem was a sagebrush flat until about 1877 when someone transplanted berry bushes and fruit trees and found that they flourished; that’s what started the founding of Orem,” he said.
Farley explained that part of what helped the fruit business boom was Orem’s railroad system. The museum holds a 21 foot-long diorama of Orem’s State Street during the 1940s and 1950s, including the miniature model railroad train, trees and buildings.
Orem continued to flourish as World War II started and the Geneva Steel plant was used to process steel to help the war effort. The military room in the museum holds artifacts ranging from World War I to the Korean War, most of which were donated from Orem residents.
“(The museum) is a nice piece of Orem’s history,” he said. “It is fascinating; it’s a small museum but if they come out they can have a wonderful two or three hours looking though it.”
Gary Campbell, Orem Heritage Museum volunteer and board member, explained why the founder of the museum thought it was important for the Orem community.
“In 1976, when we were having problems with shortages of gas and fuel costs were really going up, a lot of the school districts didn’t have a lot of money for the students to go on tours,” he said.”He wanted to find a place that was close that they could take students to learn more about the Orem community.”
The museum was housed in the basement of a senior living center, then moved to some storage facilities and then to the SCERA for the next 15 years. Soon it became apparent that the artifacts and dioramas needed to have their own space, into a remodeled LDS seminary building, built in the early 1940s and dedicated by then apostle David O. McKay.
Campbell donated his marine corps uniform and his purple heart along with other military memorabilia to the museum. Among the war memorabilia is a diorama of a prisoner of war camp that was located in Orem during World War II. German and Italian POWs were taken there right from the battlefields.
“That building is Orem history itself,” Campbell said, describing the museum.