🠈 Harmon's Grocery Store 🠊
The Harmans and Harmons of Granger
The Harman family in Granger was huge. The family was of pioneer stock and owned prime farm land in Granger. In 1895 Caroline Hemenway, age 22, married George Reese Harman. They had six children before George passed away in 1912.
Caroline's sister Grace had married George's brother David. Grace died in 1919 shortly after giving birth to her ninth child. Caroline's daughter died a month later. Caroline married David creating a household with 14 children.
In 1924 David was dipping potatoes in a solution. He thought the solution cured a rash. He dipped himself in the solution and died the next day. This left Caroline, at age 51, with 14 children.
Some of the older children ended up changing their last name to Harmon. They liked to blame the name change on civil servants who spelled their name wrong. Or they claimed they ordered an expensive sign with the name spelled wrong. I suspect that they were thinking about branding.
Harmons Grocery Store
Harmons Grocery Store was founded in 1932 by George Reese (Jake) Harmon and his wife Irene as "The Market Spot" on the corner of 3300 South and Main Street. The first store was in an auto accident in 1942 and had to closed.
The couple bought a café but returned to groceries in 1945 when they opened a new store at 4000 West and 3500 South. in WVC which they named "The Green Store."
In 1952, Jake's brother Pete Harman had invited a colorful character from Kentucky who went by the name of Colonel Sanders for a visit at their restaurant called "The Doo Drop Inn." Mr. Sanders demonstrated a recipe for fried chicken. Pete Harman licensed the recipe which he introduced at his café on 3900 South as "Kentucky Fried Chicken." The Harman's marketed the chicken as "finger licking good." KFC was so successful they sold it in buckets.
As for the grocery stores: Harmons gradually expanded. In 1971 the market in WVC burned down. They rebuilt the store as Harmon's Market. They also developed a super store in Brickyard plaza.
The company has since grown to 17 stores with signature stores in the City Creek, Farmington and Holladay. They also bought and revitalized "Emigration Market" on Emigration Creek.
The stores are noted for supporting local farms, an in house bakery. Some stores offer cooking classes. They are listed as a member of Associated Foods.
References:
- Remembering Aunt Carrie (Drawn 11/27/2017) Elaine S. McKay
- Wikipedia - Harmons (Drawn 11/27/2017)
Directory Listings:
- Davis County - Grocery Stores: Harmon's Grocery Store
- Ogden, Utah - Grocery Stores: Harmons Groceries
- Provo Utah - Grocery Stores: Harmon's Grocery Store
- Saint George - Food: Harmons Food Store
- Salt Lake Sites - Grocery Stores: Harmons Grocery Stores