POCATELLO — An organization devoted to preserving the heritage of the early pioneers with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has added a warehouse that once housed a ZCMI Cooperative to its list of historic places.
Officials with the local chapter of the National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers anticipate the building, located in the city’s warehouse district at 902 S. First Ave., will be the first of many historic structures in the community to be added to their organization’s registry.
A plaque is now displayed outside of the building — which was built in 1916 to house a Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution — offering its history and designating it as site 272 on the society’s growing list.
From Sept. 18-20, the faith-based organization hosted its annual National Encampment in Rexburg. The local Portneuf Pioneers chapter hosted one of six tour buses that visited East Idaho communities throughout Friday as part of the convention. In addition to stopping by the ZCMI building for lunch, the tour group visiting Pocatello made stops at their church’s new Pocatello Idaho Temple, the Northgate development, the Fort Hall Replica, the Bannock County Historical Museum and the Museum of Clean.
Rich Kirkham, who owns the building with his brother Kirk, explained that not all buildings on the organization’s registry are affiliated with the LDS Church or have a religious background.
“They just have to be historical,” Rich Kirkham said. “Our hope as a local chapter is this is the first of many of these that we will do. We will go around the community and find other historical places and try to restore the history to that place so that people know when they go by, ‘Oh Wow! I didn’t know what that was,’ and now they do.”
The plaque explains ZCMI, founded in 1868 by Brigham Young, was promoted as America’s first department store. It served more than 150 communities throughout the Intermountain West.
The three-story brick building in Pocatello, designed by architect Frank H. Paradice Jr., was lauded as being a “modern fire-resistant structure.” It remained a ZCMI until 1942, when a moving company acquired it.
Portneuf Pioneers member Spencer Stucki explained ZCMI had a store in the Pine Ridge Mall until the 1990s, when it was replaced by a Dillard’s.
The Kirkhams bought the original Pocatello ZCMI location nearly two decades ago, when the moving company that was using the building opted to move elsewhere, on land owned by the Kirkhams. The Kirkhams and the moving company made a property swap.
The Kirkhams also own the historic Garrett Freightlines and Meridell Park Farm & Event Center buildings.
“We love historic buildings,” Rich Kirkham said. “We just think it’s part of our history and part of our life where we grew up.”
The upper floor of the old ZCMI warehouse is now occupied by 25:2, which is a company that processes seeds developed through genetic technology.
The building’s basement houses a display honoring their late father, Dale Kirkham. It features his old World War II military uniform and other keepsakes from his early days in Pocatello. They often host family gatherings in the basement, and they sometimes make the space available for local organizations to host meetings.