The following content is archived, and is being kept for reference, research, or recordkeeping.
The Rushmer Building was constructed in 1901 in Ogden, Weber County, in the center of the commercial district on Washington Boulevard; its storefront was modernized in 1939 and 1956. The period of significance for the Rushmer Building is 1939 to 1956, when the visible alterations were made to the storefront. These alterations coincide with the Defense and Reindustrialization periods detailed in the Commercial and Industrial Properties of Ogden, Utah, 1845–1975 Multiple Property Documentation Form. During this time, the Rushmer Building attained the characteristics that qualify it for listing in the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in the areas of Commerce and Architecture.
The Rushmer Building is significant at the local level under Criterion A in the area of Commerce for its association with patterns of trading goods and services in Ogden during the Defense and Reindustrialization periods. The Rushmer Building is representative of historic trends intended to stimulate consumer spending, the construction industry, and the economy during the Great Depression and the Defense period. It is also significant because is representative of the response to increased competition from automobile-oriented, decentralized shopping areas after WWII during the Reindustrialization period.
The Rushmer Building is significant at the local level under Criterion C in the area of Architecture because it represents the national trend to modernize the existing building stock in older commercial districts during the Great Depression as a means to stimulate the economy. It is associated with this trend locally on Washington Boulevard, which was the main commercial district providing goods and services for residents of Ogden and Weber County. Loan programs established under the New Deal bolstered a trend to modernize storefronts of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century buildings on Main Streets across the country. Storefronts on Washington Boulevard were “modernized” with sleek storefronts in the 1930s and early 1940s to appeal to consumers during the Great Depression. During the late 1940s and 1950s, the upper stories of these storefronts were again modernized with large graphics and signage over unornamented slipcovers or stucco applications to appeal to consumers traveling by automobile on Washington Boulevard, which was also a national highway route for U.S. 89.
Of the modernized storefronts on Washington Boulevard, the Rushmer Building is one of a few buildings in Ogden’s commercial district that retains a modernized storefront that is emblematic of both modernization periods, as the surrounding buildings have been demolished entirely or the storefronts have been restored or further altered in later periods.
