Change is underway at Anderson Seed and Garden. Established in 1942 by the Anderson family, the business is a historical landmark in the heart of Logan City.
Now, the front of the family-owned store on Center Street is going back to its roots with a historical renovation.
“Even though the store is going back to a more retro and historical look, the renovation will still update the overall look of the store and give us a nice face-lift,” said Mark Anderson, the store’s owner.
According to Anderson, in the early 1970s the family put up a large metal sign covering the majority of the storefront.
The storefront renovation by the Anderson family in the 1970s was an effort to look more modern. But the store owners now want to make the store look the way it did when his grandmother started the business in 1942.
“It’s also the 70th anniversary of our store this year, so we will be holding an anniversary and grand re-opening event this spring once the renovation is finished,” Anderson said.
Scheduled to be finished before the end of March, the historical renovation is being jointly funded by the city, state and the business.
“I was approached a few years ago about doing a historical renovation by the Historical District in Logan. But at the time we couldn’t afford to do it on our own,” Anderson said.
In 2011 Anderson was approached by the Logan Downtown Alliance about getting funding from the city and state for a historical renovation.
The alliance is a community-based organization dedicated to preserving Logan’s downtown entrepreneurial businesses.
“The Logan Downtown Alliance is actively engaged in promoting economic activity, vitality and renovating commercial properties in the cultural heart of Logan,” said alliance manager Gary Saxton. “The Alliance supports establishments who preserve Logan's history while creating and maintaining downtown Logan as a vibrant and successful commercial district.”
The alliance helped Anderson Seed and Garden get money from the state and city to fund this project.
“It worked out so that we got eight grand from the city, eight from the state and we paid the rest,” Anderson said. “It ended up being $25,000 total.”
The city’s money came, in part, through the Community Development Block Grant program, a federal grant issued to municipalities to improve communities, said Richard Anderson, the finance director for Logan.
“Mark's building is a contributing historic building in the Historic District of Logan, this is what qualified his building for a historic renovation,” Saxton said. “He also had interest in renovation and was in position to do something prior to the deadline of the grant program in August, 2012.”
“I think our downtown is very vibrant and very active,” Anderson said. “The Alliance is working to make sure that downtown Logan stays alive. I think they are doing a good job to improve the look of downtown Main Street in Logan.”
Historical accuracy is not the only thing that the Anderson family and employees at Anderson Seed and Garden are looking forward to. The renovation will also help the outside of the store to look more uniform.
“It has always looked like we’ve had two storefronts because we bought another building next door,” Anderson said. “When we get it all done, it will look like one building rather than two different stores. I think customers will think this is great when they see the finished product.”
Lauren Handy, Cambria VandeMerwe, Paige Sjoblom, Kyndall Peterson, Aaron Griffiths, Heather Foster, Jill Dean
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