Uncover the Story of this Baron Woolen Mills Blanket
LF sent me a simple blue woolen blanket with pink and white stripes made in those days when we all slept in single beds. An old, tattered label hanging by a thread reads Baron Woolen Mills, Brigham City Utah. I notice the “T” in Utah shows a crescent shaped top, also echoed in a rising sun, a crescent shape emitting lines or rays. This rising sun is stitched in the blue of the blanket in pink yarn.
A history of the Woolen mills uncovers a wonderful story, as well as a date for FL’s blanket of the 1930’s. The label bears the shape of the roof-line of the mill in silhouette, which is an indicator of the 1930’s date.
Connection with the most famous of all Utah celebrities:
Back in 1853, Brigham Young sent his colleague Lorenzo Snow to a place called “Box Elder.” Snow, a budding LDS Church leader, got the idea to form a merchant co-op in Box Elder, the little town Snow soon renamed Brigham City. The co-op was called the Brigham City Mercantile Manufacturing Association. Snow became Church President in 1898, as well as a major stockholder in the BCM&MA.
The woolen mill this sweet blanket came from became the flagship of the BCM&MA. Building the mill, a 44 x 48 ft stone structure with adobe second story and 40 Ft deep shaft to run the water wheel of the mill, cost an enormous amount ($34K) in 1871. The business plan directed buying from local sheep farmers, and making blankets and fabric for retail. The co-op became successful, making back what the co-op spent on the building in two years’ time.
Sadly, six years after christening the mill, it burnt down completely in 1871. The history of the mill is fraught with fire. In its 149 years it burnt down four times. The severe devastation resulted in Snow fading from management, leaving a worker, the enterprising James Baron, to take over and rebuild.
Times and technology changed
The city of Hyrum optained that newfangled thing called electric power. Baron moved operations to take advantage of the new technology. Meanwhile in Brigham City Anthony A. Jenson reformed the mill company as a private enterprise, taking over in 1889. At that time Brigham City used the water wheel at the mil to try to generate the City’s first power system. Then the mill burnt down again in 1907.
Meanwhile in Hyrum, James’s son Thomas Baron despaired of the abandoned Brigham City mill and moved his family back to Brigham City to rebuild the mill. The Baron family name stood behind the mill until 1988, when Dale and Duke Baron sold the mill.
Imagine Dale Baron’s shock in 2014 when he and his grandson Kristopher Baron witnessed a massive fire from the family house which faced the mill. So many Barons had worked there that a newspaper report from Brigham City at the time says Kristopher’s young eye shed tears when interviewed about the account.
Baron Woolen Mills Blanket Collectors?
I searched for people who collect Baron Woolen Mills blankets. Like the Hudson Bay striped blankets famous for their red, green, and white striped design, the Baron Woolen Mills blankets DO have a following. Mainly because the blankets are so pretty and soft, made in natural dyed shades of almost pastel colors. Found a gorgeous orange with black stripe affair selling for around $200.
I love vintage blankets, not because we need wool blankets in Santa Barbara, but I own a Hudson Bay blanket. I DID purchase that Baron orange affair (thanks LF, for turning in onto Baron blankets!). During the pandemic, I restored an old family residence on Lake Arrowhead every other weekend. The blankets will eventually be ensconced in the pine paneled cabin. My son’s family comes when I’m not there, and everyone loves the old place except the short haired dachshund, who has sunk in the snow repeatedly, to his horror.
It has been a relief during the pandemic for me to have done something constructive, on my own, like the refinishing of 1930’s pine paneling! Once the wood dust clears, my Baron blanket will make the trip with me, FL. Yours is worth $250 I think, because that rising sun motif is collectible amongst blanket aficionados.
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Elizabeth Stewart, PhD is a certified member of the Appraisers Association of America, presenter of custom Antique Road Show style events, and author of No Thanks Mom: The Top Ten Objects Your Kids Do NOT Want (and what to do with them).
Originally published at elizabethappraisals.com on February 2, 2021