Vienna Cafe
Of course, when you are digging through garbage, you often find remnants of domestic life. There are cups and saucers, plates, glassware, soap dishes, dolls, and everything else imaginable. Most have some damage which is why they were thrown away. This fancy little coffee cup emerged from the hole mostly intact. However, the surprise was on the other side. At first glance it looked complete, but alas, The backside had the damage, but also the mystery. The Vienna Café. Never heard of it in all my digging years.
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This brings the story to Bingham, Utah. It was a wild west mining town that was mostly hotels and saloons. Per Wikipedia: The geographic feature known as Bingham Canyon received its name from the location's two first settlers, the brothers Thomas and Sanford Bingham, who arrived in the canyon in 1848. Initially, the area was utilized for livestock grazing and logging, but the region's economic focus changed with the 1863 discovery of rich gold and silver ore bodies in the canyon. Mining activity in Bingham Canyon boomed after the Bingham Canyon and Camp Floyd Rail Road completed a line to the canyon in 1873, and as the region grew the focus shifted to the high-quality copper ores in the district. As the mines grew, the town of Bingham also expanded, spreading along the narrow and steep canyon floor below the mines.
The Bingham Canyon mines experienced their greatest boom during the first years of the twentieth century, as the district's smaller mines were consolidated under large corporate ownership. The most significant development occurred in 1903, when Daniel C. Jackling organized the Utah Copper Company to begin surface mining at Bingham Canyon. The Utah Copper Company's mine prospered, and this brought a tremendous influx of new residents into the canyon. The town of Bingham Canyon was officially incorporated on February 29, 1904.[2] By the 1920s, the city of Bingham Canyon was at its peak, with perhaps 15,000 inhabitants. Urban development spread for some seven miles along the single, narrow road winding up the steep canyon floor. The Town was swallowed up by Kennecott and disappeared in 1972 |
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Why was this cup found so far away in SLC? The earlier Vienna Café was also located on MainStreet in Salt Lake. There is also a reference to a Vienna Café in the early Provo business district. The following is a Biography of the owner and entrepreneur.
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“One of the men who have risen through their own efforts to positions of prominence in the business and mining world of the West is George W. Morgan, proprietor of the Vienna Cafe, one of the best known restaurants between Denver and the Coast, and the president of the Imlay Mining Company, the headquarters of which are in Salt Lake.
Mr. Morgan was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, July 7, 1863, but, while still a boy, his parents removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, where the young man received his earlier education. His father was Frederick H. Morgan, a well-known manufacturer and carriage builder of Cincinnati, and for a time the young man was connected with this line of business. On August 16, 1892, he was married to Miss Kate Fanning, of Butte, Montana, and in December, 1898, he moved to Salt Lake City, and has since made it his home. One of Mr. Morgan's earlier business ventures in Utah was the Vienna Cafe, at that time a little-known eating house, on Main Street, Salt Lake's principal business thoroughfare. By sheer force of personality and strict attention to business, Mr. Morgan succeeded in building up a large and profitable business before he began to turn his attention to other fields of industry. The mining business early attracted him, and, in addition to his large interest in the Imlay Mining Company, he is also vice-president of the West Quincy Mining Company, with properties in Park City, and is a director and member of the Executive Board of the Clayton-Daynes Music Company, a director of the Capital Electric Supply Company, vice-president of the Sunnybrook Coal Company, and vice-president and managing director of the Reno Wholesale Grocer Company. The Vienna Cafe of recent years has become the headquarters for mining and professional men of the inter-mountain region, and here its genial proprietor is to be seen at his best. While Mr. Morgan's rise in a business way has been rapid and substantial, in the social life of the city he is almost equally well known. He is a member of the Alta Club, the Elks, and the Commercial Club of Salt Lake, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, a Knight Templar and a Shriner. He occupies a handsome residence at 311 East Fifth South Street, where Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have achieved a more than local reputation for lavish entertainment and open-handed hospitality. Notwithstanding the wide and varied nature of his interests, Mr. Morgan has been enabled to give close attention to the affairs of each of the industries with which he is connected. Under his management the Imlay Mining Company has made rapid strides along the lines of success and the Reno Wholesale Grocer Company, through its conservative management and up-to-date methods, has succeeded in building up a splendid volume of business. The Sunnybrook Coal Company is regarded as one of the promising enterprises of the State, while his other interests enjoy an equal measure of prosperity. In the eleven years which he has been in Salt Lake, Mr. Morgan has made a host of friends, all of whom are enthusiastic in their admiration of what he has so far accomplished.” |
George W Morgan
Who knew a simple cup could hold so much history!
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