New exhibit focuses on progress of women in the West

Business mind of Lehi’s own, Sarah Broadbent, led to store

There is a new and exciting exhibit featuring the ingenuity and progress of women in the Intermountain West opening at the Lehi Historical Society and Archives on Wednesday, Sept. 9, from 12:30-4 p.m.

The exhibit, Path to Progress: The History of Early Small Businesswomen in the Intermountain West, highlights the contribution of women who worked and ran businesses of hospitality along the Overland Route through Lehi and Fairfield.

Discover married women who were known to have a business before women could own property. Follow widows, such as Patience Loader Rozas and Emma Partridge Carson, who created businesses to support their families and get to know Lehi’s own, Sarah Ann Dixon Broadbent, whose sewing skills and business mind led to the creation of Broadbent’s Store.

Everyone is invited to the free community event which will be in the front yard of the Archives at 34 E. 100 North in Lehi. Masks and social distancing are requested. Period dress is welcome. The exhibit will remain on display inside through Oct. 1. The Archives is open Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information on the exhibit and where it can be found, see Path to Progress Educational Project or Patience Loader Rozas’s Utah Territory on Facebook.

Author, historian and Archive volunteer T. Michelle Tucker, M.A., of Lehi created the exhibit as part of a graduate master’s capstone project. She will be on hand to answer questions and share her wealth of knowledge. View a variety of sad irons and find out what a fluter does in this hands-on exhibit.

Tucker writes dystopian and historical fiction as well as stories of amazing deaf Americans. Her fiction pen name is Tessa Tucker. Her books can be found on Amazon.com.

For more information, contact the Archives at 801-768-1570 or LehiHistory@gmail.com.