John W. Hart was born and reared in Ogden, Utah. He married Elizabeth Hogge of Farmington, Utah in 1885; they became the parents of 13 children. He filled a mission in the Southern States from 1886-87. He served four years as Justice of the Peace in the West Weber precinct, Utah. In 1895, he and his wife, Elizabeth, packed their belongings in a covered wagon and, with their small children and a cow, moved to Menan, Idaho. He was Bishop for many years. Later, he served as Stake President of the Rigby Stake. Although he began in agriculture, he soon branched out to a variety of activities: banking, business, politics, church, and community; and his dynamic personality thrust him to the top of each of these organizations. John W. Hart was very involved in Idaho politics. He was a member of the Idaho Republican National Committee and served in the Idaho State House of Representatives and four terms in the Idaho State Senate. In 1910, he was the acting governor of Idaho for 30 days. He was responsible for passing a law allowing Idaho children to attend seminary during regular school hours. He worked relentlessly to defeat the bill introduced by Senator DuBois to deny Mormons the right to vote in the Idaho. From 1914 to 1935, he served on the Ricks College board of education, the last 8 years as chairman. He led the appeal to the state legislature and the Church during the 1930's to keep the school open
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Groundbreaking: October 1967 Completed: November 1969 Facilities: Field house, Olympic-size swimming pool, classrooms, handball courts, dressing rooms, weight-lifting rooms, and therapy room. Main gym seats about 5,000 for special events with (1,700) chairs being set up on the floor, with radio and television broadcast facilities. 1972: Dedicated and named by Elder Delbert Stapley of the Council of the Twelve. 1973: Synthetic floor installed in field house. 1978: Addition to building. 1983-84: Broken water pipe in upstairs storeroom floods basketball court; repairs take two weeks to complete. 1994: "Viking Blue" surface installed in field house. 1997: Loudspeakers for stadium placed on building roof. |
