Dr. Pierce Barn Pomeroy Sign Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Ribbon Cutting, Dr. Pierce Barn Pomeroy Sign, Richmond City Park, 176 W 100 S, Richmond, UT. L-R: Jason Matthews, Kade Martinez, Jeannie Thomas, Terry Spackman, Brady Spackman family, Lyle Bair (Richmond City Council), and HollyJo Karren (Richmond City Administrator). (Taken by Luke Boardman)

As part of a class project in Professor Jeannie Thomas’ folklore graduate seminar at Utah State University, students are tasked with writing a grant proposal for potential historical markers within Cache Valley. The project provides students with crucial grant writing experience and potentially provides the communities within the valley with a celebration of their heritage. Such was the case with one historical barn in Richmond.

USU History graduate students, Kade Martinez, Jason Matthews, and Tennessee Tarrant worked with Terry Spackman of Spackman Brothers Dairy in Richmond, Utah, to research and draft a grant application that they submitted to the Pomeroy Foundation, which funds historical markers. The draft was successful, as all parties involved, from the Pomeroy Foundation to the City of Richmond agreed to move forward with the project.

On September 30, 2026, the USU group installed the marker documenting the folklore about the barn in Richmond's City Park, which is .4 of a mile from the barn. The storied barn has been in the Spackman family since the early 1900s. It is a working barn and still sees two shifts of cows milked in it per day.

The Spackman barn is also one of two barns in Cache Valley that advertise Dr. Pierce's Tonic, a patent medicine that prior to 1890 contained alcohol and opium. After that date, the tonic label asserted that it contained, "No alcohol." However, legends circulated locally that maintained that the tonic still had alcohol in it. The Pomeroy Legends and Lore marker commemorates this local folklore and an iconic barn on the north end of Cache Valley.

The two barns in Cache Valley belong to many barns that advertised Dr. Pierce’s “miracle” tonic. Across the United States, barns still display the advertisement, which was originally painted in the early twentieth century. The Pomeroy marker celebrates the barn’s individual history and places it in the larger story that it shares with farmers across the nation. The marker is a celebration of the landmark in Richmond, but that landmark also celebrates the family that still utilizes the barn as a diary.

During the grant writing section of the course, the USU students were excited to get to spend time talking with Terry Spackman. He was eager to share what he knew about the barn and was excited to have people from the university engaged with the local history.

“Terry is always good for a hilarious story, and his excitement about celebrating his family barn redoubled our own excitement about the project,” said Matthews of his experience working on the project. That sentiment is echoed by Tarrant, who said, “The best part of the process was getting to hear Terry’s stories. I am so glad that Terry and Holly believed we weren’t door-to-door salesmen.”

HollyJo Karren, city administrator for Richmond City, Utah, said, "It's been a pleasure to work with the students and the entire USU crew." She also said she hopes experiences like writing the grant and working with the Richmond, Utah, city government inspire students to think about careers in city government.