Philip DeLaMare

Role in founding the Sugarhouse area DeLaMare converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in 1849. Taylor and DeLaMare, along with others, purchased beet sugar manufacturing supplies and imported it to America. This was the first beet sugar machinery ever brought to America. DeLaMare led 52 teams of oxen that hauled the equipment to Salt Lake City.

The Sugar House Sugar Factory On March 5, 1853, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, Mr. Mollenhauer, Daniel H. Wells, and Amasa M. Lyman selected the southeast corner of 21st South and Highland Drive as the location for the sugar factory. This is in the part of Salt Lake City now known as "Sugar House". The factory began operating in February 1855. The finished factory used a water wheel in Parley’s Creek to power the factory. By the end of the summer in 1855, Brigham Young concluded the factory to be a failure and ordered it to be shut down. The factory could not produce sugar, and would only ever create molasses.

There are several theories as to why the factory could not produce sugar. It appears some parts of the factory machinery may have been lost on the journey to Utah. In the Agricultural History journal, historian Leonard Arrington theorized that the problems was with the chemical nature of the beets made them difficult to convert since they were grown in alkali soil. Another historian believed the salt content of the beets was much higher than the content of those grown in France and that this imbalance caused the problem. Others have speculated that the Sugar House factory was never able to master the crystallization method necessary for the process. It is believed that approximately $100,000 was spent in the attempt to make sugar production successful at the factory.

The factory was later used as a paper mill (which processed sunflower seeds, weeds, straw, and old rags), roundhouse, bucket and tub works, woolen factory, a machine shop for the Utah Central Railroad, coal yard office, and weighing station. The factory was completely torn down in 1928.