107 N. Mountain Rd, Fruit Heights, Utah
41° 02′ 12.0″ N  •  111° 54′ 20.3″ W

In 1876, William Butcher and family came to west Kaysville after leaving England. They moved to the benchland of east Kaysville (now Fruit Heights) in 1886 settling on about 100 acres of land. William quickly established fruit production and was a pioneer in developing and cultivating quality fruit, including peaches, cherries and apricots. Four children: Arthur, Joseph, Annie and Nellie eventually obtained land from him and continued in the fruit business. Arthur planted the first orchard of Gleason Early Elberta peaches, an excellent peach soon established by many Fruit Heights growers. Arthur’s two sons, Vern and Carl, grew delicious fruit in their orchards; however, in the 1950’s Western X, a cherry tree virus, prompted Vern to replace them with apple trees and his two sons continued raising the apples. A smaller section of this orchard is still in production.

Annie Butcher Burton’s son Alden, one of the founding fathers of Fruit Heights, took over the orchard at the age of 24 after his father died. He lived in the original house William built with his own family. Nellie Butcher married Charles Manning, who learned orcharding skills from his father Eli. Their home was surrounded by fruit trees, the property eventually split between their three sons: Myron, Alan and Glenn. The largest orchard today is owned by Glenn’s family.

The need for a fruit transport vehicle that could navigate between and beneath fruit trees and soften the ride to not bruise the fruit, resulted in the “flatbed” that was fashioned from old cars or trucks. Arthur adapted the first flatbed and proved so popular its design was adopted by other orchardists, and is still in use today.