W. H. Leigh

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Early Leighs

Mary Leigh Talbot reminisced about the Leigh Furniture Company founded by W. H. (Harry) Leigh.

The furniture store was large and had all varieties of room set-ups displayed throughout the building. In the early days the building held both Leigh Furniture and The Leigh Hotel. ( I did not know about the hotel until this past month)

As a child and a teenager, I mainly noticed the main furniture types: chairs, dining sets, bedroom furniture, desks and so on. Later on I realized they also carried lines of decorative elements and furnishings such as crystal and china. I loved walking around the floor looking at the furniture, seeing the designs and colors and trying out the chairs and sofas. My father, Bernard Fife Leigh, would buy furniture nowhere else This drove my mother (Idona Stewart) to distraction. Usually Dad just went on over to Leigh’s described what he required and brought it home. Mom would like to have been consulted. My recollection is of quality items. The same living room set resided in our second west home for most of our residency. I knew of only one dining table.

The building was destroyed in a great fire. My reference says in 1962. It was a flaming inferno with ash and sparks falling as far as two or three blocks away. The fire took not only the store but some apartments on the upper floors. The warehouse and display area was moved to a new building on first or second west just north of the Lund highway. I was never in the new store, as I was out of the house by that time.

The founder, William H. Leigh, had two sons that were known to me, Harry B. Leigh and a brother that I only knew as ‘Dub’. I have no clue as to his given name. Harry B. was involved in the furniture store. Dub had other interests (kinesiology?)

W. H. Leigh was mayor of Cedar City in 1914-16 and councilman for several terms. He was a member of the Board of Education of the Iron County School District and also a member of the Board of Regents of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City for a period of eight years (Mayors of Cedar City p.198).

Allen Leigh noted that Harry (W. H.) Leigh lived in a big house on 100 West, slightly north of Allen Leigh's home on 200 West. Allen was away from Cedar when Leigh Furniture burned down, and he was surprised to learn of the fire and was pleasantly surprised to see the new location on the Lund highway.