The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo was organized on Mar. 17, 1842.[i] It was discontinued after Joseph Smith's death in 1844. In 1867, Brigham Young reinstituted the Relief Society organization under the direction of his plural wife, Eliza R. Snow. She came to Lehi on Oct. 27, 1868, and organized the Lehi Female Relief Society in the Lehi Meetinghouse. 

Sarah Coleman was selected the organization's first president.[ii] Her counselors were Martha P. Thomas and Barbara Ann Evans; secretary, Rebecca Standring; and treasurer, Mary Ann Davis. The group had 29 charter members, of whom eight were appointed teachers. A reorganization of the society took place in 1879 under the direction of Bishop Thomas R. Cutler. New leaders were Rebecca Standring, president; Martha P. Thomas and Mary J. Powell, counselors; Mary Ann Anderson, treasurer. 

In 1880, ward Relief Society officers bought a piece of property from John C. Naile at 212 West Main.[iii] The following year the group built a 32 foot by 20 foot adobe hall on the site to gather for meetings and to display and sell their homemade goods. The materials for the building were purchased by the society with funds they had raised through donations of "Sunday Eggs," ward dinners, bake sales, bazaars and the gleaning of wheat. The labor on the building was donated by the women's husbands. 

On Feb. 19, 1883, when the Relief Society held a surprise party for their president, Rebecca Standring, the building was not yet finished.[iv] John Beck, wealthy Lehi mine owner, provided the necessary funds so that the hall was completed by October, in time for a visit from prominent General Relief Society leaders, Eliza R. Snow, Rachel Grant and Emmeline B. Wells. 

Though the building was adobe, it was painted.[v] The lot was fenced and landscaped with mulberry trees and a $250 granary was also erected. By the time of the Apr. 27, 1884, dedication by Utah Stake President Abraham O. Smoot, $2,350 had been expended on the project. Many interesting events are associated with the Relief Society Hall. It was the site of numerous outpourings of the spirit. This hall was the scene of Sunday School and Primary classes as well as weddings, anniversaries and other social events.[vi]

One of the most interesting early Relief Society activities in Lehi, and elsewhere, was the sponsorship of the silk industry.[vii]Silkworm eggs were obtained free from the Deseret Silk Association. Mulberry trees, the leaves of which are the silkworm's primary food, were planted on the grounds of the Relief Society Hall. They were also grown in abundance elsewhere in the community. 

In 1890, the title on the Relief Society Hall was transferred to the Lehi Ecclesiastical Ward, but in 1895 the ward transferred the property back to trustees of the Relief Society.[viii] During a Dec. 2, 1892, meeting, under the direction of L. John Nuttall, the Relief Society was reorganized as a national charitable association with the following local officers: Rebecca Standring, president; Melissa Willes, vice-president; Mary A. Standring, secretary; and Mary A. Anderson, treasurer. In 1903, when the Lehi Ward was divided, four ward Relief Society presidencies were called. 

In 1909, the Lehi First Ward Relief Society gave title to the Lehi First Ward Corporation, which sold the property to Norman and Alta Scown in 1942.[ix] They added dormer windows. The building remained in the Scown family until 1994 when they sold it to Jeff and Kristine Burningham, who remodeled the old Relief Society Hall into a fine residence for their family.

The Burninghams gutted the home, replacing the plumbing and electrical wiring.[x] It took 11 months of work before the family could move in. Nearly all the plaster and adobe walls were replaced, as well as the roof. The couple reveled in tales spun by older Lehi residents who remember playing in the grove of mulberry trees behind the house or crawling under the quilting frame set up in the large front room while sisters pulled yarn through cloth with long needles. In 2008, the Burninghams sold the house to Aaron and Brooke Christensen, who opened Car Town at the location.

[i] Van Wagoner, Richard. A Guide to Lehi City’s Historical Sites and Places. Lehi Historical Preservation Commission. 1997. p. 24.

[ii] Ibid

[iii] Ibid

[iv] Ibid

[v] Ibid

[vi] Relief Society Hall Marker Plaque. HMdb.org, The Historical Marker Database. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=150061, accessed 15 August 2025.

[vii] Van Wagoner, Richard. A Guide to Lehi City’s Historical Sites and Places. Lehi Historical Preservation Commission. 1997. p. 24.

[viii] Ibid

[ix] Ibid

[x] Haney, J. (1998, January 31). Old Relief Society house is home steeped in spirit. Deseret News.https://www.deseret.com/1998/1/31/19360834/old-relief-society-house-is-home-steeped-in-spirit/