BOUNTIFUL — History buffs will soon be able to read the story behind Bountiful area businesses and benefit the new South Davis Museum at the same time.

That’s thanks to a partnership being forged between the Bountiful Historic Commission and Beverly Perkes Nowak, author of a new book, “The Heart of Bountiful Businesses.”

It will highlight 221 businesses, most of them local Bountiful firms, plus major regional entities like Hill AFB, Lagoon and Cherry Hill. It will cover more than 700 pages.

When the Bountiful native met with the historic commission, she said there were five years of preparation in writing the book; however, she emphasized that it was a labor of love and not written for monetary benefit.

Under an agreement approved unanimously by the commission, $3,600 will be advanced by the commission to go toward the publication of the book, and $4,000 in advance sales and donations provided by the author. Partnering with the commission will enable the museum to display the book at many of its fund-raising benefits in the area.

The commission still needs about $426,000 to reach its goal to construct a new 14,000-plus square foot building adjacent to the Bountiful/Davis Art Center.

Other than her initial sales through July 1, Nowak will then transfer all rights of the book and any sales and proceeds to the museum – all proceeds go toward the new museum fund-raising efforts, she said.

The book should be ready for distribution by about July 1, the commission was told.

“We are inspired most by those around us,” Nowak said, explaining that the book contains personalized stories for each business – rather than a collection of facts.

“The book talks about how important small businesses are,” she said. “Often we lose sight of their importance. If you want to get a new watch, you go to the neighborhood jeweler. If you need a haircut, you go to the local hair salon,” Nowak said.

The lifelong Bountiful resident told how her father started Wally’s Burger Bar in 1957. It was a local mainstay for many years.

The book covers businesses from 1940 to 2009.

The section on Duerden’s Appliance and Sleep Center, for example, covers several pages. It provides a genealogy of the family and how they arrived in Bountiful in 1869. It notes how Richard Duerden bought land a half-mile east of what is now the Union Pacific rail line, dug wells, and turned dry land into a way to sell garden produce to “housewives in Salt Lake City, making the trip about twice a week.”

That evolved into a small store in their kitchen, later expanded to a grocery store in front of their home.

The Duerdens got the first telephone in the area, installed in 1883. “He (Richard) kept the children busy delivering messages all the way from the upper Bountiful east bench down to the bottoms in Woods Cross. Richard also had a safe, a very rare convenience in those days.”

The book goes on to talk about Delbert Duerden, who opened Duerden’s Western Auto Outlet at 10 N. Main, Bountiful, in 1957. They outgrew that space, building a larger store at 416 W. 500 S, eventually adding space there.

The Western Auto franchise was dropped in 1970, and the store became known as Duerdens, Inc. The business became a full service auto center, and in 2003 moved to a new building at 416 W. 500 South.

“You name it. I’ve tried it,” Delbert Duerden was quoted as saying in a 1966 Clipper article. In addition to produce, magazines, brushes and farm work, he has sold seeds, insurance, Christmas trees, built homes, sold real estate, owned a successful trucking business in Idaho, and more.

“Your dreams become reality if you work lots of hours; you can accomplish what you want to,” he said.

There is an arrangement offering the public the opportunity to purchase the book in advance of its anticipated July 1 publication date. The cost of advance sales will be $40, after which the public can purchase the book from the museum.

For more information about the book or to pre-order a copy, call the author at 801-295-1500.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com