20 Wednesday May 2026
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St. Mary’s Catholic Church
Historic St. Mary’s church was begun in 1860 and completed during the Civil War. It was dedicated in 1864. This area was established as a French and Indian mission in 1823 and a parish in 1845 by Father Bernard Donnelly.
611 North Liberty Street in Independence, Missouri
20 Wednesday May 2026
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19 Tuesday May 2026
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18 Monday May 2026
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Nellie C. Bailey House
Built in 1919, this home is an excellent example of a Prairie style bungalow. The home was built for Nellie Bailey, who had lived with her family for many years in the large Victorian home to the North. Like many of her time, she wanted a home with modern amenities, and had one built on her own property. The house has many elements common to the Arts & Crafts and Prairie style.
The home has horizontal bands of brick and stucco surrounding the home, with casement windows set within those bands. The hip roof features large overhanging eaves and a low-angled pitch. Like many bungalows, it features a large front porch which covers the entire front of the home.
Inside, the home is a collection of beautiful woodwork. Gumwood trim, in horizontal bands, was used in the living room and dining room. Quarter-Sawn Oak, Maple, and Vertical-Grain Douglas Fir, are used in other parts of the home. The home has been owned by three families since Nellie Bailey.
159 North 400 East in Provo, Utah
17 Sunday May 2026
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The James and Manomas Andrus House
Built around 1886
Known as “The cattle baron of So. Utah.” He was a pioneer, Indian fighter, Bishop, businessman, statesman, and accomplished equestrian.
Manomas Lavinia Gibson Andrus: 1842-1940
At the time of her death she was the oldest living original 1847 Utah Pioneer. She arrived in Salt Lake Valley on 7/29/47, one week after the Brigham Young party.
164 West 100 South in St George, Utah
16 Saturday May 2026
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Jesse W. Crosby Home
Jesse W. Crosby Sr. obtained this land in 1875. With his wife Hanna, he built this home which remained in the Crosby family until 1957 when Andrew and Verda Pace purchased it. In 1966 the Steven Lorenzo and Ilene H. Hafen obtained this home. The locust trees west of this home are over a century old and were brought here as seedlings on wagons from California.
95 West 100 South in St George, Utah
15 Friday May 2026
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The Heinrich Gubler Home
Built circa 1870 by Heinrich Gubler, one of the men chosen by Brigham Young to help colonize Southern Utah, this home was one of the earliest built on ground assigned by that Mormon leader.
Constructed of adobe, as were almost all of the early dwellings, the plainness of that early construction was enhanced by the addition of the porches by Mark and Barbara Greene when they purchased and restored the pioneer structure.
160 South 300 West in St George, Utah
14 Thursday May 2026
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The Temple Quarry
This is where the rock was quarried for the foundation of the St. George Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Lava, flowing from volcanoes to the North, formed this rock which is impervious to the alkali and water found in the soil where the temple was to be built.
The stone was quarried into slabs averaging ten feet long, forty-two inches wide, thirteen inches thick, and five thousand five hundred pounds in weight. The unique method of loading them for hauling was by placing the stone on six inches of soil, straddling it with the wagon, securing it to the undercarriage, and then removing the dirt from under the rock.
The quarry was active during the early eighteen-seventies.
This is Sons of Utah Pioneers historic marker #81 (see other S.U.P. makers here) located on the Temple Quarry Trail in Saint George, Utah.
Temple Quarry Trail
1871-1874
The Trail (Dugway) was built to access the Quarry on the south west side of the Black Hill. The large lava rock was needed for the foundation and basement walls of the St. George Temple, because the stone was “impervious to the alkali soil.”
Temple Quarry Trailhead
Pioneer workmen transported basalt stone blocks for construction of the Saint George LDS Temple foundation by wagon over this “Temple Quarry Trail.”
Completion of the trailhead, archway, and access to the trail has long been Dr. Mark H. Green’s dream. The city of Saint George dedicates this project in memory of him.
13 Wednesday May 2026
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The Old Settler’s “Swallow’s Nest”
The 1879 San Juan Mission was an epic adventure to a cause, filled with examples of ingenuity, courage, tenacity, and obedience. LDS President John Taylor’s plea rallied pioneers whose remarkable faith and devotion helped them persevere, even when confronted with the challenges of Hole-in-the-Rock. In America, no pioneer company (236 strong) ever built a wagon road through wilder, rougher, more isolated or inhospitable country. This area was characterized by sheer-walled cliffs, mesas, hills, washes, slick rock, cedar forests, and sand.
Though one of the later efforts in colonization, the LDS Church saw a need to settle the Four Corners area where many Native tribes lived and outlaws hid. They hoped to cultivate new farmland, so they dug ditches, planted crops, built cabins, and sought to live in harmony with their Navajo and Ute neighbors. Oft times, the San Juan River washed out dams, waterwheels, and ditches. Interactions with local tribes were not always ideal, but they persevered and learned from each other. Hardships aside, Bluff eventually spawned other settlements, including Verdure, Monticello, and Grayson (aka Blanding).
Albert R. Lyman, a self-taught scholar, historian, newspaper editor, and prolific writer, was known as the “Father of Blanding” (Est. 1905). He and his wife, Mary Ellen (Lell), made their first home in the new town, called Grayson, by grubbing out a site for a tent. Eventually, fifteen children were born to this union. Albert loved to write, but with his large family and small house, he had nowhere to work in peace. On the lower part of his property, he and his sons built a small study of native sandstone where he could write. He named it his “Swallow’s Nest” because their gathering of materials reminded him of nest-building swallows. When he was busy, he placed a flag where his children could see it. It was a brave child who approached “Swallow’s Nest” when “The Big Bird” was writing!
Lyman was passionate about preserving history and wrote extensively about the early days of San Juan County. The “Swallow’s Nest” is preserved at its original location, the corner of the Blanding Visitor’s Center. This building is a tribute and reminder of the priceless legacy of books, journals, and articles written by Albert R. Lyman. Copies of his writings are archived at the Edge of the Cedars Museum in Blanding.
This is Daughters of Utah Pioneers historic marker #584 (see other D.U.P. markers here) located in Blanding, Utah, erected in 2017.
12 Tuesday May 2026
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Arthur Miles Home
Early pioneer, Arthur Miles, built this home in 1876. His daughter, Katherine, inherited the building and resided there with her husband, Karl Larsen, well known historian and author, who wrote many books about Southern Utah. The house remained in the Miles family, then, from the time it was built until Mr. Larsen’s death in 1983.
212 South 200 East in St George, Utah.
