Tolman Park

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Tolman Park

A major portion of the land that makes up this park, originally known as ‘Rocket Park’, was first tilled by Judson Tolman about 1854. Judson came to Utah with Brigham Young’s second party, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley September 20, 1848. He and his family spent the first winter and spring in Salt Lake and moved to ‘Sessions Settlement’ in July of 1849, having asked permission to take up a farm here. He helped fight the cricket invasion of 1849, after which Brigham Young asked him to help settle the Tooele area of the valley. In 1854 he moved back to Bountiful and resumed his farming on the east bench near this area.

Judson’s son Jaren helped work the farm, and in the 1880s he used the lower portion of this area (where the ball field is located), as an ice pond by diverting water from Stone Creek. He became one of the first in Davis County to put up ice as a business. The land was later acquired by Mark Cook and his wife, and eventually granted to Judson’s son Jaren in March 1890. Jaren built a home on this south end of this land at 50 South 1300 East, using rocks from Stone Creek. Jaren later sold this home and five acres of the farm to his son Ephraim in July 1907 for $700. Ephraim tore the home down and rebuilt it using the same rocks for the base of his home, which can still be seen today in the same location. In 1916, Ephraim bought another 3 acres and rented land from the City, giving him about ten acres for growing produce to take to market. Ephraim continued farming the land until new homes began replacing farms in the 1950s. The home and farm were finally sold in August 1958. The land served more than three generations of Tolmans for over 104 years.