Morten Rasmussen House

Tags

Historic Homes, Mt. Pleasant, NRHP, Sanpete County, utah

Morten Rasmussen House

This full two-story brick home was built in 1875. Located on a corner, the north facade partakes of formal early American styling, especially the Federal and Creek Revival influences. Notice the symmetry, six-over-six windows and Federal lintels, central porch and entry doors and bracketed Creek Revival cornice. The east elevation has a cross-wing plan with recessed entry and original porch.

Morten Rasmussen was one of the original settlers in Mt. Pleasant. His wife Karen crossed the plains in an 1857 handcart company and met Morten while visiting friends in Ephraim. He helped erect the first fort and they lived there for two years, where Karen gave birth to a son Martin, the first male born in Mt. Pleasant. They moved here and built a two-room shed where Sophia and Lars were born. Their next house was a three-room adobe where John Mary, Annie, Henry and Erastus were born. Building this brick house was the pride of family members, who all assisted with the work. The boys hauled wood from the cedar hills to build fire for the kiln. Some of the bricks were fired too long and thus used on the back of the house where inconspicuous. Born here were Daniel, George, Will and Hyrum for a total of eleven children. Morten died here in 1885, followed by Karen 15 years later. In 1959 the house passed to Esther Rasmussen Rasmussen Christensen, the last of Morten and Karen’s grandchildren to be born in the home.(*)

417 West Main Street
Mt. Pleasant, UT 84647