Francis ‘Frank’ and Eunice Smith House

The Francis “Frank” & Eunice Smith House, constructed in 1913, is significant under criterion C for its unique architecture and the craftsmanship of the builder and original owner, Frank Smith. The Smith House is architecturally significant as a good representation of Frank Smith’s carpentry and woodworking skills, particularly in the carved wood details and extant wood finish work in the interior. Smith was a local builder and woodworker who assisted in the construction of a large number of buildings in Vernal, Utah, and surrounding communities. His works include more than thirty residences as well as several various civic and religious buildings. The house is one of only two, two-story foursquare-type residences in the area and one of the larger houses in the settled area surrounding the city of Vernal. The foursquare house type is not as common in Utah as in other areas, especially in rural areas such as Vernal, and the Smith House is a unique variation of the type. There are a few alterations that date from the historic period, but only minor alterations on the interior and the majority of the original interior wood detailing and hardware has been retained. The house and yard retain their historical feeling and are significant historic resources to the area.

The Francis ‘Frank’ and Eunice Smith House is located at 1847 North 3000 West in Maeser, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#01000317) on March 29, 2001.

The city of Vernal is located in the Ashley Valley, named in honor of William H. Ashley, an early trapper who entered the area in 1825. Located in the rugged and barren Uintah Basin in the northeast corner of the state, and surrounded by various mountain ranges, the Ashley Valley was one of the last areas in Utah to be settled. Brigham Young, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church), who directed the settlement of the Utah Territory, feared that the proposed Pony Express route through the Ashley Valley would bring settlers who were hostile to the LDS faith, so he sent a scouting party to survey the area in 1861. The report from the party was that “The area was one vast contiguity of waste, and measurably valueless, excepting for nomadic purposes, hunting grounds for Indians, and to hold the world together.” This report discouraged Young’s attempt to settle the area for the time being. But he was not the only one discouraged by the findings of the report, for the area was also rejected as a possible Pony Express route.

Also in 1861, President Abraham Lincoln established the Uintah Indian Reservation south and west of Vernal, and placed Captain Pardon Dodds in charge as the agent. After his release in 1873, Dodds settled in the area northwest of present-day Vernal to raise cattle. What followed was typical frontier settlement, with trappers, prospectors, and drifters moving to and through the area. Families began to move to the valley in 1878. Because of Indian/Anglo skirmishes in nearby Colorado, a fort was constructed in what became known as Ashley Center. Later, after the threat disappeared and the fort was disassembled, many settlers remained and a post office was requested; but because there was already a town named Ashley, the post office was assigned the name Vernal.

Growth in Vernal was slow and somewhat uncoordinated. Settlement did not follow the typical pattern of development of most Mormon colonies in the state, where a town was to be laid out in grid fashion according to Joseph Smith’s “Plat of the City of Zion.” Later though, in 1884, the LDS church assisted in the organization of Vernal into a town, but actual incorporation did not occur until 1897. At this time the community and outlying areas began to slowly increase in population as more businesses were established and houses constructed. The community was largely self-sufficient because of a lack of railroad access. And even when the Uintah Railway Company was introduced in 1904, it was hardly sufficient to allow for much social or economic change in the area.

Architecture

The early twentieth century was a time of transition in Utah’s residential architecture. Homes built in the late nineteenth century were primarily based on classical or picturesque Victorian house forms and decorated with Victorian Eclectic details. A residential building boom between the depression of the 1890s and World War I was the impetus for a shift toward more quickly and easily constructed house types. The bungalow, for example, became ubiquitous in Utah between 1905 and 1920. Somewhat based on the bungalow, the foursquare became concurrently popular as well. This is the house type on which the Smith house is based. Two-story foursquares represent a rejection of the eclectic irregularity of the Victorian styles, while providing more interior space than one-story bungalows.4 This type of house is commonly found in metropolitan areas of the state. However, in smaller communities and less-urban areas it is found much less frequently. The foursquares located in smaller towns like Vernal seem quite monumental, compared to the humbler dwellings, and were commonly the residence of a wealthy or prominent citizen.

Only two examples of the foursquare have been identified in Vernal, one of them being the Smith House. Statewide, foursquares are quite uncommon as well. They constitute only 1.1 percent of the “eligible” residential buildings surveyed throughout the state. Sixty-eight percent of the foursquares are in Salt Lake City. The remainder are scattered throughout the state, with only one community having more than ten examples (Ogden has thirty-nine). Two-story foursquares in other communities were almost always built for upper middle-class families and were among the upper tier of residences in terms of size and quality. Though foursquares nationally were viewed as a common and ubiquitous house type, they were a more prestigious type of residence in Utah, especially outside the urban neighborhoods of Salt Lake City.

The combination of the two-story foursquare with the odd addition to three sides in bungalow form makes for a unique residence in the Vernal area. Although upon first appearance the foursquare seems to have once been a separate structure with later bungalow porch and additions, inspection proves that it was probably constructed as it appears now. Similar wood planking encloses the wide eaves on both the one and two-story segments and the cornices of both have similar stylized dentil trim. The foundation appears consistent around the entire structure, as does the brick stringcourse. The inside features oak and fir details including a built-in china closet, fireplace, a front door with carved flowers, and other wood trim. The house is still in excellent condition. The woodwork was all constructed and finished by Frank Smith with the help of his wife, Eunice, and is a fine representation of Frank Smith’s craftsmanship in home building and finishing in Vernal and the Uintah Basin region.

History of Frank Smith

Francis “Frank” Harper Smith, son of Job Taylor Smith, was born in Farmington, Utah, on May 6, 1868. Frank worked at various odd jobs in his youth, including delivering ice and meat products, working on a farm, and learning basket making from his father. Frank studied at the University of Utah and then went to work for Zion’s Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI). Frank gave half of his wages from this job to his mother for construction of a new four-bedroom brick house on the site of their old one.

Frank married Eunice Elizabeth Fuller, his childhood sweetheart, in 1888. Eunice was born on April 8, 1872, to Reuben and Annie Preece Fuller, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Eunice had studied music much of her early life and trained on piano under a local professor, J. Marvin Chamberlain. Although she never became a professional musician, her musical training served her family and community throughout her life. The couple lived with Frank’s mother for a short time until Frank constructed another house next to his mother’s on the same property. Not long after this, his mother died and Frank quit his job. He “made a few trades and purchases” and in 1890, with two young children, moved to Georgetown, Idaho, where he worked as an itinerant farmer, raising and harvesting potatoes, grain, and hay. The family lived in a small two-room house that had a partial sod roof; Frank later added on to this house.

Frank was put in charge of drawing plans for and building a new Mormon meetinghouse in the area. He designed it after one that he had worked on in Salt Lake City. The bishop of the ward (ecclesiastical unit) was pleased with Frank’s work, and when the bishop was transferred to Montpelier, Idaho, he engaged Frank to oversee the moving and attachment of a large room to the meetinghouse there.

Frank’s brother, Wilford, had moved to Ashley Valley, and he urged Frank to join him there. Frank, finding farming not to be as successful as he had hoped, sold the ranch in Idaho for $900.00 in 1895, and the family decided to move to Ashley Valley, in northeastern Utah. The Smiths had four children by this time and traveled to Ashley with three wagons. They traveled over the old Carter Military Road (National Register pending) built by the soldiers at Fort Thornburg, over Taylor Mountain, and into the Ashley Valley. They purchased the current property, which at the time had a small, vine-covered home, into which they moved. They lived in this house until they built the subject house; the original house later burned down.

Frank went to work in Ashley Valley as a carpenter and contractor. It is through the many buildings he either constructed or on which he assisted in the construction during his approximately forty years here that his significance to the community and region becomes apparent. He helped build several public and religious buildings including the Congregational church building and LDS First Ward chapel in Vernal under contractor Will Cook. He did contract work for a chapel and hospital at nearby Whiterocks. Frank constructed the rectory for the Episcopal Church in nearby Randlett, as well as the placing of a 900-pound bell and additions to the church building. He also did considerable remodeling and building in Randlett on government schools. He was overseer in charge of the eight-room brick school in Maeser, and foreman for Howard McKean in building another LDS chapel in Vernal. Frank also worked on the tower of the Mormon tabernacle (recently remodeled into a Mormon temple) in Vernal and spent one winter with builder Mike Cook building stairs and doing all of the work on the pulpit in the same building. He did other woodwork in the east end of the building and finished the west entry hallway. He was contractor for the Uintah County brick jail, school buildings in Tridell and Maeser, along with a church building in Maeser, and a schoolhouse addition in Roosevelt (approximately 50 miles to the southwest).

In addition to the many public and religious buildings on which Frank worked, he also constructed, remodeled, or built additions to approximately thirty-five other homes in the Vernal area. And in 1913, Frank began construction of his new home where his family of fourteen resided for nearly twenty years, until Eunice’s death on March 6, 1933. Following her death, he did not want to live in the home because of the memories, so he sold it to his son, Marvin, and daughter-in-law, Blanche Seeley. Frank then moved to Salt Lake City, where he continued in the building and contracting trade, and married Verna Young Mitchell on May 15, 1944. They moved back to Vernal in their later years where Frank passed away on March 4, 1960.

History of Other Owners

Marvin and Blanche met during their freshman year at high school. Blanche later received a degree in teaching from the University of Utah and she worked for the Uintah School District, teaching at Fort Duchesne and later at Maeser School. The couple was married on May 19, 1934; they then purchased the farm and this house where they raised four daughters. Unfortunately, farming did not provide the family with a large income and they had a difficult time making the monthly payments. To make matters worse, Blanche had to quit teaching, since married women were not allowed to teach in the Uintah School District at the time. To enhance their income, the Smiths took in several boarders.

The Smiths eventually went $11,000 in debt on the farm, so Man/in went to work for the Uintah County Road department. He was employed with them for four years and then he went to work for the State of Utah as road supervisor. Unfortunately, on March 4, 1960, Marvin, who had suffered heart problems for years, went to Salt Lake City for heart surgery; he died that evening following the procedure. Blanch continued to reside in the house and teach school at nearby Maeser until she retired. She continued living in the family home until she passed away in October 1999, at the age of 90.

Errol and Darlene Burns purchased the home in June 2000. Interestingly, Darlene has an historical connection to the house; one of Frank Smith’s other tasks in the community was to build caskets. He and Eunice assembled the caskets in the living room for prominent people of the area. The last casket built by Frank was in 1932 for Sylvanus Collett, grandfather of Darlene Burns.