Hilda Erickson House

The Hilda Erickson House, a bungalow built in 1915, is significant under Criterion B for its association with Hilda Anderson Erickson. Hilda Anderson was born in Sweden in 1859. She immigrated to the United States in 1866 and with her family crossed the plains as a member of a Mormon wagon train three years before the completion of the continental railroad. Hilda’s life as a pioneer woman in Utah was both typical and extraordinary. For many years, she was a rancher in the western Utah town of Ibapah, along with her husband John A. Erickson, but she was also a seamstress, doctor, merchant and politician. The life of Hilda Erickson is significant primarily for its longevity. In 1947, she was honored along with her contemporaries at the centennial celebration of Utah’s pioneer settlement. The accolades continued through the 1950s, but by the early 1960s, she had outlived them all, and received local, state and national attention as the “last living pioneer,” out of approximately 80,000 pioneers who came to Utah before the railroad. Hilda Erickson died on January 1, 1968, at the age of 108. The newspapers proclaimed her death as the end of an era and the dissolution of the last living link to Utah’s pioneer past. Although she spent portions of her life outside of Grantsville, Hilda Erickson was associated with the city for the majority of her long productive life, particularly the last half of her life, from 1925 on, when she resided in the 1915 bungalow built by her son Perry Erickson. Although one other residence in which Hilda resided intermittently for several years is still extant, the bungalow was her longest and most permanent residence in Grantsville and the one in which she resided when she was most actively involved with the local community, ] The house is also eligible for the National Register within the Multiple Property Submission: Historic and Architectural Resources of Grantsville, Utah, 1850 — 1955. The associated historic contexts are “Impact of Technology and Transportation Period, 1905-1930,” and the “Economic Diversification Period, 1930-1955.” The Hilda Erickson House retains its architectural integrity and is a contributing historic resource of Grantsville, Utah.

The Hilda Erickson House, built in 1915, is located at 247 W Main Street in Grantsville, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#05001626) on July 11, 2006.

The community of Grantsville was settled on October 10, 1850, three years after the first settlement of the Salt Lake Valley by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church or Mormon Church). After several altercations with the nomadic Native Americans who camped in the area, the Grantsville area was settled and known as Willow Creek. In 1852 a town site was surveyed and in 1853, the town was renamed Grantsville in honor of George D. Grant, who led a company of the territorial militia to protect the settlement. Before 1905, Grantsville was primarily an agricultural village. With improvements in transportation and technology, the economy diversified in the first half of the twentieth century. The life of Hilda Erickson spans the four historic periods of the Grantsville MPS. The life history of Hilda Erickson reflects the development of Grantsville as she evolved from pioneer rancher and housewife to merchant. Throughout her adult life, she practiced medicine, though her mode of transportation (from horses to automobile) changed with the times. Her last home on Main Street is significant within the two later periods of the MPS.

The first recorded deed to Lot 3, Block 2 of the Grantsville City Survey, was from Charles L. Anderson (1846o 1908), administrator, to Otto Moline. Otto Moline presumably built the cross wing house, which sits directly east of the Erickson House on Lot 3. He and his wife sold the property to John A. Erickson on October 18, 1911. John A. Erickson’s son, John Perry Erickson, built the bungalow on the west half of the lot, around 1915, the year he married Mary Higgs. Perry and Mary Erickson lived in the house until 1925 when they moved to California. John A. and his wife, Hilda Anderson Erickson, moved into the bungalow that year as their primary residence, and spent the remainder of their lives there.

Hilda Anderson was born in Ledsjo, Sweden, on November 11, 1859. She was the youngest of five and the only girl born to Pehr Anderson (1820-1887) and Maria Kathrina Larson (1819-1888). When she was four years old, her parents converted to the LDS Church. Her father sent her mother, Hilda and the two youngest sons, to America in May 1866. Pehr Anderson stayed behind with the older boys to raise money. After nine weeks on the ship Cavour, they landed in New York in July. They traveled by train to St. Joseph, Missouri, and by boat on the Missouri River to Omaha, Nebraska. Hilda was six and a half years old when she walked across the plains from Omaha to Salt Lake City. They arrived in Salt Lake on October 22. A man named Frederick Peterson, who had driven the wagon holding their belongings, offered to take Maria Anderson and her children to Mount Pleasant, Sanpete County, in central Utah to live with his parents. The Peterson family allowed Maria and the three children to live in two rooms in of their house. Hilda’s mother, who was trained in the craft of weaving and spinning, provided a livelihood for her family. In 1868, the Peterson family decided to relocate to Grantsville and take Maria and her family with them. The same year, Hilda’s father, Pehr Anderson, joined them in Grantsville.

Hilda Anderson grew up attending Grantsville schools until the age of fourteen when she went to Salt Lake City to take a course in dress-making and tailoring. Her father bought her a sewing machine on her return to Grantsville and her skills were in constant demand. She charged 50 cents for a pair of overalls and $2.50 for a dress. She often completed an entire dress, suit, or coat in a day. When the Grantsville Brass Band was organized, Hilda helped make the uniforms for its fifteen members. In her spare time, she loved horseback riding and dancing. She met John A. Erickson at a dance in Grantsville. After a lengthy courtship, they were married on February 23, 1882.

John August Erickson was born on January 20, 1860 in Hemsjo, Sweden. He immigrated to Utah with his family in 1864, where they settled in Grantsville. A year after their marriage, John and Hilda Erickson, were called along with two other Grantsville families to serve an LDS mission to the Goshute Indians. They went to live in Ipabah near Deep Creek at the west end of Tooele County, ninety miles southwest of Grantsville. The LDS Church bought property there with the intent to proselytize the Goshutes while teaching them farming methods. In addition to her duties on the ranch and farm, Hilda taught the native women to read, write, spin, weave, and sew. She also served as the mission’s Sunday school secretary. Hilda kept a diary of her early days in Ipabah and sewing was still her primary occupation on most days. Their first child was Amy Dorothy Erickson, who was born in Ipabah, on July 23, 1884.

Among her duties at the ranch, Hilda Erickson nursed many of the native women during illness and confinement. As a result of these experiences, in the fall of 1885, Hilda was invited to attend a course in obstetrics from Dr. Romania B. Pratt being held in Salt Lake City. Hilda left her young daughter Amy with her mother Maria in Grantsville while she attended school. She graduated from the course in 1886 and returned to Ipabah. She practiced medicine among the natives and the white settlers, often riding sidesaddle for miles in order to attend to the sick. Hilda Erickson became the de facto dentist for the community and always carried her forceps with her in case of emergencies. She continued practicing medicine upon her return to Grantsville, riding her horse until she bought her first automobile in 1915. She received a state license for obstetrics in 1898 and kept it renewed until 1953, when she retired from medicine.

John and Hilda Erickson spent fifteen years on the church’s mission ranch. Their second child, John Perry Erickson, known as Perry, was born in Ipabah on October 6, 1890. The Erickson’s log home soon also became the community center. In 1900, they are listed on the census with their children and three hired hands. Because of Ipabah’s isolation, John and Hilda opened a store and trading post for their white and native neighbors. After being released from the mission, John Erickson purchased property in the area for his personal farm. He grew alfalfa and wheat, under difficult circumstances, which earned the ranch the nickname “Last Chance Ranch.” For many years, it was an oasis for travelers across Utah’s desert to the Gold Hill mining district. He also raised cattle and had the first Pole Angus herd in the county. Hilda Erickson returned to Grantsville in 1898 so her children could attend school there. Her daughter, Amy married John Ulrick Buhler Hicks (1873-1963), on June 21, 1905.

For several years, Hilda split her time between Grantsville and the ranch. On the 1910 census, Hilda is listed living with her son Perry in Grantsville. After John Erickson purchased the Moline property in 1911, Hilda and Perry probably lived in the cross-wing house. Perry graduated from Grantsville High School. In 1909, he accompanied his mother and sister on a trip to Sweden and returned there in 1912-1913 as a missionary for the LDS Church. After his return home, he married Mary Higgs on June 30, 1915. Mary Melvira Higgs was born on May 11, 1892, in Salt Lake City. The couple and their three sons lived in the Grantsville bungalow for the first ten years of their marriage. The 1920 census lists the two Erickson families and the Hicks family living side by side on Main Street. In 1926, John A. Erickson sold the Last Chance Ranch and moved to Grantsville permanently. Since Perry had moved his family to California, John and Hilda took up residence in the bungalow which would be their most permanent home.

While in Grantsville, Hilda sewed a little and kept up her medical/dental practices using her automobile purchased in 1915 to visit patients. She made the four-to-six day trip out to the ranch while her husband served a mission in Sweden in 1903-1904. When the Grantsville Deseret Bank was organized in 1910, Hilda was one of its directors. She held this position until the bank closed in 1931. She also served as the secretary of the Grantsville Farm Loan Association. In 1922, Hilda was nominated by the Democratic Party to run for the state legislature, however she lost the bid. Though her life, she held numerous leadership positions in the LDS Church.

Hilda and John opened a general store in Grantsville in 1925. The 1927-28 Utah State Gazetteer lists her as the general manager of the J. A. Erickson Company. Sometimes she would combine her many vocations. Often young toothache sufferers would be taken to the back room of the store, where Hilda would extract the tooth, then send the youngster home with a bag of candy to soften the blow. She continued to deliver babies (an estimated 200) and stitch up the wounds of her neighbors. After the death of her husband, Hilda continued managing the store until 1946. She also had a butcher shop, a Texaco gas station and a lumberyard in connection with her store. During World War II when commodities were scarce, she would lock up the store for a few hours and drive to Salt Lake City for supplies (the full war allowance), and return to her waiting customers, John August Erickson died on January 20, 1943. Her son, Perry Erickson, died just one year later in 1944.

In 1946, when she was eighty-seven years old, Hilda Erickson’s pioneer memories were chronicled by the local chapter of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP), of which she was a lifelong member. She was feted, with many other pioneers, during the DUP centennial celebrations in 1947. The DUP also sponsored a trip to Nauvoo, Illinois, for Hilda and five other elderly Utah pioneers. The return trip, which originally took Hilda’s family ten weeks on foot, was made in less than six hours by plane. At the age of ninety-nine, she flew to Washington D.C. to meet President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Hilda always thought of an airplane ride as her greatest adventure. On Hilda’s 91st birthday she attributed her longevity to “right living, plenty of exercise, work, proper food and rest, then early to bed and early to rise.” She went on to say “More people rust out than wear out.”7 Hilda loved automobiles and speed. She enjoyed racing the train from Grantsville to Wendover whenever she traveled that route. She wore out nearly a dozen automobiles over her lifetime before she reluctantly gave up her driver’s license at the age of 94. Alice Palmer Hawker recalled that “Aunt Hildy was our town’s famed and most talked about citizen for many years as I was growing up in Grantsville, Utah.”

By the time she reached the age of 100, Hilda Erickson was a celebrity. The Tooele Transcript Bulletin provided a three-page write up for her 100th birthday. Although she had been in several Days of ’47 Parades, she took great pride at the age of 101 of appearing on a special float with two of her great-granddaughters. On July 24′ 1962, Hilda Erickson was honored at a special DUP luncheon. In October 1962, the DUP prepared a lesson entitled “Hilda Erickson — Pioneer” which detailed her life story. The lesson was presented to DUP members throughout Utah and the United States. The lesson declared that Hilda Erickson was Utah’s “oldest living pioneer.”9 She would continue to be Utah’s last pioneer for nearly six more years, living in her own home alone until just shortly before her death. She lived with Amy in Salt Lake City before moving to a Salt Lake nursing home. Hilda remained alert to the end. She celebrated her 108th birthday in November 1967 and the same month, voted in a Grantsville election by absentee ballot. Hilda Erickson died on January 1, 1968.

The day after her death, the newspaper headlines read “Utah’s Last Original Pioneer Dies at 108” and “Oldest Utahn, 108, Dies, Mrs Hilda A. Erickson.” Both articles had similar statements, noting that “Mrs. Erickson was the last living link with Utah’s pioneer era. She was the sole survivor of the 80,000 persons who came to Utah before the transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869.” In reporting on her funeral, the Deseret News had the headline that read “Erickson Rites End Pioneer Era.” At the funeral, Elder LeGrand Richards of the LDS Church during his remarks stated “We are not just laying away here today this body of Sister Erickson. We are burying a dispensation, a generation. There are none left – she was the last.”

Hilda Erickson was buried in the Grantsville Cemetery. In 1962, Hilda deeded the Grantsville bungalow to her oldest granddaughter Hilda Richens. The property was transferred to Hilda Richen’s brother, Jay Hicks, in November 1968. Jay Hicks and his wife, Leatha, are the current owners. The bungalow remains one of the few historic reminders of Hilda Erickson’s remarkable life. The older cross-wing house to the east was subsequently rented to relatives. This house is still standing and from the outside appears to have sufficient historic integrity. However, an argument can be made that it is less significant than the bungalow because Hilda lived in the cross wing intermittently only about ten years during which time she went back and forth from Grantsville to the ranch in Ibapah where her husband was living. The bungalow is her longest and most permanent residence in Grantsville, and is the house that the community associates with Hilda. In 1998, the city of Grantsville honored her by placing a statue of her in front of city hall on Main Street. The statue depicts Hilda Erickson, circa 1900, riding her horse sidesaddle on her way to care for another of her pioneer neighbors.