Reddick Hotel-Ophir LDS Meetinghouse

The Reddick Hotel/Ophir LDS Meetinghouse, built in 1903-1904, is locally significant under Criterion A for its association with the development of Ophir, Utah in the first half of the twentieth century. Under Criterion A in the areas of Commerce, Religion, and Entertainment/Recreation, the building served the community in two capacities: as a hotel/boarding house until 1924, and as a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ (LDS Church) meetinghouse and social center between 1924 and 1959. The period of historic significance is 1903 to 1959, beginning with the construction of the building and ending when the Ophir Branch of the LDS Church was dissolved in 1959. The property meets Criteria Consideration A as a religious-use building formerly owned by the LDS Church, but which derives its significance primarily from its original use as a hotel and its importance use as a meeting hall for the town’s residents during the boom town’s decline.

Within the area of Commerce, the Reddick Hotel is particularly notable as one of the few extant commercial buildings that represent the town’s efforts to transform from a boom-&-bust mining camp to a more stable community. It is the only frame commercial building, other than the Ophir Town Hall3 , that retains its historic integrity. The building was originally built as a hotel following the peak of mining activity in the canyon. In 1916, the hotel became the site of one of Ophir’s most tragic events, the murder of Mary Reddick by her husband, and his subsequent suicide. Although the interior retains more integrity from the meetinghouse period, local residents still refer to the building as the Reddick Hotel based on the exterior integrity and its strong association with the murder/suicide.

Unlike many of Utah’s mining towns of the early 1870s, particularly those in narrow canyons, Ophir was never completely abandoned. The Reddick Hotel remained a boarding house through the early 1920s. It was obtained by the LDS Church in 1924 and converted to a meetinghouse. The property is significant in the areas of Religion and Entertainment/Recreation as the only dedicated building used as a church meetinghouse for any congregation. It also provided a place for civic meetings and social/recreational events for the geographically isolated community. The Ophir Branch of the LDS Church was formed in 1921 and dissolved in 1959 when the population of Ophir declined dramatically. In 1970, it became a shop building owned by former Mayor Howard Hawkins and remains in the Hawkins family today. The Reddick Hotel/Ophir LDS Meetinghouse is a contributing historic resource in the community of Ophir, Utah.

The Lawrence Brothers and Company Store is located East Main Street in Ophir, Utah and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#16000680) on September 27, 2016.

Early History of Ophir, Utah

Mining for precious metals in Utah began in 1862 when soldiers from Fort Douglas under the command of Colonel Patrick E. Connor staked claims in the canyons southeast and southwest of Salt Lake City. Many of the men were experienced prospectors from the California gold rush, and by the late 1860s numerous mining districts had been established in the Utah Territory, although mining did not become commercially successful in Utah until after the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. In 1865, the soldiers began exploring East Canyon (later Ophir Canyon) after reports that Native Americans had previously worked the area to make gold and silver trinkets, as well as silver and lead bullets.

A mining camp of canvas tents, log cabins, and whipsaw lumber shacks quickly grew parallel to Bates Creek (later Ophir Creek) as prospectors rushed to the canyon to stake claims. The Ophir Mining District was organized in 1870 with the name taken from the geographical location of King Solomon’s mines. More than 2,500 mining claims had been staked at Ophir by 1871. That year Ophir’s population reached 1,200.5 By the time a town site plat was filed with Tooele County in April 1873, the town had a thriving commercial district along Main Street with stores, saloons, brothels, restaurants, a hotel, a post office, and a Methodist church. Most of the commercial buildings featured false fronts facing Main Street, the only road through the canyon.

Residences were built on short streets that paralleled Main Street and up and down both sides of the canyon. A Salt Lake City newspaper article published in April 1871 referred to the town as “Ophir City” and described it as “flourishing and rapidly increasing.”6 A town hall/firehouse was built around 1870. The Ophir Town Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 (NRIS #83003193). In 1874, the Utah Gazetteer had 119 business listings for the town, which it described as the “business centre” of the Ophir Mining District. In 1874, the Lawrence Brothers Mercantile, the only surviving stone commercial building in Ophir was completed. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 (NRIS #13000842). The population of Ophir rose and fell with the associated mining activity. In the first half of the twentieth century, a second wave of miners lived in the town and the population increased from 295 in 1900 to 522 in 1920, which was the peak of the town’s population in the twentieth century, but only a third of the population from the initial mining activity in the 1870s.

Historical Significance of the Reddick Hotel

Under Criterion A in the area of Commerce, the Reddick Hotel is significant as one of only two frame commercial buildings associated with the town’s efforts to transform from a boom-&-bust mining camp to a more stable community. Between 1903 and 1924, the Reddick Hotel made important contributions to the community as one of two hotel/boarding houses in operation. The Reddick Hotel was a rare womanowned business in the mining town. The building is particularly associated with a single event: the murder of Mary Reddick by her husband and his subsequent suicide in 1916.

The Reddick Hotel was built during a resurgence of mining activity in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It is significant as the only extant hotel. The building was constructed on an empty lot at a point where a circular road connecting Main Street with Miner Street. On September 10, 1903, the Block B, Lot 5 parcel was purchased for $75 by Albert Ophir Evans, who in 1871 was the first boy born in Ophir. On December 14, 1903, A. O. Evans sold the parcel to his sister, Mary Ellen Evans Reddick for $100. Oral history passed down through generations of Ophir residents claim the Reddick Hotel originated in the town of West Dip located south of the mouth of Ophir Canyon; however the Tooele County land records make it clear that the building was constructed for Mary E. Reddick.

On February 3, 1904, liens were filed by John S. Dunn and D. Z. Stanton for “labor and services in the erection and construction of that certain building or structure, and now situated upon that certain lot . . has a kitchen added to one side . . 3 rooms and kitchen on first floor and 7 rooms and hallway on upper story.” Construction occurred between October 1, 1903 and January 2, 1904 with 59 days put in by John S. Dunn and 71½ days by D. Z. Stanton at a cost of $3.50 per day for each man and a total cost of $496.35, $39.60 of which was for materials. The liens were paid in full and released by January 30, 1905. John S. Dunn was born in Utah in 1873. He was a carpenter living in Tooele at the time he worked on the Reddick Hotel. John S. Dunn died in Tooele in 1941. Daniel Zed Stanton was born in Montana in 1868. He was also a carpenter, but lived in a boarding house in Ophir with several miners. By the time of his death in 1927, Stanton had moved to Salt Lake City.

Mary Ellen “Nellie” Evans was born in Lehi, Utah, in 1865. She was seven years-old when the family moved to Ophir in 1871. She married Joseph Reddick in 1899. Joseph Edward Reddick was born in Kentucky in 1865. They were living in Mercur, Utah, on the 1900 census where Joseph was a gold miner. The couple had three children, Laura, Eddie, and Earnest, born between 1900 and 1904. The Reddicks divorced in 1906 when it was discovered that Joseph had another wife in Texas, who divorced him in 1910. Mary and Joseph were later remarried in 1911.

The state gazetteers make it clear that Mary Ellen “Nellie” Reddick ran the hotel. The hotel was one of only two woman-owned businesses in the mining town at the time. On the 1910 census in Ophir, she is listed as a “hotel keeper” and the head of the household with her three children. The hotel building was also the family’s primary residence.

In September 1907, the Salt Lake Mining Review described Ophir: “The camp boasts the usual number of saloons, two hotels and two general stores. The leading business house is the Ophir Mercantile Company, which carries a most complete line of general utilities. . Mr. Edwards conducts the other mercantile establishment and also has charge of the leading hotel in the camp.” This was known as the Edwards Hotel, which was a larger establishment across Main Street from the Reddick Hotel. Continuing, the Salt Lake City Mining Review, described the survival and subsequent revival of Ophir with the advent of more modern mining equipment and a large influx of capitol in the early 1900s: “A noticeable feature in the town is the absence of the down-and-out spirit that is so prevalent among camps of the ‘has-been” type. It is encouraging to get in a mining town like Ophir, where every citizen has the progressive habit of boasting. One is infected with this enthusiasm upon first entering the camp, and begins to feel that Ophir is the only town in Utah.” The Reddick Hotel was listed in descriptions of the town in state gazetteers: “Reddick Mary furn rooms” along with twenty five other businesses.

On September 10, 1916, according to newspaper reports, Mrs. Reddick had made an appointment with County Attorney L. L. Baker who went to Ophir Sunday afternoon to meet Mrs. Reddick who had determined to get a separation from her husband. Mr. Baker tried to straighten out the connubial tangle, but failing to achieve reconciliation the lawyer got all the information necessary to prepare the papers for the case. Just as he was leaving Ophir to come to Tooele, Joseph Reddick stopped him and had a talk with him about their domestic affairs, telling Mr. Baker that he would not fight the case, but that everything would go alright. After he left Mr. Baker, Reddick went to the hotel where Mrs. Reddick was at work in the kitchen. It is thought that he gave her a note which she read and then threw in the fire. Reddick then drew a .38 caliber revolver and fired two shots at Mrs. Reddick. The one just plowed along her arm and she held it up to shield her head, the second one stabbing her in the left cheek, penetrating the brain, and coming out the back of her head. Reddick then held the gun to his forehead and blew the top of his head off.

Reddick must have contemplated the rash deed for several days as he drew about $125 which he had placed with the Ophir Mercantile Co., and put it in three envelopes, which he gave to their three children, Laura, Eddie and Ernest. He instructed them not to open the envelopes until later. According to the Salt Lake Herald, “Reddick (after unable to reach an understanding) then summoned his son Earnest, 11 years of age, and gave him an envelope containing $45 telling him to divide the money with his brother Edward, 14 years of age, who was not at home at the time. Reddick also gave $40 to his daughter, who is 16 years of age. A few minutes later the sons and daughter left the house and went downtown. They had been gone only a short time when three shots were heard. Mrs. A. B. Leathem, a sister of Mrs. Reddick, who lives next door to the rooming house operated by Mrs. Reddick, rushed in and found the couple dead.”

The Tooele Transcript Bulletin reported that their daughter Laura went into the hotel filled with powder smoke and found them lying prone on the floor. She rushed to her aunt’s (Mrs. A. B. Leatham) next door and told them of the tragedy.”13 According to Salt Lake Tribune, “Joseph Reddick … was buried here (Tooele) today by the county. There were no mourners and no services of any kind. It is said that a brother in Kentucky was wired, and his reply was that he would have nothing to do with the services, and the relatives of the murdered woman refused to have anything to do with the burial. Services will be held here (Tooele) Thursday afternoon for Mrs. Reddick, after which the body will be taken to Lehi for burial.”14 The tragic event is remembered to this day. Residents of Ophir, as well as descendants of the Reddick family, have reported ghost sightings and unexplained phenomena in the former Reddick Hotel. The folklore surrounding these events adds to the historical significance of the property for the current residents

On the 1920 census, Ida (Mrs. A.B.) and Archibald Leatham’s neighbor is a renter, Melissa Daniels, who was a cook with six boarders, so it appears the building continued as a boarding house after Mary Reddick’s death.15 Melissa Lucille Daniels was born in Ashley, Utah. She was married around 1906 and had two children, but is listed as divorced and the head-of-the-household using her maiden surname. The census was taken in February 1920 and in June 1920, Melissa Daniels married one of her boarders, Fred Strickland. Strickland was born in Montana and was a mill man in the “concentrator” industry on the census. Lawrence Staples, another boarder, worked in the same industry. The other boarders in 1920 include: Jack Forsberg, a Swedish immigrant and mining machine operator; Thomas Clarey, a seventeen-year-old Utah-born mine laborer; Jesse Charles, a Utah-born diamond drill operator, and Mark A. Bullock, a mine laborer who was the only married boarder.

The building remained in the name of Mary E. Reddick until January 1924 when it was transferred to the three children who at the time of her death were minors but were now of age. In February 1924, one month later, the three children sold the building to C.R. McBride who then sold the building to the Tooele Stake of the LDS Church. Melissa Daniels and Fred Strickland had moved to Cedar Fort, Utah, by the time of the 1930 census.

Historical Significance of the Ophir Branch of the LDS Church

The Reddick Hotel was obtained by the LDS Church in 1924 and converted to a meetinghouse. The property is significant in the area of Religion as the only building in Ophir dedicated for use as a religious facility. The building is significant in the area of Recreation as a place for civic meetings and social/recreational events for the geographically isolated community. Between 1924 and 1959, the LDS Meetinghouse was not only used by the LDS congregation for Sunday worship, but for meetings and events for the entire, albeit dwindling, population.

For the first half of Ophir’s history, the members of the LDS Church living in the community were assigned to the Tooele Ward, seventeen miles to the north and west. The Methodists and the Catholics held irregular services, but neither congregation built a meetinghouse. The population of Ophir decreased from 522 in 1920 to 170 in 1930 with the complete cessation of organized mineral extraction. After a slight increase around World War II, the population dropped dramatically to only 36 residents in 1960. During the period of significance, only LDS Church members had sufficient numbers to hold regular meetings. The LDS Church did not have a formerly organized congregation in Ophir until September 11, 1921, when the Ophir Branch was established. Between 1921 and 1924, all meetings were held in the district schoolhouse, but the members found this arrangement unsatisfactory and began to talk about building a chapel in 1922.

Branch records are missing between 1923 and 1939, so no information is available about the acquisition of the Reddick property and the subsequent remodeling. Notes from the 1940s show the building was regularly painted and repaired. The building was remodeled by the LDS Church to have one room on the ground floor, the attached kitchen removed and the seven rooms on the second story reduced to three classrooms and a hallway. A number of current-day Ophir residents have memories of attending Sunday School and other church services in the building. The pulpit was on the south wall of the main floor with a picture of David O. McKay on the southeast and a picture of the Lion and Lamb on the southwest wall.17 There were several years when meetings were not held due to inclement weather or low membership.

In the 1950s, there were 83 members of the church in Ophir, but attendance at sacrament meeting was between 20 and 30. The Ophir Branch was dissolved on January 1, 1959, at which time members were assigned to other wards. The property remained in the church and informal gatherings, such as parties and movie viewings, continued to be held after the congregation stopped Sunday worship meetings in the building. By April 1969, an inventory of church properties noted that the building was “abanded [sic] with furnishings intack [sic].”

Subsequent History of the Building: Howard’s Shop

In 1970, after 46 years of ownership by the LDS Church, the building was sold to Howard and Sue Hawkins who moved to Ophir from Toledo, Ohio in 1961. Hawkins, a professional civilian mechanic at the Tooele Army Depot, remodeled the lower floor as a mechanic/carpentry shop with the upper rooms used for storage and a play room for the six Hawkins children. The building became known to the approximately 100 residents of Ophir as “Howard’s Shop.”. Hawkins served three terms as the Mayor of Ophir from 1966 to 1978 and his wife, Sue served as town secretary-treasurer for 35 years.

During this time the Ophir Canyon Water Association (OCWA) was formed. Howard’s Shop housed all OCWA equipment, materials and supplies as well as other town machinery. The OCWA and a few town residents took on the daunting task of establishing a safe culinary water system for Ophir. This included “capturing” three springs several miles up-canyon, installing a pipeline, constructing a 60,000 gallon underground storage tank and establishing 40 water-hookups to residents. This project initiated by Hawkins, took from 1975-77 to complete with all volunteer labor.

During the late 1960s through the 1970s, Howard’s Shop also provided a television service to the town’s people. TV reception was all but impossible within the deep walled canyon. Hawkins engineered, and with his sons, constructed an extensive antenna and line system from the shop to the top of Lion Hill Peak, some 2,000, nearly vertical, feet. This system was then wired to all residents in town at no fee. Remnants of the power system for the antenna are still in the television equipment shed (former outhouse).

The doors of the “Howard’s Shop” were open to everyone, children in need of bicycle tire repair, teens working on motorcycles or first cars, and adults with various auto-mechanic questions or repairs. There was always a project of some sort, from picture frames to shelves to doghouses and toy trains and birdhouses of all kinds. It was a place to gather whether sitting in the sun on old chairs, and sharing a laugh or around the wood burning stove with a cup of coffee. Friendships were made, disputes settled, ideas hatched and stories shared.19 The lot and building remain in the Hawkins family, having been so for 45 years.

The town of Ophir has never been completely deserted and the spirit of “boasting” remains. Many current residents refuse to accept the label of “ghost town” used by outsiders but are constantly reminded of the arguable presence of ghosts surrounding the old Reddick Hotel.