This bungalow was built c.1900 by Thomas Jefferson Brandon and Margaret Cherry Brandon. The home incorporates a hipped roof with wide overhanging eaves, a small shed dormer on the façade, a full wrap-around porch, leaded glass transom windows, a pair of small windows flanking the fireplace, and a frame addition to the rear.
Thomas was born in Tennessee in 1835. He crossed the plains in 1852 with the Thomas Williams Handcart Company and immediately settled in Centerville. He was a farmer, served eight years as Davis County probate judge, and was the postmaster of Centerville for sixteen years.
Margaret (Maggie) was one of the seventeen members of the Cherry family who, in 1847, were the first to settle along Cherry Creek, one of Centerville’s first names. Maggie ran the general store connected to the east side of their house. She was also involved with Wilkes Theater. Thomas and Maggie lived here until their deaths in 1916 and 1925, respectively.
The front section of this house, a one-story hall-parlor house type with Classical detailing, was probably constructed by John and Mary Holland c.1872. John was born in 1836 in England, and Mary, born in 1844, died in 1874. John then married Julia Woods in 1884. They lived here until 1886.
The rear, one-and-one-half story Victorian Eclectic style portion of the house was probably built by Charles L. and Pamela Thompson Smith c.1890. Charles was born in Centerville in 1862. He and Pamela raised six children in this house. Both were active LDS church members-Charles as a member of the South Davis Stake High Council and Pamela in the Relief Society and as president of the Primary Association.
In 1908 the house was sold to Benjamin Brown. Born in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1845, he married Jane Goheen in 1865, and they had nine children. In 1899 he married Ellen Rigby with whom he had seven children.
The addition to the south of the historic house was built by Dan and Amber Stephens c.1987 and incorporates many of the same stylistic features.
The Melvin Harley Randall House is a representative example of early stone building in the vernacular tradition which was strong in the Centerville area and which may be detected even today. Unlike other parallel stone dwellings of the period which are extant, however, the Randall home retains its original exterior and interior character. The house also served as the residence of Melvin Harley and Frankie Bennett Randall until 1940. Melvin Randall served as the first Centerville Town Board President, and remained active in local church and civic affairs.
Located at 390 East Porter Lane (400 South) in Centerville, Utah and added to the National Historic Register (#80003896) on June 20, 1980.
Melvin Harley Randall was born August 1, 1852 in Salt Lake City, Utah, the son of Alfred Jason and Margaret Hawley Randall. In 1875 he married Frankie Bennett. Randall’s family had settled in the fertile land in Centerville, Utah shortly after its initial settlement in 1848. Centerville, originally called Cherry Cheek, became an important agricultural area, located some twelve miles north of Salt Lake City. As other early Mormon communities, Centerville contained a strong church organization headed by a bishop and counselors who presided over all church affairs. Civil matters also became of concern on the local level.
By 1880 Melvin Randall was listed in local directories as a farmer, with his stone home having been built around 1875. Randall was active in church, political, and educational affairs of Centerville, gaining recognition in various sources as among the prominent pioneers of the town. In 1888 Randall became a First Counselor to Centerville Ward Bishop Aaron B. Porter, and in 1899 he was ordained Bishop, serving in that capacity until 1911.
In 1915 Centerville organized into a town in order to issue bonds to install a needed waterwork. The Davis County commissioners granted the petition by Centerville residents seeking town stature, and resolved that,” the following named persons are hereby appointed as the Board of Trustees of said Centerville Town: M.H. Randall, President of the Board, and as additional members Don Major, William Barber, Joseph E. Williams and F.W. Walton.” Thus, Randall became the first Centerville Town Board President, heading the town from May 15, 1915 to December 31, 1915, and helped to install the Centerville water system. He continued active in civil affairs by serving as a Davis County Commissioner and school trustee.
Melvin Harley Randall died at his home on April 21, 1930, followed by his wife Frankie, who died in November, 1940. The home is cited in the Smoot and Sheriff history of Centerville as one of the historic homes in Centerville, recognizing it as locally significant.
The Randall House is a two-story stone hall and parlor house, two rooms wide with symmetrical door-window-door façade piercing on the first floor with matching six-over-six windows but no center opening on the second floor. A one-story frame addition has been added to the rear, which made the house into a simple “H” plan. The cornice is undecorated, as are the lintels. The door surround is done with very plain pilasters. The wall beneath the cross gable connecting the one and two story sections of the house is set back below the roof, creating a narrow porch.
A later addition containing a utility room and bathroom was built on the west façade of the original house. The interior of the house retains most of the original door, window and baseboard moulding.
A very early twentieth century photograph of the house shows ornamental pediments over the windows of the frame section. The pediments were probably removed when aluminum siding was added.
In 1854 Anson Call of Bountiful erected a Grist Mill on the south side of Deuel Creek, just southeast of this marker. The mill was a three-story building made from Centerville Canyon rock, with the machinery on the top floor. The people brought their grain to be ground into flour, and the miller kept a portion of it as his pay. The power to turn the grinding wheels was generated solely by water flowing down Deuel Creek, which was run into two holding ponds on the hillside above the mill and then piped to a water wheel which turned the drive shaft.
The larger pond also served as a baptismal font for many of the pioneers. In the winter, when the water was frozen solid, ice was cut into blocks and stored in sawdust for use in the spring and early summer.
The first miller of record was a Mr. Southworth, followed by Messrs. Symns, Winn, McKinney, and Miller. For 15 years the mill lay idle until 1890 when Alwood Brown took it over. He renovated it and installed new machinery.
After Alwood Brown left, the mill was run by several others, including Mr. Everett, Mr. Hancock, and finally by Jim Brown. At one time Mr. Everett ran a wholesale bakery in the basement and drove a bakery wagon all over Davis County. He also had an ice-cream parlor, and so on warm summer evenings the young couples of the town would stroll up here for refreshments – and a little spooning. The place was romantic.
The mill was last operated in about 1905. The lumber was removed in the 1930s and the building fell into decay. The walls were blown in by east winds and the structure became dangerous, so it was completely torn down in 1944.
Davis County purchased the site and constructed a storm water debris basin here following the flood of 1983.
The original one-and-one-half-story stone portion of this house was built c1862-66 by Charles Duncan, a skilled Scottish stonemason known for building rock structures throughout Centerville and Farmington, and Thomas Whitaker, who did the carpentry work. Thomas was born in England in 1816. He and Elizabeth Mills, born in England in 1839, were married in 1858 by Mormon leader Brigham Young. In 1869 Thomas married Hannah Waddups, in keeping with the Mormon polygamous practices of the time. She lived here for three years before Thomas built her a house two blocks east. They had eight children.
Thomas was a carpenter, cabinetmaker, engraver, carver, tenor singer, violin player, and nurseryman. He also spoke several languages. Thomas and Elizabeth are believed to have been one of the first families in Utah to raise silkworms. Elizabeth spun the silk and made scarfs, neckties, vests, and socks. She also had talents in gardening, cooking, rug making, straw hat making, nursing, and midwifery. She had twelve children. Thomas died at age 70 in 1886 and Elizabeth at age 98 in 1937. The home was purchased in 1994 by the city and now serves as the Centerville Museum and Cultural Center.
Located at 168 North Main Street in Centerville, Utah and added to the National Register of Historic Places (#96000316) on March 28, 1996.
The Thomas and Elizabeth Mills Whitaker house, built c. 1862-66, is significant as a well-preserved example of the early stone vernacular architecture of Centerville, and as one of only eleven stone houses built in the 1860s. Stone houses in Utah were built in those locales where stone and masonry skills were available, primarily during the period from the 1860s to the 1880s. That period coincided with the second phase of construction technology in Utah, characterized by the emergence of skilled masons and carpenters who could construct larger, more permanent and more attractive buildings.4 The first phase, which began with the arrival of the Mormon pioneers in 1847, produced houses which were usually constructed by the owners themselves of readily available materials, such as logs, adobe bricks, and field stone. These houses were usually intended as only temporary or subsistence-level structures to be used only until the settlers were able to establish a dependable livelihood and could afford to construct larger and more permanent homes. The emergence of stone houses not only represents the growing prosperity of the people who had them built, but also demarcates the early phase from the later phase that began in the 1880s with the availability and extensive use of fired brick and the influence of nationally popular architectural styles and construction methods on the local building industry.5 The Whitaker house is typical of many of the stone houses built at that time both in Centerville and throughout the state with its symmetrical facade, rectangular shape, gable end chimney, and lack of ornamentation. It was probably built by Charles Duncan and his sons, the primary stone masons in the Centerville area. Most, if not all, of the approximately two dozen remaining stone houses in Centerville have been altered, some significantly, and although this house has undergone some alterations, it retains most of its original integrity.
Centerville is located at the base of the Wasatch Mountains approximately twelve miles north of Salt Lake City and consists of a small strip of land two miles wide and three and three-tenths miles long. The place was named Centerville because it was literally centered between Farmington and Bountiful. Mormon pioneers were the first settlers in the Centerville area beginning in 1848, one year after their arrival in Utah. Primarily farmers and herdsmen, the early settlers found the location suitable due to its good soil and the availability of water from several mountain streams. Their earliest homes were temporary log structures made from trees cut in the nearby canyons, but as the settlement became more established and permanent, adobe houses were constructed. Stone was used in the construction of some of the early structures, but it was not until the 1860s that it became a popular and important building material in Centerville and neighboring communities. Located along the base of the Wasatch Mountains, the towns of Farmington, Centerville, and Bountiful all used stone extensively in the construction of houses, mills, granaries, fences, and culverts. Stone was obtained from dry creek beds and the rock benchland. The stone houses built during the period from the 1860s through the 1880s were some of the largest and most permanent homes built in Centerville. Few of the log or adobe houses have survived, and only about two dozen stone buildings remain, most of which are located on the blocks of the old section of the city.
Thomas and Elizabeth Whitaker settled in Centerville just after they were married in 1858. They first lived in a one-room log cabin for approximately one-and-a-half years before Thomas began work on an adobe brick house. After living there for four years, during which time three children were born, Thomas began building a stone addition to accommodate the quickly growing family. The roof of the house was damaged, however, by a storm, and they began building a new house farther west and closer to the road, where Elizabeth had wanted the house to be all along.
According to Elizabeth’s biography, Charles Duncan and his sons were hired to construct this house about 1862. The house took approximately four years to build, and Thomas did the carpentry work.7 Most of the stone houses constructed in Centerville during the 1860s and 1870s are attributed to the Duncan family, who also built stone culverts, bridges and outbuildings. Charles Duncan was born in Dysart, Fifeshire, Scotland in 1823 and learned his stone cutting and masonry skills working in that country. After converting to Mormonism he and his family emigrated to the United States and arrived in Utah in 1853. He farmed an eleven-acre parcel of land but as his masonry skills became more appreciated he devoted more time to his construction business. He worked on the Salt Lake Temple for many years, and as local history states, he used granite left over from the temple construction for the quoins seen on many of his Centerville houses. The quoins on the Whitaker house however are sandstone chosen by Elizabeth who reportedly saved money from the sale of eggs to pay for the extra expense.
Thomas Whitaker was born in Rotherhithe, Surrey, England, in 1816. After being at sea for four years, he lived on the island of Tahiti and in 1837 married a woman named Tuana. She died of smallpox, however, soon after their marriage. While there, Thomas became guardian to the daughter, Annie, of a friend who also died of smallpox; eventually Annie lived with the Whitakers in Centerville beginning at about age 12. After losing his wife, Thomas moved on to New Zealand, where he married again — this time to the owner of a boarding house and saloon in San Francisco, Mary Ann Church. Upon returning to San Francisco with her he became acquainted with and converted to Mormonism. Mary Ann was uninterested in her husband’s new religion and went back to New Zealand. Thomas settled in Utah, was one of the early carpenters in Centerville, and also worked at farming. Thomas was also a pioneer nurseryman in Centerville.
Twenty-three years younger than Thomas, Elizabeth was born in 1839 on the Isle of Man, England. Her family converted to Mormonism about 1846 and sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, eventually making their way to Nauvoo, Illinois, which was headquarters of the Mormon church at that time. Her father, John Mills, was a silver and tinsmith, and he was put to work making the pewter ornamentation for the L.D.S. temple at Nauvoo. After being forced to flee Nauvoo they made their way to Council Bluffs, where they made arrangements to travel to Utah with Captain Wilkie’s company, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1852. She married William Oakden in 1855 but he drowned several months later in the Jordan River. Elizabeth took her infant son, William, and worked near Salt Lake for a family in which the husband had gone to England on a two-year Mormon mission. Eventually she moved into her uncle William’s household and it was here that she met Thomas. Elizabeth and Thomas were married by Brigham Young, LDS church leader, on March 17, 1858. In 1875, the Relief Society voted to sustain Elizabeth Whitaker with their means and influence to start a milliner business for the Society.
After bringing mulberry clippings from California to Utah in 1856, Thomas reportedly sent to England for silkworm eggs. The Whitakers are believed to have been the first family in Utah to raise silkworms. They raised the silkworms, spun the silk, and Elizabeth made a scarf necktie for Brigham Young,16 as reported in the Deseret News dated June 11, 1862:
A fine specimen of silk was presented to us a few days since by Mr. Whitaker, of Centerville, the production of his stock of silk worms, which are represented as doing as well as any were ever known to in silk producing countries.
Brigham Young was so enthusiastic that he encouraged silk production through the Relief Society, the women’s organization of the L.D.S. church and one of his wives, Zina Young, established the Deseret Silk Association in 1875 to promote silk manufacturing. In many accounts of pioneer women, however, it was not a popular endeavor and it died out by the turn of the century.
In 1869, after eleven years of marriage and six children, Thomas took another wife, Hannah Waddoups, in keeping with the Mormon polygamous practices of the time. This was a devastating blow to Elizabeth, as she had always abhorred polygamy and had exacted a promise from her husband when they married that he would not take more wives. Hannah moved into the Whitaker household, living with Elizabeth for about three years before Thomas built a house for Hannah two blocks east of the stone house. Hannah and Thomas had eight children and Elizabeth had six more by him. With the added financial strain of a second household, Elizabeth had to work more to bring in cash. She did an assortment of things, mainly nursing the sick, helping women through and after childbirth, and weaving carpets. Thomas moved to Ogden, where he found more carpentry work. He died on April 28, 1886, after collapsing on Main Street in Salt Lake because of a hernia. Elizabeth lived for over fifty more years.
Thomas Whitaker deeded the property to his wife Elizabeth in 1885, who left it to one of their sons, Joseph James Whitaker. According to oral tradition, he and his wife, Florence, and their adopted daughter lived in the home prior to Elizabeth’s death (June 7, 1937), with Elizabeth living in a small house to the east and north of the original home (no longer standing). It is also believed that c.1910 he added the brick portions of the structure to the east and north sides of the stone house.
Joseph James Whitaker (1869-1954), their sixth child, acquired the house after the death of Elizabeth. He was a lawyer, having graduated from Cornell University School of Law and serving as a judge in Salt Lake as Salt Lake County assistant attorney. He and Florence Mosher were married in 1906 and lived in this house until Florence died in 1943. Joseph sold the house in 1944 and died at age 84 on March 2, 1954. Subsequent owners include Henry and Mary Baddley (1944-1954), Arthur Frederickson, an accountant for Union Pacific, and his wife Grace (1954- 1979); and Lyle and Helen Wright (1979-94). The City of Centerville purchased the house to be used for the Centerville Historic Preservation Commission and as a museum.
ARCHITECTURE
In many respects — symmetrical facade, rectangular massing, overall simplicity — the Whitaker house is similar to the remaining two dozen or so stone structures in Centerville. As a whole, they depict a period of construction (1860 to approximately 1880) that falls between initial Mormon settlement and the late 1880s when fired brick became available and nationally popular architectural styles began to influence local construction. The field stone at the base of the Wasatch Mountains to the east was used for houses, mills, granaries, fences and culverts in Centerville and the neighboring communities of Farmington and Bountiful. Stone was also used as a foundation material for Victorian Eclectic style homes constructed from the 1880s to about 1905, and can also be seen on several 1920s-era period revival homes in Centerville
The Classical stylistic elements of this house were popular in Utah between 1847-90 and carry over from eighteenth-century American Classicism. After the American Revolution, America was working to transform a collection of essentially local building traditions into a single national style based on a revival of Classical principles-geometrical composition and symmetrical balance. The Whitaker house employs the centrally placed door, rectangular facade, symmetrical fenestration pattern, flat-arched window heads, low-pitched gable roof of the simpler, and Georgian and Federal styles.
The other houses in Centerville that date from this period, are of stone construction, and are potentially eligible for, or listed on the National Register of Historic Places, include:
521 E 100 North
170 N 200 East, Ozias & Rachel Bennett Kilbourn House
193 N 200 East
271 S 200 East, Osmyn Merritt Deuel House (State Register)
Alterations include simple one-story, frame, ship-lap additions that have achieved historical significance in their own right (87 E. 300 S.); 1960s brick additions on the front facade (520 N. 400 E.); and 1980s “faux folk” wrap-around porches (803 N. 400 E.). Although these additions are somewhat different from those of the Whitaker house, they nevertheless share some of the visual characteristics that help to describe Centerville’s growth.
The Whitaker house describes an important period of growth in Centerville. The original stone house shows the first firmly rooted, permanent phase of Centerville’s beginnings. The significance of the Whitaker house lies in its architecture as a good example of Classically inspired stone structure built by locally renown skilled masons of locally gathered rock.
The original rock building, at approximately 150 North Main Street, was built in 1873 by James Baird. It was 20 by 25 feet with an 8-foot lean-to on the east. The building housed coal, scrap iron, and leather bellows. It was here that B.H. Roberts learned the black smithing trade from Mr. Baird.
Henry J. Rampton of Bountiful purchased the blacksmith shop and house in 1881. He built a frama addition which was used as a woodworking and wheel shop. The main building was used for horse shoeing and forge work. At Rampton’s death in 1927, the tools were sold and removed from the lot, and the building was razed a short time later.
The first school house in Centerville was a little one-room log building, situated on this site. John S. Gleason taught school here during the winter of 1851 and 1852. Several adobe schools were built in the village between 1855 and 1864. Later, a rock school in north Centerville and a red brick school in the town center were built.
In 1897, the Central School was built on the foundation of the original 1851 log school house. This brick building housed the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. The school faced east. Five or six wooden stairs led to the double doors at the northeast front corner, the only entrance to the building. A bell tower sat atop the entrance way. Inside the building was one large classroom. Teachers and principals who taught here include Ray C. Naylor, Eugene Decker, Davis F. Smith, John H. Tolman, and Thomas F. Howells.
When the Centerville Elementary School was completed in 1916, the Central School was abandoned. The Central School students joined the elementary students from the Red Brick School and the North Centerville School in the new Centerville Elementary School.
Centerville, also known as Deuel Creek and Cherry Creek in the early days, was first settled in 1848 by Thomas Grover and Osmyn and William Deuel. They, along with other early settlers of Centerville were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The first homes built in Centerville were made of logs dragged down from the steep mountains. These homes were held together by wooden pegs and rawhide thongs, because they did not have nails in those early days. Later, some homes were made of adobe (clay and straw dried in the sun). Other more substantial homes were constructed out of rock washed down from the hills or found in the stream beds.
Water for the new community was diverted from four mountain streams. These streams were named after some of the early settlers; Deuel, Parrish, Barnard and Ricks. In 1854, a grist mill was built on Deuel Creek.
In 1853, the residents of Centerville began constructing a fort to protect themselves from the Indians. The Indian threat lessened, so it was never completed.
In 1851, a log school house was built. In 1852, Sanford Porter was called as the first Bishop of the Centerville Ward of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1855, William R. Smith became the second Bishop of the Centerville Ward. Bishop Smith served in that position until he was called in 1877 as the first Stake President of the Davis County area.
In 1866, William Reeves built a Stage Coach Station in Centerville. He later converted it into the Elkhorn Hall to be used as an amusement hall for dances and local dramatic performances. The Elkhorn Hall is still standing and is used today as a residence. The schoolhouse and hall were also used for religious gatherings until 1879 when a church building was constructed at 1st South and 2nd East.
Brigham H. Roberts, a pioneer and General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, made his home in Centerville. Another Church leader Charles C. Rich, an Apostle, lived in Centerville for a short time.
The Bamberger Railroad line that ran between Ogden and Salt Lake served the residents of Centerville from 1894 to 1952. There was also a trolley line between Centerville and Salt Lake City from 1913 to 1926.
In 1915, a few local men of vision petitioned the county to incorporate the settlement into a town, so a culinary water system could be developed. This first water system was constructed of wire-wrapped, wood stave pipes that frequently sprang leaks. In 1936, the wood stave pipes were replaced by metal pipes.
Centerville became a city in 1956. Centerville has survived two disastrous floods- in 1923 and 1930 – that brought mud, rocks and debris down the steep canyons. The floods washed away homes and roads and inundated much of Centerville’s valuable farm land.
– Vestil Harrison, Centerville Historical Society
Centerville Pioneers honored by major contributions by their decendants or sponsors:
Our Heritage:
Centerville was populated by a mix of pioneers from widely scattered places and different cultures. These pioneers came together for a common cause and they generally discovered that the talents, skills and determination needed for survival were found amoung themselves. Many housewives carded wool and spun the wool on spinning wheels. Some had looms for weaving cloth from which they fashioned clothing, bedding, tablecloths and rag carpets. Gloves, mittens, stockings and shawls were also knitted. Dyes were made of different colors from various plants; soap was made using home-made lye; candles were made to furnish light for the home; and potatoes furnished the ingredient for making starch. The men made furniture and wooden cooking utensils such as wooden bowls, potato mashers and rolling pins. These items supplimented the few items of crockery, china, iron kettles, skillets and dutch ovens that some had brought across the plains. In essence, the families of this early settlement lived mainly by their own production and through the products they exchanged with their neighbors. Numerous small enterprises sprang up in Centerville, such as grocery and general merchandise stores, molasses mill, flour mill, saw mill, black smith shop and a cooperage. There were shoemakers, tailors, carpenters, cabinatemakers, wheelwrights, rock masons, tree nurseries, meat markets and even the raising of silk worms. Probably the most important early business of Centerville was the old Centerville Co-op that opened in 1869 at Main and Center Streets. When money was scarce, housewives traded eggs, butter and other home-produced items for store merchandise. The co-op finally closed in 1940. The streets were dark at night until the early 1920s when a few enterprising citizens installed lights at two street corners. They mounted a time-clock in a wooden box at the bottom of the pole and had a long string running from the clock at the bottom to a light switch at the top. The nearest home owners had the assignment of winding the clock so the street lights would go on at dusk and off in the morning. The groundwork for all the conveniences we enjoy today was laid by the early pioneers of Centerville, whose suffering, diligence and faith in the cause that brought them here has made this choice land we have inherited. We honor these noble pioneers! May the dedication of this monument to their faith, sacrifice and deeds inspire us to emulate them and revere their memory with profound gratitude. – Vestil Harrison, Centerville Historical Society
Osmond M. Deuel, one of the first settlers in Centerville in 1848, purchased and farmed 40 acres at this location. Osmond adopted Joseph E. Williams (1870-1947), whose parents died when he was eight years old. After the death of Osmond Deuel in 1889, Joseph purchased the farm from the Deuel family.
Joseph’s son, Thomas Q. Williams (1901-1991), and his sons, Thomas Junior, Richard, and Emery, continued to operate the farm for many years. In the early years, they raised vegetable crops. About 1940, they began a dairy operation, milking up to 100 head of cows. Along with the cows, they raised alfalfa and various grain crops. The farm was operated until 1985.
