William A. Ford, a blacksmith, built this frame and adobe house with clapboard siding about 1880. The house is a hall-parlor plan with a rear addition. Ford’s blacksmith shop was located west of the house. The house was sold to Edward Sahlberg about 1920. John R. Baxter purchased it in 1927, and it still remains in the Baxter family (as of 2001).
Located at 13 North Main Street in Spring City, Utah
From Sanpete.com: William Ford, a blacksmith, owned this adobe-lined, wood frame house. The hall-parlor has a rear addition, form that is not uncommon to the area. Ford’s blacksmith shop was likely situated to the west of the house. The house was sold to Edward Sahlburg about 1920. John R. Baxter, Jr.(1888-1978), owner and operator of the nearby confectionery and Lyceum Theater lived here for many years. Baxter’s descendants still own the home.
Lauritz Larsen built this one-and-one-half-story adobe hall-parlor house in the 1860s. The house was later stuccoed. Lauritz passed the house on to his son and daughter-in-law, Lauritz O. and Deseret Anderson Larsen. “L.O.” was a merchant, manager of the Young Men’s Co-op, and LDS Bishop from 1904 to 1913. The house was later occupied by the town music teacher Ernest B. Terry. Terry was the LDS Bishop from 1942-1947. The house was owned from the late 1970s to the late 1990s by the notable Sanpete County painter, Ella Peacock.
One of the better examples of a vernacular folk building in Spring City, this symmetrical one-and-a-half story Hall and Parlor house was constructed in 1873-74 by John Frantzen. An early convert to the LDS Church, Mr. Frantzen emigrated from Norway to Utah in 1857. Frantzen served a two-year church mission in Denmark, was a first counselor to the Spring City LDS Bishop for fifteen years, and he practiced polygamy – marrying two wives.
Located at 73 South Main Street in Spring City, Utah
This one and one half story hall-parlor house was built by John Franzten (1837-1905). It is one of the few remaining adobe houses along Main Street. A Mormon convert, Frantzen immigrated from Norway in 1857, settling first in Lehi, then Spring City in 1860. Active in the LDS church as first counselor to the Spring City bishop for 15 years, he was a practicing polygamist with two wives and served a jail term for cohabitation. It is likely that one room of the house served as the first store in town.*
This house built of brick, sandstone foundation, interior lath and plaster walls, and wood moldings exemplifies Murray City 20th Century architecture.
Originally constructed for Arthur Townsend, Murray City Mayor (1930-1931), it provided convenient access to the Murray Mercantile, which Arthur founded in 1900.
Sold by the Townsend family years later, the property was used as a rental until purchased and restored by its owner in 1990.
The home boasts of sliding pocket doors, hardwood floors, ten-foot ceilings, period light fixtures, and an iron claw-foot tub.
Exterior brick, cedar roof, and front porch have been restored.
Located at 4843 South Poplar Street in Murray, Utah
This elegant stone house was built in 1883 for Isaac Behunin, one of the first settlers in Sanpete County. Mixing Gothic style inspired dormers with Greek cornice detailing, the house exemplifies the decorative eclecticism found in Mormon domestic architecture of the period. Behunin sold the house to Simon T. Beck in 1887 for $1,200. Mr. Beck was a wealthy sheepman.
This Victorian Eclectic style house was probably built about 1903 by Ephraim Jensen, a businessman and an official of the LDS Church. Jensen built several houses along the block, including 140 W. Clinton in which he lived. Upon completion the house was sold to Mrs. Anna Cornelia Tjirno about when little is known. Anna lived here until her death in 1924.
The Anthony W. Bessey Home 415 North 300 West in Manti, Utah
Anthony Bessey probably had this small stone house built shortly after his arrival in Manti in 1858. The home has a long association with the Bessey family and certainly construction features indicate an early building date. The house is historically important because as one of the first group of homes built outside the Manti forts, it represents the initial stage of local community development. Architecturally the Bessey House is significant as one of a number of typical house types utilized by the early Utah settlers and becomes an important example of Sanpete vernacular building.
The town of Manti, settled in 1849 by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, was the first town in the Sanpete Valley Colony. Colonists arrived in the fall of 1849 and after wintering in dugouts and wagon boxes, laid out a city in the spring and summer of 1850.1 By the winter some 20 log homes had been erected and work was beginning on a meetinghouse. One year later travelers to Manti reported seeing “several handsome two-story adobe houses, many one story dwellings, a good grist mill and a sawmill.” Threat of Indian attack caused a general pattern of fort building in the 1852-1854 period. Mormon forts were erected to enclose rows of small dwellings and the Walker War (1853-1855) made the security of protected habitation attractive to Manti residents. Peace in the later years of the decade allowed Manti residents to move out to their city lots and begin again the process of city building It was about this time, in 1858, that Anthony Bessey arrived in Manti.
Anthony Wayne Bessey was born in 1835 in Bethel, Maine. In his early years Bessey followed both the cabinetmaking and shoemaking trades. By the 1850’s Bessey had joined the Mormon church and in 1857 he migrated westward to “Zion” in Utah. At first he made shoes in Salt Lake City but in 1858 he moved his family south to the Sanpete Valley and settled in Manti. Here Bessey farmed and pursued his shoe making trade and by 1870 had a personal value of about $700 in property. For 18 years Bessey occupied a position on the high council of the Sanpete Stake of the Mormon church. In 1873-1875 he served as City Mayor and was elected to the city council in the years 1883-1890. Bessey probably had this small stone house built shortly after his arrival in Manti, c.1860. The house is an excellent example of the sturdy homes the Mormon pioneers built during the early stages of great basin settlement. In selecting a house design, Bessey followed a well-known traditional plan.
The Anthony Bessey House, built c.1860, is a 1-1/2 story square cabin folk/vernacular house type (see plan drawing). Measuring 22’x 17′ on the exterior, the house is one of the larger single unit square homes to be found in Utah. The second story is quite spacious and is reached by a boxed staircase which runs along the south wall. The stairs to the cellar run underneath those leading to the upper floor. On the north wall is the fireplace which is extremely large, more than 6′ in width. The interior has been remodeled to contemporary standards.
Externally the Bessey House is in excellent condition and virtually unaltered. The wall material is oolite limestone most certainly extracted from the “Temple Hill Quarry” several blocks to the east. The façade is coursed ashlar; the mortar is flush with incised lines emphasizing the geometrical coursing. Other walls are less handsomely treated and while they are cut-stone they lack the even coursing present on the façade.
The house has a simple gable roof with stone fireplace at the north located internally in the wall. The stone end walls extend up to the ridge of the roof in the gables. Decoration is minimal with the heavy stone lintels over the façade openings the only suggestion of ornamentation. The façade itself is unusually asymmetrical. The front door is placed centrally, but windows occur only to the right or north side. The upstairs window is a “half” window, typical of 1-1/2 story structures. To the left of the door the wall is blank. This fenestration pattern is distinctive in its unabashed asymmetry but can possibly be partially explained by internal factors. On the south wall, beginning right at the southeast corner, the staircase extends about 3′ into the room. Windows on this end of the façade would be partially blocked by the staircase so were deleted from the overall design.
Alterations which detract from the home’s historic appearance are few. There is a one story plastered adobe room added to the rear. This west room is gabled with a brick stone flue chimney and is undoubtedly a 19th century addition to the original square house. A modern gabled front door canopy is the only serious alteration of the original house.
The square bay (roughly square) evolved as a folk building unit in England during middle ages and was employed extensively in cottage construction. The house appeared as a one-room type (with or without upper loft) as was utilized extensively throughout the English American Colonies.” Advancing westward, the “square-cabin” type house is ubiquitous on the American frontier. Mormon examples have been recorded at Nauvoo, Illinois and the square cabin house was extensively dispersed throughout the IDS western communities. Anthony Bessey most certainly would have been familiar with such a square house plan in his native Maine and opted for this rather modest design in his new western home.
The Bessey House is one of a number of folk building types employed by Manti residents in the first stages of settlement. The house is typical of smaller, more inexpensive homes built by the pioneers. Despite its rather distinctive façade, this house gains its architectural and historical significance through its unexceptional nature, i.e., its ability to define the capabilities of the average. There are both larger and smaller homes in Manti, built by people who had both more and less than Anthony Bessey. Bessey’s home, taken in the larger context of vernacular building tradition of the area, helps expand the historical record to include the total population, not just a small percentage of exceptional individuals.
Rasmus Justesen was a sheepman and polygamist who built this 1-1/2 story stucco-over-adobe for his first wife, Sarah Shepherd and her family. In addition to his sheep business, Rasmus fought in the Black Hawk Indian War, sat on the Spring City Council in 1876 and was elected mayor twice, in 1880 and in 1897.
Located at 12 North Main Street in Spring City, Utah
From Sanpete.com: This one and one half story adobe house was originally stuccoed and scored to resemble cut stone, including simulated quoins. The house was built for Rasmus Justesen’s (1842-1917) first wife, Sarah A Shepherd (1842-1933), who raised nine children here. Justesen, mayor from 1898-99, took a second wife, Annie Marie Larsen (1859-1942) who had a house elsewhere in Spring City. Rasmus also homesteaded in Emery County. Artist Susan Gallacher purchased and restored the house in 2002.
The J. Leo Fairbanks House, built in 1908, is both historically and architecturally significant. Historically it is the only house associated with both J. Leo Fairbanks and his father John B. Fairbanks, both of whom made significant contributions to Utah art as artists, educators, and promoters of art. It is also the only extant building that was used as a residence and studio by the entire Fairbanks family, including the nationally famous sculptor Avard Fairbanks, a brother of J. Leo. Architecturally the house is significant as a unique variant of the Colonial Revival style in Utah. Sophisticated early examples of Utah’s Colonial Revival style are very limited, and the Fairbanks house is probably one of the three best documented extant examples of the style in Salt Lake City.
Built in 1908 for Utah artist J. Leo Fairbanks, this house is both historically and architecturally significant. Historically it is the only house associated with both J. Leo Fairbanks and his father John B. Fairbanks, both of whom made significant contributions to Utah art as artists, educators, and promoters of art. It is also the only extant building that was used as a residence and studio by the entire Fairbanks family, including the nationally famous sculptor Avard Fairbanks, a brother of J. Leo. Both J. Leo and John B. studied in Paris and returned to Utah where they became best known for their work on religious murals in temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), John B. having painted some of the murals, and J. Leo having restored some damaged murals. Both taught art at the LDS University in Salt Lake City and elsewhere, and each held the position of supervisor of art in public schools, John B. in Ogden, and J. Leo in Salt Lake City. Architecturally the house is significant as a unique variant of the Colonial Revival style in Utah. Sophisticated early examples of Utah’s Colonial Revival style are very limited, and the Fairbanks house is probably one of the three best documented extant examples of the style in Salt Lake City. Two other examples listed in the National Register include: the Walter E. Ware House, 1184 First Avenue, built ca. 1905 and listed in 1980 as part of the Avenues Historic District; and the Mort Cheesman House, 2320 Walker Lane, built 1912-13, and listed in the National Register as an individual nomination in 1982.
J. Leo Fairbanks, the designer and original owner of the house at 1228 Bryan Avenue, was born in Payson, Utah in 1878 to John B. and Lily H. Fairbanks. Following the lead of his father, John B. Fairbanks, and having studied under him at the LDS University, he became an artist. In 1901 he replaced his father as a teacher for one year at the LDS University, and then went to study in Paris. He studied with Laurens and Simon, and sculptors Bonn and Verlet before returning to Utah in 1903. He was then employed as supervisor of drawing in the Salt Lake City schools, a position which he held until 1923. He also served as the art director at LDS University and as president of the Utah Art Institute. J. Leo is best known for his many religious (LDS) paintings, and worked on the restoration of damaged mural sections in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. He devised several successful schemes for mural decoration for the interiors of public halls. In 1924 he moved to Oregon where he became the director of the art department at Oregon State College.
J. Leo was single when he designed and had this house built in 1908. 1 According to his brother Avard, inspiration for the design of the house came from the old family home in Dedham, MA, the famous Jonathan Fairbanks home, built in 1636, and from European sources to which he had been exposed during his years of study. J. Leo invited his father, a widower, and the rest of his family to live with him, and the house served as the Fairbanks family home and studio for over fifteen years. They had previously resided at 1152 East Bryan Avenue.
J. Leo, his father John B., and his brother Avard were all notable Utah artists, and each resided in the house for an extended period of time. Some of the second story rooms were used as a home studio. John B. was born in Payson on December 27, 1855 to Utah pioneers John Boylston and Sarah Van Wagoner Fairbanks. He studied art in Paris from 1890 to 1892 under Rigelot, Constant, Lefebvre and Laurens. Although his work includes some paintings, he is best known for the murals he painted in the LDS temples in Salt Lake City, St. George, Utah, and Mesa, Arizona, and for the Century in Progress exposition in Chicago, the San Diego exposition and the Texas centennial. He was a professor of art at Brigham Young University, Weber Stake Academy, and at the LDS University. He became the first supervisor of arts in public schools in Ogden in 1898. Avard, the most famous of the Fairbanks artists, was a child prodigy, and is the best known among traditional realist sculptors working in Utah.4 He spent his childhood in this house. He too studied in Paris at the Academie de la Grande Chaumier et Colaross and then with Injalbert at the Ecole Moderne. He became the first dean of the School of Fine Arts at the University of Utah.
The house was rented periodically during the later years of Fairbanks occupancy. It was sold to Edward G. Titus, Director of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Co., in 1925, and he owned the house until his death in 1964. The current owners are Michael Treshow and Marilyn Tueller who bought the house in 1982 and are restoring it.
This house was constructed in 1919 to replace the original ranch foreman’s cabin that was built soon after Stewart Ranch was established c. 1902. The builder and first foreman to occupy this house was Randolph Fife, a nephew of the four Stewart brother who founded the ranch. Subsequent occupants include Alex Murphey (1923-c. 1930), Herman Cooley (c.1938-1955), and Arvin and Ardean Anderson (1955 to at least 1986). Stewart Ranch functioned first as a livestock operation (c.1902-1931) then as a dairy ranch (1931-1955). It concurrently served as a recreational retreat for its owners – the Stewarts then the Hewletts – who were successful business and professional men in Salt Lake City. Stewart Ranch was probably the largest and longest lived of the “recreational ranches” that were established in this area during the early twentieth century by prominent families from Salt Lake City.
