Provo Had a “Pest House” for Those with Communicable Diseases.

Contagious diseases like measles, diphtheria, and small pox reigned among the most dreaded scourges of frontier life.  No vaccination for measles and diphtheria existed, and the isolation of the patient was one of the only ways to prevent the spread of these diseases. Even though many Provo residents had been inoculated for small pox, travelers sometimes carried the illness into town. They were promptly isolated until they recovered or died.

Provo did not have a specific place set aside for isolating infected patients until the spring of 1873 when a wayfarer, Captain R.C. Thomas, entered the city with little more than the clothes on his back and a case of small pox.

The Provo City Council rapidly authorized the purchase of 50 or 60 acres of land near the mountains and constructed a “pest house,” so called because it was used to confine people suffering from a pestilence, or a communicable disease. Thomas recovered in a little more than two weeks.

In 1877, a transient from California who was also suffering from small pox entered Provo. Workmen added another room onto the pest house for the use of attending nurses, and the new patient moved in. He survived, but a local teenage boy contracted the disease and died.

Increased fear of contagious diseases motivated the city council to pass an ordinance in 1878 that provided for quarantine and sanitary regulations. This ordinance required the appointment of a quarantine physician. The isolation at home of those who were ill with a serious disease and the marking of their residence with a yellow flag were now required by law. The ordinance also levied fines for those knowingly transporting sick people into Provo or for violating any part of the ordinance.

With infected people now confined to their own homes, the use of the “pest house” dwindled and it gradually became dilapidated. Workmen finally razed it in the 20th Century.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park, for other markers in this series click here.

Proctor Academy Helped Educate Provo’s Youth.

Formal education developed very slowly in early Provo.  By 1855, only slightly more than half of Provo’s eligible students attended school.  It was not until the 1860s that Presiding Bishop William Miller convinced each Provo ward to build its own schoolhouse.  Education took a large step forward in 1875 wen Brigham Young Academy opened its doors.  It educated students from all levels and tuition was required.

As more non-Mormon families moved to Utah, other Christian denominations established schools in Utah.  In 1883, the Congregational Church established one of its missionary school in a small rented building in Provo.  Not more than 15 students initially attend it but the number of students grew rapidly.

Substantial support from Joseph O. Proctor, a wealthy eastern benefactor, enabled the church to erect Proctor Academy, a substantial brick building which sat on the northwest corner of 100 West 100 South.  The new structure contained an assembly hall, classrooms, and a library.  It eventually included all grades from primary to advanced.  Students came from all parts of the territory and from all classes of society.  At its peak, Proctor Academy enrolled over 200 students a year.

Schools sponsored by the Congregational Church earned the reputation of being some of the best in Utah.  All of their teachers earned normal school training in eastern schools.  Parents paid no tuition for students in the primary grades, and advanced students paid only a dollar a term.

In 1890, Utah passed a law providing free public education for its students, but it was not until 1912 that the Provo Board of Education agreed that a free high school should be established.  After Provo High School opened, the importance of Proctor Academy began to decline, and the school closed in 1917.  The Provo Elks Club bought the building in 1923 and converted it into an Elks Lodge.  Several decades later, it was razed to make room for commercial buildings.

This marker is located in Rock Canyon Park, for other markers in this series click here.

Early Residents of Provo lacked Land Titles.

For the first two decades after its settlement in 1849, a serious problem bedeviled the people of Provo.  None of the residents – or the rest of the inhabitants in Utah Territory for that matter – possed a legal totle to the land that they were living on.  The United States Congress passed laws that made it possible for homesteaders to gain ownership of a 160-acre plot of land, but this law did not help the typical Utah settler.  Because of the scarcity of arable land in the Great Basin, colonists were forced to intensively farm much smaller parcels of land that were ten or twenty acres in size.

Finally, on March 2, 1867, Congress passed a law that gave the elected leader of a city or town the authority to enter a land claim on behalf of its residents for the farmland and city lots held by members of the community.  After gaining legal ownership of the land, the community leader then transferred the deeds to those in possession of the land.

Brigham Young and Moyor Abraham O. Smoot urged Provo residents to file on their lands before land jumpers from the East files claims on the property.  The citizens of Provo held a mass meeting and appointed Jesse W. Fox to resurvey the city plat, a total of 2,240 acres.  Residents paid $1.00 per lot or $6.50 per five acres to have their land surveyed.

Fox finished his survey in March, 1868.  A year later, Mayor Smoot files on the whole town site with the U.S. Land Office.  This entry included not only private property, but public land like parks and roads.  After Smoot received the titles to this property , he sign them over to the rightful owners.

Some people have lived on their land for decades before they received title to it through usuing this creative process.  All of the original titles to land located on Provo are signed by Mayor Abraham O. Smoot.

This plaque is located in Memorial Park, to see other plaques in the series click here.

When exploring Provo I’ve come across a series of historic plaques Provo City put up around town that say “One in a Series of Events from Provo’s History” across the top and then describe some of Provo’s history and are numbered.  I’d like to eventually locate them all and have them listed here so I’ll create this and add to it as I find them.

• 001 – The City of Provo was founded in 1849 by Mormon pioneers.
• 002 – Provo’s North Park Was Once an Adobe Yard for Its Early Settlers.
• 003 – Memorial Park at 800 East Center Street Was an Unsightly Swamp.
• 004 – Fish in Utah Lake and the Provo River Saved Utah’s Early Settlers.
• 005 – Provo’s First Cooperative Opened in 1869
• 006 – Provoans Built First Railroad in 1873.
• 007 – How Provo’s Squaw Peak Got Its Name.
• 008 – Provo’s First Department Store Began in 1866 at 250 West Center St.
• 009 – Utah’s Largest Indian Battle, Called the “Battle of Provo River.”
• 010 – Utah County’s Early Courthouses.
• 011 – Provo’s Early Carding Mill and Machine Shop Were Vital to the City.
• 012 – The Excelsior Flour Mill Was Crucial to Provo’s Early Settlers.
• 013 – Provo’s First Bank was Late in Coming but Didn’t Last Long.
• 014 – Choosing the Site of Provo’s First Tabernacle Caused Controversy.
• 015 – Provo’s First Tithing Office was South of Provo’s Town Square…
• 016 – Provo’s Early Colonists Were Caught Between Warring Indian Bands.
• 017 – Provo’s First Colonizers Moved from the River to Higher Ground.
• 018 – Brigham Young Used Surplus Labor to Build a New Tithing Office.
• 019 –
• 020 – A Captured German Howitzer Stood in Front of the Utah County Courthouse.
• 021 – Spanish Fathers Visit Utah Valley in 1776.
• 022 – Brigham Young University Opened in 1875 in Lewis Hall.
• 023 – Creating the “Y” on the Mountain.
• 024 – Carp Not Native to Utah Lake; Introduced in 1882.
• 025 – Deseret Telegraph Line Connected Provo to the Rest of Utah.
• 026 – Several Brick Manufacturing Companies Once Operated in Provo.
• 027 – A Tragedy at the Site of the Provo Lime Kiln.
• 028 – Fire Destroys Brigham Young Academy Building.
• 029 – Provo’s First Volunteer Fire Department.
• 030 – First Utah County Fair Held in Provo.
• 031 –
• 032 – Provo Hosted Utah’s Largest Trading Fair Between the Utes and Pioneers.
• 033 – The Forerunner of FrontRunner: Provo-to-SLC Trains Began in 1912.
• 034 – Pioneers Made Their Initial Boat Trip on Utah Lake in 1847.
• 035 – Provo Once Thought it Should Be Utah’s Capital City.
• 036 – Provo’s First Fire Station was Opened Downtown in 1893.
• 037 – Provo’s Two Oldest Existing Homes Are Neighbors in Pioneer Village.
• 038 – One of Provo’s Oldest Businesses is the Startup Candy Company.
• 039 – Sewage Disposal in Early Provo Was the Same as in Other Frontier Towns.
• 040 –
• 041 – Two Railroads Moved Coal to Provo in the 1880s.
• 042 –
• 043 – A Firebug Bit Provo in 1878
• 044 – Provo’s First Jail Was Built in 1871.
• 045 – Provo’s First Radio Station Came in 1939.
• 046 – A Provo Accident Hastened the Death of President Heber C. Kimball.
• 047 – Provo’s North Park had a Community Ice Skating Rink in the 1930s.
• 048 – Utah Territorial Insane Asylum Came to Provo in 1885.
• 049 – Early Residents of Provo lacked Land Titles.
• 050 – Provo Had a “Pest House” for Those with Communicable Diseases.
• 051 – Provo Police Chief Killed in 1873.
• 052 – Proctor Academy Helped Educate Provo’s Youth.
• 053 – Army Troops Caused the “Provo Riot” in 1870.
• 054 – Provo’s Name Has an Interesting History.
• 055 – Large Showboat Once Sailed on Utah Lake.
• 056 – Provo Once Had a Silk Industry.
• 057 – A Curious Craft Once Skimmed the Ice on Utah Lake.
• 058 – A Wheelbarrow Parade in 1888 Helped Bring Political Parties to Provo.
• 059 – A Woolen Mill Was Once Provo’s Largest Business.
• 060 – Early Provo Bridges Across the Provo River Kept Washing Out.