Mountainville Academy's Failure to Incorporate STEM Principals into Actual Practice: The Demolition of the Historic Carlisle House

Architectural salvage of the brick from the Fanny and Thomas Carlisle House, May 17 2024. Mountainville Academy will demolish the house for a parking lot and STEM building.

Demolition of the Carlisle House in Alpine has begun. Mountainville Academy (@mountainvilleacademy) refused the offer by Alpine City and the Friends of the Alpine City Library to purchase the property and turn it into a children’s library. As such, Mountainville has decided to demolish the house rather than let someone else buy it to be preserved or to utilize it themselves.

I visited the Thomas and Fanny Carlisle House on Friday, May 17 2024 and took these photographs. The workers in the images were hired by Alpine City (not Mountainville Academy) to conduct architectural salvage; their focus is on recovering the ca1910 brick, which I was told will be repurposed for the Alpine Library.

FOX13's Shanti Lerner reported that Mountainville plans to use the space for a parking lot and a STEM building… both purposes I find enraging. The parking lot is clearly a shortsighted decision and something that could have been designed to easily avoid the Carlisle House.

The lack of integrating the Carlisle House into a STEM building (an addition could have been added) is yet another shortsighted decision and illustrates Mountainville’s lack of creativity and willingness to incorporate the principles of STEM/STEAM into actual practice.

The entire drive back from Alpine all I could do was think of various science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics classroom exercises that utilized or focused on the Carlisle House. Incorporating historic preservation into STEM/STEAM would have been a true example of “Excellence.”

I helped build Utah’s first standalone STEM program of K-6 grades, at M. Lynn Bennion Elementary (soon to close) a Title 1 School that serves downtown SLC families. We did amazing things with very little funding.

It is so insulting to see a fairly privileged school like Mountainville Academy squander a unique opportunity. One quick example of a potential STEM exercise: make adobe bricks (sun-dried mud) with various compositions and then test their engineering strength.

This potential STEM lesson was on my mind because the adobe brick is now exposed while the exterior fired brick is being salvaged.

DEMOLITION PENDING on Carlisle House in Alpine, Utah

UPDATE - DEMOLITION PENDING on Carlisle House in Alpine, Utah. Mountainville Academy plans to start demolition (interior first) tomorrow (Tues May 7 2024).



So many people have stories about how this property is important to them (here and here).

Mountainville has rejected an offer by the City of Alpine and the Friends of Alpine City Library to purchase the historic home. The offer met all of Mountainville's requirements but it seems Mountainville really had no intention of considering selling the historic home so it could be preserved.

See parts of their official statement on the second slide (posted below), as well as my snarky interpretation.

You can call/email Mountainville at 801-756-9805 or info@malions.org.  Their contact page is also here.

Action Alert - Help Save Alpine's Carlisle House

The Thomas and Fanny Carlisle House located in Alpine, Utah is now under threat and is planned for demolition by the adjacent Mountainville Academy 

The Carlisle House at 129 S Main St Alpine, Utah.  Photos from Carlisle House Photo Studio.

Interior images of the Carlisle House at 129 S Main St Alpine, Utah.
Photos from Carlisle House Photo Studio.

BUT, this historic home has a real chance of being saved!  There is a cash buyer for this house and no reason to lose it as the city of Alpine has said they would sell another lot for the school to build upon. Demolition of this important community place is not needed as there are alternatives available that are feasible and make sense for all involved.

The house is noteworthy because it was the first to be constructed beyond Alpine’s “Old Fort Wall,” which was expanded in 1855 from a smaller fortification called “the Wordsworth Fort.” The house stands as one of the last remaining pioneer homes in Alpine.

It was built in several stages from around 1855 to 1910 and is associated with the early settlement and development of Alpine. The various building periods are noticeable externally due to the different materials that were used.

Carlisle House construction history, from USHS, colorized by author.

Carlisle House construction history, from USHS, colorized by author.

 Fanny and Thomas were famous inhabitants of Alpine who were friendly to everyone. They were renowned for their generosity and often had indigenous people camp on their property and dry their blankets after storms passed through the area. The Carlisle house was a symbol of friendship and a community hub for those in need.

Images from familysearch.org

The house remained in the family for many years until it was recently sold and transformed into a photo studio. Hundreds of families visited the studio and had their pictures taken inside the house and on the property. 

The Carlisle house is now under threat and is planned for demolition. Help us save this important community asset – post a comment and tell us your stories and memories of the Carlisle house.

Image from Google, modified by author.

Contact the Mountainville Academy and tell them why it is important to you and the Alpine community, and ask them to accept the offer to purchase the Carlisle house.

Contact the Alpine City Council and tell them to preserve the Carlisle house.

Also, fun fact, Thomas is my 8th cousin 4 times removed. I had to trace my ancestry back to the 1500s in jolly old England but we are related!

A selection of comments posted on my Instagram:

• Thank you for sharing! I'm an Alpine resident and I love this old house!
• Thank you for sharing the story wow!
• My family’s been in Alpine for a few generations, and my grandma worked at the old Bank of American Fork that sits right next to this house. Alpine as I remember it doesn’t exist anymore! Losing another pioneer home in Alpine would be a tragedy.
• Fanny was the oldest person in Alpine at the time of her death.
• Growing up, I moved a lot and didn't have a real "hometown." But my grandparents lived in Alpine for most of my life, so the drive past this house and up the hill toward Moyle Park is forever etched in my brain. It's the only place the feels like home to me. I'd buy that house immediately if I had the cash myself! Please, please save it.

Update - 4 Jan 2024
Mountainville Academy does not want to sell the Carlisle house to the private buyer who has submitted a cash offer.  Mountainville Academy has not been listening to the community and they are demanding Alpine City initiate a land swap with stipulations as the only way they will not demolish the historic home. Which now puts the burden on the Alpine City Council to facilitate their demand or face the loss of this important community gem. 

Update - 17 May 2024
Mountainville Academy has rejected an offer by Alpine City and the Friends of the Alpine Library to purchase the house for preservation and to use it for a children's library.  Rather than easily designing around the house, Mountainville will demolish this Civil War-era home for a parking lot and STEM Building. More here. 

Oldest Standing Houses in Salt Lake County, Per Tax Assessor GIS Records

I found some new-to-me, publicly available GIS data showing the oldest standing buildings in Salt Lake County and made this snazzy map. I'm a bit skeptical of some of this data as I've noticed the tax data from the Salt Lake County Assessor is problematic with older homes.  Looks like a field trip to me!  Verification is definitely needed.

The story behind the "creepy barber" photograph

 The “creepy barber” photo from my last post stuck with me so I tracked down its story as part of October's Spooky Salt Lake City month. The photo is from the digital archives of the Utah State Historical Society, a direct link to it is here. 

 James Walker, barber and Parley Fullmer.  Mount Pleasant, Utah, 1892. George Edward Anderson Photograph. Image from USHS.

The barber is named James Walker (1831-1899) and when this photo was taken in 1892, he was living in Mount Pleasant, Utah. This image is an advertising photo that was taken in the studio of noted Utah photographer George Edward Anderson (1860-1928) (probably his Manti location).

James Walker was born in England and arrived in SLC in 1855, traveling in a Mormon emigrant wagon train from Kansas across the plains. He lived in SLC for a couple of years and in 1857, after his marriage to his wife Margaret, he traveled to Central Utah (Manti, Mount Pleasant) where he and his wife raised their 12 children.

Of note, his father crossed the plains in a handcart company a year later, in 1856, and was killed by a lightning strike in Nebraska.

James has similar creepy eyes in other photographs of himself, so it seems this is his normal appearance.

James Walker.  Image from FamilySearch courtesy Gerald Shupe.

Margaret and James Walker. Image from FamilySearch courtesy Nathan Coffey.

The other individual with the barber is Parley P. Fullmer (1876-1931) who would have been about 15 when this photograph was taken.

Parley also worked several different jobs in his life but his last one was as a miner for the Utah Galena Corporation mine in the Tintic Mining District (in Utah’s West Desert).

Parley P. Fullmer. Image from Ancestry courtesy Andrew White.

Utah Galena Corporation stock certificate, 1936. Image from eBay.

Parley’s death in 1931 was terribly gruesome and tragic. After the day’s work, Parley and another worker were being hoisted out of the mine, which was described as 755 feet deep.

After being hoisted about 30 feet, the clutch of the elevator engine became disengaged, but the engineer was able to prevent the elevator from falling by holding the brakes while he reengaged the clutch.

Unfortunately, Parley was scared and nervous and started climbing on top of the elevator’s overhead crosshead. When the elevator began moving upward again, Parley became trapped between the elevator and the walls of the shaft. His head was crushed, and his body mangled.

Detail of the mining scene from the Utah Galena Corporation stock certificate, 1936. Image from eBay.

Sources:
Church History Biographical Database
FamilySearch
Eureka Reporter April 9, 1931
Eureka Reporter July 23, 1931
Western Mineral Survey April 12, 1929

Brigham Young's Sauna

Brigham Young had a personal “steam bath” in the Lion House at 63 E South Temple, Salt Lake City.

Brigham's Steam Bath. Page 106, DUP Our Pioneer Heritage by Kate B Carter, Volume 2, 1959

Reading through the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers (DUP) history volumes is much like visiting their museum – odd tidbits are hidden within, like this one!

Similar to a personal sauna (except no hot rocks are used), Brigham’s steam bath is a wood closet made of local pine. It measures 3 ft square and 7 ft tall. On the door is a vertical hatch made of wood that could slide open and closed for ventilation, and to let the occupant unlock the latch on the outside of the door to exit.

Boiling water was poured into a 6-inch-deep metal tray that was situated below the wood-slatted floor; the stream would then flow up from the boiling water and fill the closet for the steam bath. Later a circle was cut into the ceiling and a steam compressor was added to help boost the temperature and steam.

Tubs and sauna at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Musem SLC, from TripAdvisor

 

 Description of the Steam Bath

 
The steam bath was located on the ground floor of the 3-story Lion House which was built in 1856 for some of Brigham’s wives. (Mostly the wives with a small number of children as the wives with larger families were generally provided their own house.)

The ground floor of the Lion House was where most daily household activities occurred. In addition to the bathroom in the NE corner, there was a schoolroom, a laundry room, weaving room, kitchen, dining room, and storage rooms.

The top floor of the Lion House held bedrooms, each wife getting a room with a dormer window (20 gables for 20 bedrooms). The main floor also housed bedrooms as well as a formal parlor.

Lion House 1907, top is a postcard based on the below photograph.

Lion House basement floor plan, ca. 1868

 
Brigham often used the steam bath to treat his rheumatoid arthritis. He also liked the hot sulphur baths at Warm Springs, even having his own private entrance and room. That edition of Warm Springs has long since been demolished; the 1921 version, called Wasatch Springs Plunge, is the most recent and is located at 840 N 300 West (owned and boarded up by SLC gov).

The Lion House was converted into a reception center and restaurant in the 1960s and remains so today.

Brigham’s steam bath is now housed at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum at 300 N Main St.


Sources
- Lessons (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) Nov 1968
- DUP Our Pioneer Heritage by Kate B Carter, Volume 2, 1959
- Brigham Young at Home by Clarissa Young Spencer, 1940

The Fremont Settlement of Block 49

More evidence of a Fremont-age village (and the first informal Mormon Pioneer Cemetery) was found in the 1980s during construction of the Palladio Apts at 360 S 200 West SLC, on the eastern half of Block 49- the block just east of Pioneer Park.

Now known as the Block 49 Site, the site has 2 main components: the lowest is the Fremont occupation while the upper are the historic burials (1847-1850s) and the historic occupation through the 1950s.

The cultural remains of the Fremont found at Block 49 could be an extension of the Fremont Village at South Temple (see previous post). Block 49 is also along an old channel of City Creek and the radiocarbon dates of 830-1240 AD are consistent with South Temple.

Many of the artifacts recovered from Block 49 show a similar lifeway as the Fremont at South Temple: They built homes, made pottery, repaired hunting gear, and traded for Olivella shell beads. They ate maize, beans, and wild foods- especially fish.

The remarkable aspect of Block 49 is the large amount of fishing gear such as bone harpoons, fishhooks, and fishhook blanks. Fish bone remains include Utah chub, Utah sucker, Cutthroat trout indicating fishing in both the colder fast-moving City Creek (trout) and the slower and warmer Jordan River (chub).

In addition, partial skeletal remains of 3 Fremont individuals were found. The most complete was that of a female in her 20s. Her remains were significantly impacted by construction and were retrieved from back dirt.

Block 49 was a salvage excavation focused on removing the pioneer skeletal remains so very little of the Fremont occupation was explored. Much of what was found had been intruded upon by the pioneer burials. It seems likely Fremont human remains have been partly/wholly exhumed throughout the historic period by the digging of graves and the construction of buildings.

Historic records indicate that the Pioneers deliberately chose their first informal cemetery to be located on an “Indian Mound” (remains of the Fremont culture) because the soil was softer and easier to dig. Fremont artifacts were most certainly unearthed when the Pioneers dug more than 30 graves.

Source:
BYU Museum of Peoples and Cultures Technical Series No 03-07. The Right Place- Fremont and Early Pioneer Archaeology in Salt Lake City. By Richard K. Talbot, Shane A Baker, and Lane D. Richens. 2004.  Images 2-6 are taken from this manuscript. 

The Palladio Apts (360 S 200 West) now located on top of Block 49 historic cemetery and a Fremont village. Nov 2021.

Looking west at the Block 49 site prior to archaeological excavation. Arrows point to exposed historic coffins. The prehistoric Fremont component is below the coffins.

Overview of the South Temple and Block 49 Fremont sites showing proximity to City Creek and the Jordan River.

Bone harpoons from Block 49.

Bone needles, fishhooks, awls, and pressure flaker from Block 49.

Selection of ceramic artifacts from Block 49.

Construction of Edison House (335 S 200 West) in the foreground and the Palladio Apts in the background, both on 200 West Street. If the Fremont site extended east from Block 49 then it has been significantly impacted by Edison House’s deep foundation. Nov 2021.

Deadly Hell’s Hollow

Hell’s Canyon, as viewed from Twickerham Drive SLC.

The history of Hell’s Hollow (now Hell’s Canyon) is full of death. The mouth of Hell’s Hollow is located just above Victory Road at what is now the Staker-Parson’s Quarry and extends northeast toward Ensign Peak.

The first recorded human remains found in Hell’s Hollow was in 1854 and was the body of an unidentified Native American covered with stones. It’s not known what happened with the remains but by April of 1902 they had disappeared when the naked and bound body of Samuel Collins was found.

Samuel Collins was the most sensational death to occur in Hell’s Hollow and captivated the attention of Salt Lakers as the mystery of his murder was unraveled. Collins was murdered on Easter Sunday in 1902 by 14-year-old Clyde Felts. The story of Collin’s death is long and complicated and is retold well by both Ben Williams on his blog of the Utah Stonewall Historical Society Archives and QSaltLake Magazine and by Michael McLane on Mapping Salt Lake City. In the end, Felts confessed to killing Collins at Collin’s request, likely as self-punishment (or even blood atonement) for his pedophilia against Felt and others.

In Jan 1906 another body was found in Hell’s Hollow. Two teenage boys discovered a hand reaching out from the deep snow. Further investigation revealed the dead body of an unidentified man, likely that of a Greek or Austrian. A self-inflicted bullet to the head had killed the man and magpies and coyotes had then preyed upon his body for at least 3 weeks. He was never identified.

In Dec 1911, the skeletal remains of 6 Native Americans were found by workers at the SLC gravel pits (now Staker-Parson’s Quarry). The remains were buried at a depth of 7 feet from the surface, laid in pairs with one facing upward and the other facing downward. When the remains were brought out and were thoroughly aerated, about 1 hour after disinterment, the bones crumbled to powder leaving only a few fragments.

In 1946, 19-year-old Betty Jean Ketter died in Hell’s Hollow of a broken neck due to a fall. She had become ill on the hot August day and was in search of water (heat exhaustion?) and fell from Devil’s Rock.

Murder of Samuel Collins, SL Herald 1902-03-31

Sign of Hell’s Canyon along the trail

The mouth of Hell’s Canyon, destroyed by the Staker-Parsons Quarry

The First Honey Bees in the Salt Lake Valley

A native male Bumblebee
(maybe Bromus griseocollis)
on a sunflower in downtown SLC, 2020.
Even though it is not a honey bee
it is still a pretty pic!

Honey bees are not native to Utah and were brought in by early Mormon settlers of the Salt Lake Valley. The transportation of the bees prior to the railroad (1869) proved very difficult and few hives survived the journey and even fewer survived Utah’s climate. It took 20 years until successful beehives became sustainable in SLC and Utah.

Non-native bees were introduced to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. The first wagon train with an inventory including beehives arrived in SLC in Sept 1848, others followed in Sept 1849 and Oct 1849. By 1850, only 10 pounds of honey and beeswax were being produced in SLC indicating at least one (but probably not all) of the hives survived and was producing some honey.

In 1851, Brigham Young called for more bees to be imported to SLC so that the honey could replace the need of making sugar.

Transporting beehives by wagon was risky and often beehives were damaged in accidents or high temperatures melted the honeycomb and killed the bees. Even after a beehive is established there are expected losses from diseases and predators and additional bees are required. Additional bees can be obtained by importing them or by having hives healthy enough to divide, both of which were a challenge to early SLC beekeepers.

By 1860 Brigham Young was discouraged about the Salt Lake Valley ever being able to support honey bees.

In 1863, William D. Roberts of Provo was able to transport 2 beehives from California, only 1 of which fully survived the journey and was able to produce honey. The Deseret News was overjoyed and declared these were “the first bees to live.” Roberts began importing bees from Los Angeles and selling them in Utah for $100 per hive (~$2,700 today).

By 1866 the bees in Utah (and specifically those owned by Brigham Young) were doing better and were swarming (naturally dividing). The transcontinental railroad of 1869 made transportation faster and easier and Roberts quickly utilized it for his business bringing 135 hives back to Utah in April 1870 in a single trip.

After 1870 beekeeping became more widespread and sustainable throughout Utah.

Source and Thanks:
Thanks to J. Michael Hunter’s article in the 2020 Utah Historical Quarterly Vol 88 No 3 (Summer 2020) titled “Laying the Foundation for Utah’s Beekeeping Success 1848-1888.”

I’ve been interested in how the honey bee was imported to Utah for several years now but after finding only a few snippets of info I realized it was going to be a daunting task to thoroughly research it. Thanks much for taking on this task!

You can read the full article for FREE on issuu!

Salt Lake's Rotary Jail

Salt Lake County Jail from UDSH.
Colorized by My Heritage

When I first read about Salt Lake’s Rotary Jail, I though “Wait, what? The Rotary Club had a jail?” Nope, not at all....

Located in what is now the downtown SLC Post Office parking lot, the Salt Lake County Jail was built in 1888 at 268 West 200 South.

This was the second jail to be built in SLC and replaced the single-story dilapidated adobe structure built in 1857 which was prone to jailbreaks. The County wanted the best technology that would reduce prison breaks and the patented Rotary Jail system seemed to be the ideal solution.

The rotary plan promised maximum security and maximum efficiency. Author Douglas Miller described the Rotary Jail system as a looking like “a two-tiered lazy Susan with each platform divided into 10 pie shaped cells.” 

The entire cellblock could be rotated and would align to a single door. The jail could also be set to slowly revolve continuously for extra security. The entire system could be manned by a single guard.

The front of the building housed the County Sheriff and his family while the back of the building contained the Rotary Jail as well as standard jail cells.

The Rotary Jail seemed to work great for several years and true to its promise very few prisoners escaped. One successful escape was in 1907 when Charles Riis sawed through the bars of his cell and an outer window.

Concerns about prisoner safety are eventually what shut down the rotary jail. Accidents to prisoner’s limbs were commonplace in many of the Rotary Jails across the country and in the event of a fire it would be nearly impossible for a guard to release the prisoners in a timely manner.

A new jail was built in 1909 and the Rotary Jail was shut down. It was demolished in 1927.

Source: The Salt Lake County Rotary Jail by Douglas K Miller, UHQ V75 N4.

Side view showing residence in front and jail in back Des News Mar 1 1902

Rotary cell with inmates (notorious) Peter Mortensen and J.J. Riley. Des News Mar 1 1902

Two-story rotary jail cell in Crawfordsville, Indiana;
similar in design to Salt Lake's jail. HAER image

SLC 1898 Sanborn map clipping

The Elks Demolished Two Historic Mansions to Build Their Clubhouse on South Temple

 

Brigham Young’s residence on South Temple, known as "The White House" about 1911. From UDSH.

The Elks demolished 2 mansions to build their Clubhouse at 139 E South Temple: Brigham Young’s “White House” and the Philo T Farnsworth mansion were both razed in July 1921.

Brigham Young’s White House was constructed 1850-1854 and was part of the 20-acre (2 city blocks) estate of Brigham Young’s complex, of which the Beehive House, the Lion House, and Brigham Young cemetery remain. It was considered the first mansion built in SLC.

The house was a white plastered adobe, temple-form building that mainly housed the eldest wife of Brigham Young, Mary Ann Angell Young and her children. When Brigham Young was the first territorial Governor this was the house that he hosted many esteemed visitors as it was built before the Lion House or the Beehive House.

There was an effort to preserve the White House spearheaded by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and later joined by the Association of Utah Architects along with a petition signed by several hundred SLC residents. They hoped to be able to move the historic home to a new site but funds could not be made available (and the DUP reported that the First Presidency of the LDS church was unable to assist in preservation efforts).

The mansion of Philo T. Farnsworth (half-uncle to the Philo T Farnsworth who invented the TV) was only a few decades old at that point having been built in 1889 by Priscilla Jennings, after her husband William Jenning’s death. It was considered one of the first grand mansions of South Temple. Farnsworth was a member of the Elks club and had moved out of the mansion by 1915, and it seemed that no fuss was made about the demolition of the Farnsworth home. 

Sources: SL Telegram 1921-07-03; SL Telegram 1921-03-02; Brigham Street by Margaret D. Lester

The images below are all of Brigham Young's White House, exterior and interior. no date. From UDSH.

The images below are all of the the Farnsworth Mansion (originally built by Priscilla Jennings) on South Temple. no date. From UDSH.