Nazi Symbol on Headstone in Fort Douglas Cemetery

Headstone as it appears today, soon after Memorial Day 2020

Veterans Affairs recently announced that they will be removing this WWII grave marker from a German POW buried in the Fort Douglas Cemetery. 

There are only three headstones with swastikas in US military cemeteries, this one at Fort Douglas and two at Fort Sam Houston. All 3 are scheduled for removal

After removal, the VA plans to store the headstones in the National Cemetery Administration History Collection where they will be preserved.

Paul Eilert was 38 years old when he died of cancer in 1944 at Bushnell Army Hospital. He was the first WWII German POW to die in Utah. That may be why his headstone is so unique as he died before there was an official Army policy in place for WWII POW headstones.

The headstone was privately purchased by other German POWs who pooled their meager earnings of 80 cents per day to purchase it. With full permission of the US Army, donations totaling $275 were used to purchase the headstone.

Not much is known about Eilert’s life before or during the war. Most of what is known about him is from his death certificate. He was an unmarried factory worker in Berlin before the war. He attained the rank of Corporal in the German Army.

There seems to be some confusion if the engraving on the headstone is that of a Knight’s Cross with Oak Leaves (a high-level Nazi award) or is an Iron Cross (equivalent of today’s US Army Bronze Star award for heroism in battle). Most recent newspaper articles refer to it as a Knight’s Cross but the SL Tribune article from 1944 when he was buried calls it an Iron Cross.

Sources: MilitaryTimes June 1 2020; SL Trib May 25 2020; SL Trib Oct 6 1944; Splinters of a Nation by A.K. Powell.

Headstone as it appears today, soon after Memorial Day 2020

Headstone when it was installed, SL Trib Oct 6 1944

New Rose Garden at Salt Lake Regional Medical Center

In 1990 the former Rose Garden at Holy Cross Hospital, now Salt Lake Regional Medical Center, (see previous post) was revived on a smaller scale thanks to the work of Sister Olivia Marie and Jean Bradshaw and with a financial gift from Mr. and Mrs. O.C. Tanner.

The new garden was dedicated to the memory of the 200 sisters of the Holy Cross who have served the hospital since 1875. The 1990 garden features 600 rose bushes of 60 varieties. It also has a fountain with the names of the Sisters who have served at Holy Cross.

The 30 year old "new" rose garden is located on 100 South between 1000 and 1100 East.

SLC Once Home to a Large Municipal Rose Garden

Rose garden in early 1950s. From Deseret News
Jun 15 1952 and SL Tribune June 15 1951.

June is National Rose Month and Salt Lake City used to be home to one of the largest municipal rose gardens in the United States between 1937-1973.

The rose garden was located in the northeast quadrant of the Holy Cross Hospital block (now Salt Lake Regional Medical Center) where a parking structure and a medical office building now stand along South Temple between 1000 East and 1100 East.

The rose garden came into being May 25 1937 and was a partnership among the Utah Rose Society, the Exchange Club, the Salt Lake City Parks, and Holy Cross Hospital. The garden started off with 600 rose bushes within 2 acres and eventually grew to more than 7,000 bushes, 400 varieties from around the world, and 3.5 acres. Several of the rose beds were given as a memorial to deceased relatives or friends.

The garden was enclosed with a wrought iron fence with climbing roses (a portion of this fence remains South Temple) and also featured several trellises, benches, walking paths, and a sundial.

The garden was one of the primary tourist attractions of SLC with up to 500 visitors per day and much more than that on the garden’s annual opening day each June. Each June the Utah Rose Society paid its “rent” to Holy Cross Hospital for use of the land for the garden, a dozen roses were clipped from the garden and presented as “payment” to the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

The last rose rent was paid on June 4 1972. Holy Cross Hospital was expanding and needed the land for a parking lot and Moreau Hall for their nursing school. In spring 1973, the City and the Utah Rose Society transferred the rose garden to its new home in Sugar House Park, behind the Garden Center building in the northeast section of the park. About 2,000 of the most vigorous roses were transplanted.

The Sugar House Park Rose Garden remained until just recently. In 2016 the City Weekly described it as having “all but lost the battle with weeds… Hundreds of rose bushes from Holy Cross Hospital, now just a few survive alongside a fancy, white arbor, which has the effect of making the six, weed choked beds, even more abject.” 

In 2020 the rose garden was replaced completely with a food garden operated by Wasatch Community Gardens. The once white trellis has been repurposed (and repainted black) to mark the entrance of the new garden.

The rose garden at Holy Cross Hospital was revived (although much smaller) in 1990. Continue to the next post about the new rose garden.

Marie Shields of the Utah Rose Society paying the rose rent. SL Trib June 24 1957.

Location of rose garden, 1950 Sanborn map.

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New Wasatch Community Garden, food garden, being constructed in Sugar House Park, June 2020. The arching trellis is from the original Sugar House rose garden and has been painted black from its original white.

Large Murals and Other Attractions Were Once Inside the Sears Building

Various views of the Sears building today, May 2020.

The old Sears building at 754 S. State is on the demolition list.

Plans for the Sears building started in 1944 when Sears-Roebuck Co purchased about 6 acres of land, most of which was previously a baseball park (Cooley Park, then Lucas Field) where the SLC Skyscrapers played between 1911-1914.

Construction did not begin until after WWII ended, when materials and labor were available. The new store opened July 1947. The SLC mayor cut the ceremonial ribbon and more than 20K people browsed the new store on opening day. All 529 parking spaces were filled.

The new Sears featured a retail store, a cafeteria, snack bar, farm implement store, and a service station. It was also a new type of shopping experience as it was intentionally set outside the shopping district so that it could accommodate a large amount of parking.

Sears emphasized that they utilized local companies and workers to construct the new building. Architectural firm Ashton-Evans created the engineer drawings, Jacobson Construction did the building, Bennet Glass and Paint supplied the glass, and Salt Lake Cabinet and Fixture Company built the showcases and cabinets.

The store also featured 11 murals measuring 5x16 feet that depicted the history of the state. The murals were painted by Chicago artist Eugene A. Montgomery, who painted a number of these murals for Sears in various cities across the county.

Visit the Eugene Montgomery website to see all the murals in the SLC Sears as well as his work in other Sears buildings across the country. 

The Sears store closed Jan 2018. Architectural firm Sparano + Mooney has designed a mixed use affordable and market rate housing, commercial office buildings, retail center, and multistory boutique hotel that will replace the 8.5 acres Sears complex.

No word on if the taco carts will remain after redevelopment.

Grand opening SL Trib July 13 1947

Selection of 4 murals, originals would have been in color. From eugenemontgomery.com

Interior Sept 1947. Shipler Photo from UDSH.

Sears 1951, SL Trib negative from UDSH.

Sears Sign ca 1950s/1960s, from Marriot Library Special Collections

Cooley Park baseball field that occupied the Sears lot, 1911. Shipler 11904 from UDSH.

House at 1902 S 400 East to be Demolished due to Earthquake

The house at 1902 S 400 East after the earthquake and before demolition, May 2020.

This house at 1902 S 400 East SLC is on the demolition list because of extensive damage from the earthquake on March 18, 2020.

This country estate was built in 1892 by prominent businessman and prominent Mormon, Septimus Wagstaff Sears. The SL County Assessor states the house was built in 1896 but newspaper articles and city directories clearly indicate a 1892 construction date.

Sears was a polygamist and in 1892 he re-married and legitimized his second polygamous wife, Isabella (they had already been married for 23 years and had 9 children together). Two weeks later Sears purchased a 5-acre lot and immediately started construction on this Eclectic Victorian Style house. The family moved from downtown to this area, then known as Waterloo. His first wife, Mary, stayed with her children at her house in the Avenues.

The Sears mansion boasted a private pond and a huge orchard which produced large peaches and other fruits. The house was conveniently located at the end of the Waterloo Streetcar line.

In 1903 Septimus Sears died in the house and in 1907 Isabella sold the house and moved closer to downtown.

The house was home to some unusual characters after the Sears family left. In 1907, Linus W. Timby lived in the home and he jumped to his death at St Marks hospital in a Typhoid Fever delirium. In 1908, the infamous Anna Bradley (side girlfriend and murderer or Senator Arthur Brown – that’s another story!) lived in near destitute conditions in the house with her four children.

The home was purchased by Heber Bennion in 1909 and he lived there running a cattle and sheep ranch until about 1915.

By the 1920s the house had been converted to apartments.

The current owners intended to renovate the historic home but the recent earthquake intervened in those plans.

Capitol Motel at 1749 S State

Now and then: Now May 2020: Then is from SL Tribune July 2 1931

The Capitol Motel located at 1749 S. State Street is currently known as a sketchy property and is proposed for demolition and redevelopment. Its well-earned modern reputation was not always the case, when it was first built in 1931 it was nestled in a quiet residential neighborhood.

The Capitol was built by Marinus J. Gerrltse and his brother-in-law, Frank DeNigtre. Both were immigrants from Amsterdam and were previously in business together owning and operating the Wasatch Service Station at 1767 S. State, just south of the Capitol Motel (This 1929 building is still standing, although heavily modified; it is also proposed for demolition and redevelopment.)

Originally named the Capitol Tourist Apartments and Motor Lodge, this complex was designed by architects Lewis & Nelson and opened to the public in July 1931. This was one of the earliest motor lodges to open in this area of State Street.

The English Tudor style building featured 15 apartments for short or long-term rental, 14 of which boasted their own single-car garage.

Mr. Gerrltse was the general manager of The Capitol for a couple of decades. He mostly lived on site or in an adjacent house with his wife, and often various extended family.

About 1950 the garages of The Capitol were converted to additional motel units increasing its capacity to 21 units. It is also about this time that the two-story office building/cafe with additional units was built (it was later remodeled again to add a covered pool about 1961).

The Capitol is currently owned by the Housing Assistance Management Enterprise (HAME) which is a non-profit subsidiary of the Housing Authority of SLC. Redevelopment plans have been in the works since 2018.

Postcard ca. 1950s

 Postcard ca. 1960s.

SL County Assessor photos from a few years ago.
Note the sign which is no longer present.

SL County Assessor photos from a few years ago.
Note the sign which is no longer present.

May 2020.

May 2020.

May 2020.

Oak Glen house at 1871 S 1300 East is on the demolition list

1871 S 1300 East SLC in May 2020

1871 S 1300 East SLC in May 2020

This home at 1871 S. 1300 East is on the demolition list. It is one of the earliest houses built in the Sugar House area of 1300 East.

The county assessor lists the house being constructed in 1912 but I found references to the house at least to 1907. At the time, this area was outside the SLC city limits.

This country home was built for lawyer Daniel Brigham Hill Richards and his wife (2nd marriage) Hester Cannon Richards, both from prominent Sugar House families. The Richards’ purchased the land from Jeffery Hodgson in 1903, a few months after they were married.

Daniel B. Richards named the property “Oak Glen.” The property featured a large garden area and an orchard in the back.

In 1919 Hester and Daniel divorced and Daniel B. moved to a small house on the back of the property while his ex-wife and son lived in the main house on 13th East.

Sometime in the 1920s the main house was converted to a duplex and Hester and their son Daniel C. lived on the north side (1869 S.) while Daniel B. and his new wife Aurelia lived on the south side (1871 S).

The house was sold about 1931 and Hester moved to the Marmalade area and Daniel B. moved to Paris.

The house was last used as triplex rental. This house and the adjacent apartment building to the north at 1861 S have applications to Salt Lake City for demolition.

Tax appraisal photo for1871 S 1300 East.
From Salt Lake County Assessor. No date.

1871 S 1300 East SLC in May 2020

Daniel Brigham Hill Richards
From History of Bench and Bar of Utah 1913

Hester Telle Cannon Richards from FindAGrave