Month: October 2013

Presenting the Original Uinta(h) Elementary School Sign

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Uinta (6)

The spelling of UINTA(H) — in the 1800s the H was sometimes used and sometimes left off. John Wesley Powell left it off when he spelled the word as part of his 1869 expedition, because he said it was unnecessary for pronunciation of the word.

The U.S. government standardized the spelling later in the 1800s by setting the rule that Uinta without the H would be used for natural features such as the Uinta Mountains or Uinta Basin, and Uintah with the H would be used for man-made entities such as Uintah School or Uintah County. So that is why the school name has the H in it.

So why was the sign above the main door of Uintah School misspelled by leaving off the H? I don’t think it’s known for sure, but it probably involves one of these reasons: (1) In 1915 when the school was built, the spelling guidelines from the government were still so recent that there may still have been some confusion on the issue; (2) The contractor who made the sign might have simply left off the H by mistake, or ran out of room on the cement slab by spacing the letters too far apart and having no room at the end for the H. It might just be that simple.

Thank you to Phillip Snow for his research on the spelling of Uinta(h). This gentleman was also the one who was able to save this piece of history!

–JonDewey

Salt Lake City Weekly “gets it”

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The Salt Lake City Weekly newspaper printed the following blurb Oct. 9 in its “Hits & Misses” column. It’s a great summary of the last few year’s of the destruction—and desire to stop it—in our neighborhood.

 

Hold On to History 
It has been a long, hard haul for preservationists, who faced a legislative moratorium on the creation of historic districts thanks to a 2011 bill that effectively opened the neighborhood to teardowns—there have been 23 over the past decade; about five a year, according to the Utah Heritage Foundation. Now the moratorium has been lifted, and Salt Lake City’s Yalecrest area has started a nonprofit called K.E.E.P. Yalecrest to educate homeowners and help preserve homes on the National Register of Historical Places. On Saturday, Oct. 12, the group will host a walking tour highlighting 15 homes. Meanwhile, the first application for a Local Historic District has been filed in the area. Preservationists may still have their day.

City Weekly Oct 9 2013

Walking Tour Saturday, Oct. 12

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K.E.E.P. Yalecrest is hosting an educational neighborhood walk Saturday, Oct. 12 from 1-3 p.m. to highlight the architectural styles and historicity of some notable homes located on the 1300-1500 East blocks of Harvard and Yale Avenues.

We’ll meet at Harvard Ave. and 13th East and walk east to 15th East, then down Yale Avenue and back to the start.

We will be viewing a variety of exterior architectural elements from the sidewalk in small groups and giving a brief synopsis of notable people or events related to certain houses.

The tour is open to the public and we’re suggesting a $5 donation for participants who are not current members of our organization. A $25 per person or $50 per family annual membership is also available.

This is our first tour event and we’re very excited about the wonderful bits of history we’ve uncovered in our preparations.  We hope to see you Saturday!

If you don’t make the tour, here’s the program: Yalecrest Notable Homes Tour Oct 12 2013

HarvardYale_tour_map

The Match Prowler

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Only a few homeowners were living on the 1700 block of Harvard Ave in early 1929.  Gaskell Romney (Mitt Romney’s grandfather) had built the earliest homes on the west end.  Residents had moved in while nearby homes were still under construction.  It was during this time, on a Thursday night according to the Salt Lake Telegram, that the “Match Prowler” struck…

Czar Winters (1709 Harvard) was a lawyer who worked downtown in the Walker Building.  He was the first to call and report to the police that something was amiss.  Not only did he notice burnt matches on the floor of his new home, but items were missing too.

The match prowler had stolen a suit, a flashlight, and MONEY!   75 cents, to be exact.

Across the street, M.Ross Richards (1710 Harvard) had to work a bit late Thursday night.  He didn’t make it home until 11pm.  He was the Manager at Richards-Barlow Motor Company.   It was a great industry to be working in.  The rise of the private automobile was giving way to a transportation revolution.  Everybody wanted to own a car.  When Ross finally got home he didn’t notice anything missing, but he did find “evidence of prowling.”

Ross remembered that his friend, Ben Richie, had asked Ross to keep an eye on his house for him while he was out of town.  Ben was the Managing Director for the Great Western Film Library.  His home was conveniently located right nextdoor (1716 Harvard).  Investigation showed the Richie home had also been entered, but nothing was taken.   (Could the police and Ross really know nothing was taken from Ben’s?)

The police felt confident it was the same prowler.  All three homes had a trail of burnt matches.

Reading the Telegram, I wondered about the wives.  Where were Margaret Winters and Algie Richards while their husbands were at work and their homes were being burglarized?  The newspaper doesn’t mention them at all.  I imagine Grace Richie was traveling with her husband.  Wonder if they ever went to Hollywood?  Or knew any famous cowboy actors?

Well, it seems almost cartoonish now– the image or a burglar using matches to make his way through a dark house.  But what I like about this story is that this is the first documented evidence (and not the last) that I’ve found of  “neighbors looking out for each other” on this one little block in Yalecrest.  Nice.

 –Kelly MarinanJan 1929 ad