This photo was taken in the 1930’s on the 1700 block of Harvard Ave.
Gone are the skate keys, longs skirts and cool retro hats. But the kids are still here. You can see them wearing helmets as they move down the sidewalks skating or riding their bikes. You might also see them on razors, skateboards, and even motorized scooters and hoverboards!
–Kelly Marinan
Photo: Courtesy of K. Lewis
This Period Revival home on Harvard Ave was built in 1929 by the Doxey-Layton Company. Graham Doxey (of Doxey Real Estate) and Howard Layton (of Layton Construction) were Yalecrest residents that joined together to build and sell homes.
William and Emily Naylor were the first owners and long time residents. The 1940 census has 6 adults living in the home: William E. and his wife Emily, their 3 adult children (Audrey, Evelyn and William J.) and Emily’s mom (Mary James). Mr. Naylor was his own boss working in the grocery store business. Mrs Naylor and her mother came from Ireland. Audrey had graduated from college and was working as a school teacher. Evelyn was employed as a stenographer. And William J. was in his 1st year of college and working as a grocery store clerk.
Mr Naylor passed away in 1966 at the age of 84. For at least 20 years he owned and operated Dickinson’s Market (2nd S. near 7th East, now a parking lot). The family lived in the back of the store for a couple years. Mr Naylor was well-respected in the community. He served as president of the Salt Lake Retail Butcher’s and Grocer’s Association, was a captain in the Utah National Guard, served as board director in at least 3 organizations, worked in the government’s War Assets Administration, and later entered the real estate business.
Emily James Naylor immigrated to the the U.S. when she was a teenager. She lived to be 95. The home stayed in the Naylor family for more than 55 years. Their eldest daughter Audrey (born in 1906) was still living here in the late 1980’s.
——- Connection to early SLC history:
William E. Naylor was a direct descendent of the “Naylor Brothers.” The Naylor brothers consisted of Thomas (1826-1872), William (1835-1918) and George (1837-1922).
The brothers were born in England where they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They came to Utah with the early Mormon settlers, most likely with the 1852 John S. Higbee Company.
The Naylor Brothers manufactured some of the first wagons built in Utah. Together they were skilled blacksmiths, woodworkers and mechanics.
William E. Naylor was one of the sons of George Naylor and his 2nd wife Fanny Wiscombe.
As the popularity of wagons and carriages began to dwindle, George Naylor started selling Studebakers. At one time SLC boasted a Studebaker showroom in the Naylor Building (100 S. block of State Street).
–Kelly Marinan
The Harold B. Lamb house at 1327 Michigan Avenue, a distinctive two-story home of the Prairie School design, was built during the last half of 1915 and has therefore just reached its 100th birthday. Susanna Bransford Emery Holmes, whose massive fortune in silver mining earned her the title, “Utah’s Silver Queen,” financed the home’s building for her nephew Harold Bransford Lamb, the son of Susanna’s sister, Viola Bransford Lamb. Viola died after giving birth to Harold in 1886, and Susanna took in Harold to raise as her own. Harold and his family moved into the house when it was new. He died nine years later of appendicitis. He was only 38 years old. The old photo of the house, from the Shipler Commercial Photographers Collection of the Utah State Historical Society, was taken February 9, 1916, 100 years ago. The new photo was taken February 9, 2016.
— Kim Childs
Lynwood Fish was one of Yalecrest’s WWI vets. He and his wife Afton (Warburton) married in 1921. They had a home on the 1700 block of Harvard Ave for almost 60 years!
Lynwood (who preferred to be called Len or L.L.) suffered a serious head injury on the battlefield in France. When he came home he thought he could do carpentry work on construction jobs with his father, but discovered he couldn’t stand on a stool without getting dizzy. As a vet he was eligible for rehabilitation training, so he went to school to become an architectural draftsman.
The Fish’s bought a Doxey-Layton lot on Yalecrest Ave near 1800 East, but decided to swap it for another lot on Harvard Ave. Len said there was an understanding that if you bought a lot from Doxey-Layton then when it came time to build, they got to be your builder. Together Len and Afton poured through architectural magazines and housing brochures until Afton picked out the house she wanted. Then they picked out some special features and presented their finalized plans to Doxey-Layton. In 1929, for only $8,000 they would be getting their dream home in Yalecrest!
Here is a list of some of the special features Len and Afton requested:
Unfortunately, the day excavation started on the foundation of their home Len found himself looking for a new job. The Depression had caught up with them. The Fish’s resigned themselves to having to sell their home. But, there were no buyers. They hung on through some rough years and survived the good times and the bad. People that knew them said they were wonderful neighbors.
Afton was a very talented painter. I saw one of her paintings hanging in a neighbor’s house years ago. It was beautiful. Afton also loved to grow violets. At some point the Fish’s remodeled their kitchen and the big yellow sink was replaced by a stainless steel one. Their granddaughter told me Afton hated seeing the water spots on that new sink and would offer to pay her to come and polish it. Oh, Afton never threw out her yellow sink either. She re-purposed it to use with her violets. It is still in the neighborhood.
Like many of our neighbors, Len and Afton have moved on. But, many still remember and/or think of them fondly. I do, every time I go by their home.
–Kelly Marinan
Sources: Cooley Family Papers in the U of U Special Collections, friends/neighbors, family.
Old photo courtesy of Salt Lake County Archives.
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 Marinan