| OCR Text |
Show OMB No. 1024-0018, NFS Form United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 13 Ogden Central Bench Historic District, Ogden, Weber County, UT the school had its up and downs, but its importance and influence in the district was extraordinary. During the depression years the school made the transition from a church school to a state-run institution, and by the early 1950s due continued growth the school moved from its location in the bench district to its current home on Harrison Boulevard.46 A good remnant of the school today is the neoclassical style gymnasium, c. 1925, located at 550 25th Street (Photo 15). As the district developed into the residential hub of the city, several other schools were constructed to meet demand. The most impressive remaining structure of this is the Madison School, located at 2418 Madison Avenue. The emergence of public "free schools" was a long process in Utah and by 1889 the issue heated up in Ogden. After Utah enacted the free school law in 1890, the public school system took off in the city. For instance in 1890-1891, 1600 students attended public schools and by the following year 2853 were listed on the rolls of the schools, and the next year, in 1892-1893, 4,000 were attending public schools in the city. New schools were needed, particularly in the bench neighborhood. During the spring of 1892, plans were displayed for the Madison School, by Francis C. Woods. The large building Was done in the impressive Richardsonian Romanesque style. The school was built on a site that had been the location for an earlier school, known as the Fifth Ward School, the Fifth Ward School was typical of the earlier schools in the bench district in that it was built in the late-1870s and was a small, one or two classroorn, adobe or wood frame building. In addition to the Madison School and Weber Academy other schools built in the district during this boom era include the Sacred Heart Academy and the Quincy School (both demolished).47 The Madison School building has since been adapted into apartment use. Architecture The architecture of the boom years was quintessential Victorian. The popular styles during the Victorian era, the era in America during the closing decades of the nineteenth century, epitomized the self-confident optimism of that time period. The dwellings were a physical embodiment of prosperity. The Central Bench District is home to various Victorian era styles, hundreds of which remain from the boom years between 1888 and 1892. Two of the best-known styles of the period include the Eastlake and Queen Anne. A good example of the Eastlake influence can be found at the J.W. McNutt House, located at 614 24th Street. The home is highly decorated with various shapes of wood shingles covering the house, ornate lathe-turned columns, spindles in porch friezes, and carved panels. The Queen Anne style is common in the district. Notable examples include the Samuel T. Whitaker home at 874 23 rd Street and the Andrew J. Warner home at 726 25th Street (Photos 18 and 19). Mr. Whitaker was an architect who came to Ogden in 1890, and soon after had this large two-story wood shiplap home with a round turret constructed. Mr. Warner was a realtor who came to Ogden during the boom era and had this classic Queen Anne style home built. It has a sandstone foundation, stain-glassed windows, decorative veranda, onion dome turret, and decorative wall and shingle patterns. Other Victorian styles found in the district include the Richardsonian Romanesque style such as the Madison School at 2418 -JO 46 DUP, Beneath Ben Lomond. 555; and Roberts and Sadler, Weber County. 227 and 412. 47 Clifford B. Doxey, The History of Ogden City Public Schools. Master's Thesis, University of Utah, 1944, 48-50. 48 Historic Preservation Commission of Phoenix, Historic Homes of Phoenix (City of Phoenix Publishing, 1992), 34-35. |
