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Show OMB No. 1024-0018, NPS Form United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section No. 8 Page 28 Ogden Central Bench Historic District, Ogden, Weber County, UT recognizes over 300 World War II era homes in the district. However, those numbers also reflect homes built during the mid-to-late-195 Os, which falls just outside of the contributory era. Most of the homes built during Ogden's war era were practical, building was usually easy and expeditious, and the prices were affordable. Spin-offs of the Art Moderne/International style were also built during the decade in limited numbers (Photo 53). Some of the builders and investors involved with development in the district during the 1940s include Raymond Shupe, I.E. Lichfield, W.E. Thatcher, Simmons and Thompson, the Wade Brothers, and A.H. Summerhill. The Modern Era: 1950 and Beyond The District Since 1950 The Crouch Subdivision was the last to be developed in the Central Bench District, being recorded in 1951. The subdivision is located on the site of the old brickyard that used to be situated near 29l Street and Jefferson Avenue. Plans for the subdivision originated in 1947, the year the 179-foot smokestack, standing since 1916, oo was demolished. After the demolition of the tower the then current owner of the site, Essie Crouch Auffhammer, decided that she would have a subdivision developed, titling it after her maiden name. The tower that had been razed contained over one-million bricks, and many of those bricks were salvaged and used on the homes that J.E. Lichfield constructed in the late 1940s, on the 2900 block of Madison Avenue-just above the Crouch Subdivision and where the old brickyard and tower once stood (Photo 54). The Crouch subdivision contains 25 lots and at the time was modern in every aspect, particularly in regards to the two small cul-de-sacs contained within it. The developer, Mrs. Auffhammer (who also resided in the district at 735 23 rd Street), was the only female building contractor in Weber County during the time the homes in the subdivision were constructed. Architecturally, the Central Bench District has not changed much since 1950. Many of the historic homes have been adapted into more duplexes, apartments, law offices, and various other businesses. During the 1960s, a large library was built on a portion of Lester Park (it was built by the son of Eber Piers, John Piers). Some preservation activities have taken place in the district, primarily with two areas-the Eccles Avenue Historic District and the Jefferson Avenue Historic District (both on the National Register of Historic Places). Between the two districts, seventy properties are contributing resources listed on the National Register. In addition to those homes, twenty other historically significant buildings have been previously researched and placed on the National Register, fifteen of those twenty are apartment buildings that are included on the Ogden "Three-Story Apartment Building" National Register nomination. It could be said that the district is now in its fourth wave of historical eras, spanning the second half of the nineteenth century throughout the twentieth century. It began with the homes of early pioneers; then moved through an industrial era with the coming of the railroad and the workers moving to the district. By 1941 the 83 Ogden Standard-Examiner, "Smokestack at Old Brickyard to be Wrecked," 17 January 1947. |
