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Show United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 (Expires 5/31/2012) Liberty Wells Historic District (Boundary Increase) Salt Lake County, Utah Name of Property County and State area. These houses exhibit primarily Victorian and Classical architecture. One example from this period is located at 1246 South 500 East (ca. 1897), a two-story foursquare residence exhibiting Italianate and Neoclassical styles. More typical for the area, however, are the foursquare located at 1166 South 500 East and the shotgun houses at 327 Hampton Avenue and 352 Harvard Avenue. These residences are smaller and have a simpler form. All three reflect the Victorian Eclectic style, with an array of elements drawn from various styles of the period. Streetcar Suburbs (1900 to 1929) In the early 1900s, the SLCRR and the SLRT merged into the Consolidated Railway & Power Company (Consolidated). In 1904, Consolidated merged with Utah Power & Light to form Utah Light & Railway. xxx In 1918, Utah Light & Railway merged with a rival company, Salt Lake Light & Traction to form Utah Light & Traction. xxxi By 1919, streetcar routes extended throughout the city, offering service to Holladay, Midvale, Sandy, the University of Utah, Fort Douglas, and other points in the valley. As mentioned previously, these lines extended along the east and west boundaries of the Liberty Area and into the heart of the neighborhood with the Waterloo line along 400 East. The lines offered stops for would-be residents who worked in downtown Salt Lake City but wanted to live outside its heavily urbanized core area. Commercial activity began to develop in the Liberty Area during this period, perhaps in part due to the establishment of a reliable transportation system that allowed merchants to deliver goods to the downtown area. However, commercial activity in the area also included businesses that would have served local residents, and not merely the city's core area. The Sanborn maps show that several businesses were located in the Liberty Area in 1911: the Superior Baking Company on Denver Street, south of 900 South; a dry cleaning business at the south end of Roosevelt Ct., between 300 East and 400 East; and a junkyard on Edison Street. City directories from 1910 indicate that businesses were also located along 900 South and State Street. The Superior Baking Company was a bread factory and wholesale distributor, and likely served the downtown area as well as other communities in the Salt Lake Valley. By contrast, the dry cleaner on Roosevelt would have more likely serviced residents of the immediate area. A grocery store owned by John Morrison was located in or near the Liberty Area during this period. It is unclear whether this grocery store was located at 905 S. State Street or if it was located further to the west. John Morrison's son later constructed an automotive supplies and service business at 905 S. State Street. John Morrison was involved in an important episode of local history during the Initial Settlement period. On January 10, 1914, Mr. Morrison was closing his grocery store for the night when two men entered the store and began shooting. Mr. Morrison's two sons, Arling and Merlin, were at the store with him. Arling retrieved a revolver that was kept hidden in a produce bin and began to return fire. The gunfight ended with the deaths of Mr. Morrison and Arling, and the two intruders fled without robbing the store. Merlin was able to describe the incident, but was unable to identify the gunmen, as their faces were covered during the attack. Police responding to the crime scene suspected that the attack was an act of revenge, rather than a robbery. The same night, local labor organizer Joe Hill was treated for a gunshot wound by Dr. Frank McHugh. Mr. Hill indicated that he had been shot by another man in an argument over a woman. The next morning, Dr. McHugh read about the murder of John and Arling Morrison and the police's efforts to locate anyone with a suspicious gunshot wound. Dr. McHugh reported his encounter with Mr. Jill to the police, and later that day, police arrested Mr. Hill in connection with the murders. The trial of Mr. Hill was carried out in spite of questionable evidence linking him to the Morrison murders and many suspected that he was being railroaded due to his activities as a labor organizer. Mr. Hill was convicted of the murders and was shot by a firing squad on November 15, 1915. xxxii Sanborn maps from 1911 show the beginnings of the existing street and parcel system in the Liberty Area. However, many blocks remained undivided and many parcels were still vacant at this time. During the 1910s and continuing into the 1920s, a dramatic increase in residential development occurred. The popularity of the suburb concept was almost unprecedented, as hundreds of new residents moved into the area, purchasing small, mostly single-family homes being xxx Carr and Edwards, 1989. Ibid. xxxii Verdoia, Ken. Joe Hill's Story. Accessed at http://www.kued.org/productions/joehill/story/index.html on July 8, 2011. xxxi 24 |
