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Show NPS Form 10-900-a <3-82> OMB Wo< 1024-0018 Expires 10-31-87 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service National Register off Historic Places Inventory-Nomination Form Copperton Historic District Continuation sheet Salt Lake County, Utah_____Item number 8____________Page 3 The showpiece quality of Copperton was intended for more than just satisfying the workers; it was a definite attempt to advertise the company and its product copper. Building specifications for the houses called for the installation of copper shingles, copper downspouts, bronze screens, brass plumbing fittings, bronze plated hardware, and a variety of other copper products. Utah Copper Company kept careful records of the construction costs of the Copperton houses, and concluded that the initial 5-6 percent increase in costs due to the use of superior copper materials would be offset by savings in maintenance over a short period of years. 10 Most of the more visible copper elements, the shingles and rain gutters, have been replaced over the years, usually not with the same materials. A more ambitious attempt by Utah Copper Company to promote the use of copper in the building construction industry was the erection of four prefabricated "experimental houses." The first of these model homes, located at 201 West Park Street, was built in 1936 amid a wave of publicity. During the week-long open house over 2500 people toured the home, which was touted as Utah's first prefabricated house. The local newspaper gave the following description of the house: Visitors were particularly impressed with the economy of the arrangement of rooms in the house and characterized it as "the biggest little house" ever planned. Another feature that will help to sell copper houses is that a house like the one on display at Copperton is everlasting. Roof, gutters, downspouts, window frames and screens, radiators and piping are all of copper and the framework of steel make the house termite proof.' 1 Copper Houses, Inc., a subsidiary of Utah Copper Company, was formed to promote and distribute the houses. Offices were established in Salt Lake City and in Washington, D.C., and by January 1937 groups of copper houses were reportedly being erected in several Eastern cities. 1 2 Three more experimental houses, each slightly different, were built in Copperton in 1937-38. The success of this venture was apparently limited since there is little mention or physical evidence of such houses having been built elsewhere in the state. Copperton received very favorable coverage in the local newspapers and in mining journals as a model company town. The hospitable environment of the community was viewed as a benefit to both worker and employer. It was noted that "Copperton will be a town of families there will be no room for the floater, the pool-room habitue, or the bootlegger....Truly, one can foresee for Copperton a colony of real homes and children fitted in body and mind far better than the child living under the conditions that prevail in the ordinary mining camp." 1 3 As Copperton grew and developed, schools and churches were established in the community and a number of stores were built as well. Copperton Elementary |
