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John P. Cahoon House 4872 South Poplar Street Murray, Utah Present Owner: Steven L. Hansen 4872 S. Poplar St. Murray, Utah SIGNIFICANCE The John P. Cahoon house is significant as the finest example of residential Victorian eclecticism in Murray City and as the hOl1e for over twenty years of John P. Cahoon, a pioneer in the brick industry in Utah and the West. '!he large, two-and-one-half story brick house, referred to in 1902 as "easily the finest home in the county outside Salt Lake City,"l (Murray is located about five miles south of Salt Lake City) has renained virtually unchanged since its construction around 1900. Although its Victorian styling is more subdued than that found on many houses in Salt Lake City, this house represents the fullest expression of "high style" architecture in its comnunity, where the housing stock consists mainly of smaller scale, modestly ornamented cottages. John P. Cahoon was the principal founder of what is claimed to be the first ccmnercial brick marrufacturing plant in both Utah and the West in 1878. 2 Brick played an especially important role in the construction business in Utah because of the scarcity of readily available lunber, and by the turn of the century there were several dozen companies competing in the brick manufacturing industry. Under John P. Cahoon's leadership, his company, incorporated in 1891 as Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company, emerged as one of the most successful in the industry, and Cahoon himself made important contributions to the industry. He was appointed to the War Service Coonnittee on Brick in Washington, D.C. in 1918, and served as an organizer and vice president of the Brick Manufactureres Association of .America. Also, under his leadership, his ccmpany started the first trade school program in Utah, teaching brick laying to students. Interstate Brick Company, as it was renamed in 1939, has become the largest company of its kind in the Intermountian West and is still directed by members of the Cahoon family. John P. Cahoon was born in the area known as South Cottonwood, on February 1, 1856. His parents, Andrew and Margaret C. Cahoon, who had come to Utah in 1848 as Mormon pioneers, were among the original settlers in that area, which later became known as Murray. John, the second of five sons, attended local schools and married a local girl, Elizabeth Gordon. In 1878, he and his brothers began manufacturing brick on a small scale with primitive hand-powered tools and equipment on a location near 5300 South in Murray. This brick was used primarily for the construction of their own houses, and John built his first house at 5600 South and Winchester Street (401 West). In 1891 John founded the Salt Lake Pressed Brick Company and moved the marrufacturing plant fran 4200 South, a later location, to a new location near 1100 East and 3300 South, where there was an abundance of good quality clay for brick manufacturing. The clay beds at that location canpletely filled the company's needs until 1921 when clay began to be shipped in fran other areas.