Brigham Street

Brigham Street 27 - Matthew H. Walker

' MATTHEW H. WALKER, 186 M ercy Walker and her four sons were among the early pioneers who came to the Salt Lake Valley when it was still a frontier settle­ment. The four brothers assisted in transforming the pioneer town into a prosperous and growing business community. Matthew H. Walker, the youngest, was born in Yorkshire, near Leeds, England, on January 16, 1845, to Matthew and Mercy Long Walker. The father was a wool merchant until circumstances changed his vocation to that of innkeeper. The family consisted of four sons and three daughters. The Walkers left their native country in 1850 to come to America. Scanty, unappetizing food and limited water added to other discomforts of an ocean voyage that seemed long and tedious. The ship at last docked in New Orleans. The Walkers then continued their journey up the Mississippi River to Saint Louis. In the summer of 1851, while still in Saint Louis, the father and the three daughters were stricken with cholera. Knowing the end was near, Walker urged his wife to continue on to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Mercy Walker, grief stricken over the death of her husband, also faced the heartbreaking task of burying her three girls. She then gathered her sons around her and together they made their plans. Over the winter provisions were secured and a sturdy Painting of the four Walker brothers - David, Joseph, Samuel, and Matthew - artist unknown. wagon and oxen were purchased. The sons, Samuel, Joseph, David, and Matthew, ranged from sixteen to seven years of age. In Saint Louis the boys found jobs as peddlers of fancy notions. They all exhibited a natural talent as mer­chants, so much so that they caught the interest of one William Nixon, a merchant who coached them in their new trade. When spring arrived they joined a wagon train west. On the journey misfortune again was their fate 187 when they lost most of their cattle and were forced to trade what was left to the Indians. The wagon train stopped at Green River, and from there the mother and her sons proceeded alone, arriving in Salt Lake City in September 1852, their wagon drawn by a steer and a heifer with an Indian pony as a lead. They were able to trade this sparse equipment for an adobe house. Samuel did the planting and worked the small farm while David and Joseph again took up the business of selling notions. Matthew attended school. By 1859 the mercantile business was started that would make the Walkers famous. It was one year after the estabhshment of Camp Floyd by Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston and his government troops that William Nixon, the Saint Louis merchant, appeared on the scene and the Walker brothers were once again in his employ, selling provisions to the soldiers at Camp Floyd. The Walkers were soon able to open their own store. When the troops departed two years later, the brothers obtained government stocks at greatly reduced prices. They hauled their goods to Salt Lake City and opened a store in the Daft Building, between First and Second South streets on the west side of Main Street, under the name of Walker Brothers. Although Matthew was only sixteen at that time, he had learned the mercantile business from the ground up and was admitted into full partnership with his older brothers. Very soon the Walkers found themselves in the banking business with a special department for that purpose at the rear of the store. An iron safe with a big iron key served as a depository for gold dust, coin, and other valuables. The Walker brothers were among the earliest bankers in the West. They were young, enthusiastic, and popular and their business flourished. Their mother lived to see her sons settled in their fife's work, and, then, in December 1863, she died. In 1873 the Walkers began investing in various mining operations. They secured a large interest in the Emma Mine in Little Cottonwood Canyon. During the next years they purchased mines in Big Cotton­wood Canyon, Ophir, Stockton, and Tintic District, Utah, and mines in Montana and California. They also acquired interest in coal mines in central Utah and iron mines in Iron County. They owned the Pioneer Mining and Milling Company which was later moved to the Montana properties. By 1891 they again needed to expand their working facilities. To house their growing business they erected a three- story building on the southwest corner of Main Street and Third South. Although the store was referred to as Walker Brothers Dry Goods, 188 it was in reality a department store. Patrons called it Salt Lake City's outstanding shopping center, its stock of fashionable merchandise being considered exclusive. Matthew H. Walker At the time of Joseph's death in 1901, Matthew purchased his stock in the bank and some of the stock in the department store. The bank and the store then became separate institutions, the former incorporated under the name of Walker Brothers, Bankers, with Matthew as president and Thomas Weir as vice- president. In 1912 the new Walker Bank Building was erected on the northeast corner of Main Street and Second South. It was one of the city's early skyscrapers. The distinguished and successful Matthew Walker was an active participant in the leading clubs and organizations and was a Mason of high standing. He was also a founder of the Salt Lake Charity Organization, a forerunner of the United Fund. The Walkers probably owned more property in the business section of Salt Lake City than any other individuals. They donated a large lot to Dr. D. Banks McKenzie who spearheaded the building of the Wal­ker Grand Opera House, located on the north side of Second South j u s t west of Main Street. Although it stood for only nine years before being destroyed by fire in 1891, it had presented many outstanding pro­ductions featuring famous personalities of the enter­tainment world. The Walker Hotel, the best in its day, was located on the west side of Main between Second and Third South streets. 189 Angelina Hague Walker In 1865 when Matthew Walker was twenty years old, he married Elizabeth Carson. They had one son, John H. Following Elizabeth's death in 1896, Matthew married Angelina Hague by whom he had a daughter, Frances Glenn. The child was six years old when the family moved into their new home on East Brigham Street. The home's unique feature, as described by the Salt Lake Tribune of July 24,1904, was the 825,000 Aeolian pipe organ that had just been installed. When the organ had arrived from New York, it took two men five weeks to install 1,500 pipes that filled a space eighteen feet wide, extending from the first to the third story, with the mechanism in the basement. An attachment made the organ self- playing, when desired, by the use of perforated paper rolls running over a system of air tubes. This grand piece of equip­ment became the focal point of the home's interior design. The Walkers' Spanish Renaissance home, with its cream- colored stucco exterior and red Spanish tile roof, was constructed at a cost of more than 8275,000. Among its luxurious features, in addition to the organ, was a 85,000 Otis elevator, a wine cellar, a bowling alley, and, south of the house, a tennis court. Also on the site was a stable with stalls for six horses and room for eight carriages. 190 Six- year- old Glenn Walker aecends the from steps of the newly built home on Brigham Street. The Tiffany chandelier and organ pipes from the second floor. From the large veranda at the front of the house, one entered a vestibule ( later remodeled to accommo­date a stairway) and then the grand hall, or music room, which extended fifty feet across the width of the house. The woodwork was dark- stained oak. Red silk velvet lined the wall panels. The rugs, of a match­ing crimson color, were made in England by the same firm that made the rugs for Warwick Castle. The organ console, a Steinway grand piano, a large stone fireplace recessed in a special cove with side benches, deep couches and comfortable chairs upholstered in red velour gave the music room its special flavor. White marble statuary and green potted plants added the right accents. Overhead was a sight that would always linger in one's memory. Heavy oak trusses supported an immense skylight of Tiffany glass patterned like a grape arbor. Hanging from the glorious ceiling, a 191 Tiffany chandelier in a fruit bowl design lent added en­chantment. A mezzanine allowed a rare view of the skylight and chandelier, as well as of the room below. Crowning all were the gilded pipes of the Aeolian organ. Not only was the interior of the home a show-place for stained art glass, but the magnificent pair of A pair of magenta- colored Tiffany lamps graced the front steps. magenta- colored lamps that graced the front stairs was a pleasurable sight to all who entered the home or passed along the thoroughfare in the evening. Although the music room was the home's out­standing feature, other rooms offered their own dis­tinct qualities. The library, on the west front, con­tained one of the most impressive home collections, including music, in the West. On the east front was a French drawing room, or parlor. The walls were ivory touched with gilt in the frescoes and complemented by pale blue satin brocade wall panels. A delightful white marble fireplace and mantel were bordered by two narrow art glass windows in delicate blues designed by Tiffany. The Walkers enjoyed musical soirees. Nearly every Sunday evening friends and music lovers gath­ered at the home. John J. McClelland and Evan Steph­ens, organists for the Mormon Tabernacle, were frequent participants. Nationally famous artists often performed when they were passing through the city or fulfilling a scheduled engagement at the Salt Lake Theatre. South American pianist Alberto Jonas, who had performed for the Silver Queen, also gave a con­cert at the Walker home. The family also relished packing a picnic lunch and driving to their cabin in Brighton east of Salt Lake City. Being out- of- doors, whether fishing, hunting, 192 Angelina and Matthew at their Cottonwood farm which supplied the larder of the Brigham Street house. Group of young ladies pose beside wagon and four- in- hand at Glenwood, the Walker farm in Cottonwood. or just enjoying nature among the pines and quaking aspen, was a source of relaxation for the industrious Matthew. Walker died in his home on July 29, 1916, at age seventy- one. He had led an eventful life, leaving the heritage of a successful business career and the memory of his fine mind and character, his love for the arts, and his service to the community, it MATTHEW H. WALKER 610 East South Temple Built 1904- 5 Architects: Ware and Treganza Owners: Matthew H. Walker, David Keith II Present status: offices 193