some of the First southern utah Homes.
Addie Price Home
Addie Price, a widow with three children, built this home at 185 West Diagonal Street during the 1880s. Described as having “considerable means,” Addie spared no expense when she installed the popular bay window in the parlor and fireplaces in each of the downstairs rooms.
Not only that, Addie also built a porch across both the front and the back of her house, a desirable feature of a Dixie home before the advent of air conditioning. As a result, Addie’s home became the hot spot for youth gatherings in St. George.
Alexander & Alice Milne Home
Built by master Scottish craftsman William Burt who also plastered the tabernacle, the temple, and the courthouse, this adobe home at 186 South 200 East was purchased by Alexander and Alice who lived here for over 60 years. In the beautiful front room was a pump organ, and in the dining room, Alice set up a long table where the family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner prepared on a wood-burning stove.
On hot summer days, teh grandchildren visited to eat Alice’s gingersnap cookies and relish in the cool air provided by the thick adobe walls. In the bedroom was a grand brass bed and outside in the garden grew current bushes, grapevines, white corn, beets, radishes, tomatoes and potatoes. On autumnal evenings they threw raw potatoes onto the bonfire lit beside the garden and when the skins were crispy and the potato soft, this delicious treat was devoured. After Alexander died in 1929, Alice lived as a widow in the home for nearly twenty years. Alice’s wedding dress, seen in the photo, dated 20 January 1886, can be viewed at the McQuarrie Memorial Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum.
Anthony & Elizabeth Ivins Home
Anthony Woodbury Ivins was one of the most influential men to come out of southern Utah. His father, Israel Ivins, was St George’s first medical doctor called to the Cotton Mission with the first wave of pioneers in 1861. Anthony grew up in St. George and married childhood friend Elizabeth Ashby Snow, daughter of prominent leader Erastus Snow. In 1878, they built their eight-room home at 165 North 100 West on a foundation of black basalt from the Black Ridge quarry and walls with square nails and two-thick adobe bricks.
Although Brigham Young insisted that local houses be built close to the street to accommodate backyard vegetable gardens, orchards, and vineyards, Ivins built deep on the south side of his father’s lot. Anthony and Elizabeth raised eight of their nine children in this home. Anthony worked as a rancher and held numerous political positions, including mayor, and religious positions including counselor in teh St. George Stake Presidency. In 1894 Anthony and “Libbie” moved when called to the Juarez Stake in Mexico, then in 1908 Anthony was called as an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Arthur & Zaidee Miles Home
London native and early pioneer Arthur Miles married Ida Walker and they became the parents of six children. Son Raymond remembered vividly the day his mother died in this home from “childbirth infection” five days before Christmas 1897. After her death, five-year-old Raymond was sent into the living room to impart the news to his grandfather, St George poet Charles Lowell Walker, who replied, “Oh! Go away. She isn’t dead.” Raymond recalled, “She was placed in a coffin in the room where she died and I stood by the coffin and gazed at her. Neighbors and friends came to see her and there I stood bewildered. The death episode of my loving mother never to be forgotten.” Ida’s death left Arthur with five young children. He married Ida’s sister Zaidee Walker and they had three children. Arthur was a self-educated man, supporting the family with various jobs including 37 years at the Bank of St. George. Daughter Katherine inherited the home and resided there with her husband, author and historian Karl Larsen, Keeping the house in the Miles family from when it was built at 212 South 200 East in 1876 until 1983.
Benjamin & Harriet Blake Home
After living in a dugout for years, this home at 141 South 100 East of master furniture maker Benjamin Frederick Black and his wife Harriet Hollis was built in the 1870s after the England-born couple arrived with the 1861 pioneers. In addition to the high sidewalls composed of two-thick adobe bricks, decorative trim around the gables and eaves, mitered fascia, and Dixie dormers, the home featured a large gathering room in the front of the house. Their five daughters, Caroline, Elizabeth, Emma, Jane, and Harriet hosted numerous youthful parties here including dramatics and spelling matches. At their dances, their father played his violin and their mother entertained with her clever stories. Benjamin was also known for building the outstanding twin floating staircases in the St. George Tabernacle. After Benjamin’s death in 1881, their son Benjamin and his wife Elizabeth Ellicock Blake resided here with their eleven children.
Frederick & Emily Blake Home
In 1870, Fred and wife Emily Green moved into this home at 135 South 100 East built by his neighbor and father. Tragedy hovered over this family. First, first wife Sarah Hardy refused to move to St. George, so she remained north. Next, Emily’s son, James Henry Blake, was born and died at age 18 months in this house. Six months later son George was born here, but he died 18 months later. Sent north to her mother’s home to recover, Emily was unable to read and write, so her 16-year-old sister wrote letters for her. Impressed with the letters, Fred asked Emily for permission to marry Elizabeth. Emily declined, but Fred married Elizabeth anyway. Dismayed and pregnant, Emily left her husband. Son Frederick died at age 14 from dropsy. While cutting lumber for the St. George Temple at his sawmill in Mt. Trumbull, Fred got caught in the machinery and a co-worker broke three knives to break him free. With life altering brain injuries, Fred lived with his brother until his death in 1916. Fred’s sister Harriet and her husband Neils Sandberg lived in the home from 1903 to 1942.
Get more of this by taking a Walking Tour!
Make a donation
Make a donation
Monetary donations help to fund the costs of gathering, restoring, and presenting information.