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South Jordan » More than a century has passed since its granite foundation and red-brick walls were erected in the sleeping farmlands outside of Salt Lake City.
But even as a suburban sea washes around it, the Samuel E. Holt Farmstead will remain an oasis of South Jordan's agrarian past, thanks to a $1.5 million preservation effort to protect its history and create a public park.
"South Jordan has grown so fast," said Don Tingey, director of parks and recreation, "that these opportunities to preserve the culture and heritage and history of South Jordan are few and far between."
So beneath the white spire of the Jordan River LDS Temple and over an open-water canal canopied by trees on 1300 West near 10300 South, preservationists have paved a winding lane leading to the home that Holt built in 1907 for his wife and 12 children.
With a fresh coat of paint, a rooftop of cedar shake shingles and custom-made finials to accent the ridgeline, the home soon will become the centerpiece of a 2.8-acre community park that will include walking paths, community gardens, public gathering spaces and relics from the property's past.
It's a joint venture, undertaken by the Newbold family, South Jordan and developer McCullough Engineering and Contracting.
The restoration already has included fix-up jobs on a tiny milk house, a chicken coop, a granary and a buggy shed with a wide enough gap in the doors to accommodate the hitch.
"We tried to re-create this exactly the way it was when they built it," explained Bruce Newbold, grandson to Samuel Holt and nephew to the property's longtime owner, Mable Nelson, known as Aunt Mame.
The restoration project took root largely because of Aunt Mame, a near-centenarian who urged her family before her death in 2005 to preserve the plot as a community gathering place.
It was a fitting request for a woman who, although she had no children of her own, played host to family reunions with hundreds of guests and earned the affectionate nickname of "popcorn lady" from the community because of her habit of handing out popcorn to visitors.
Newbold hopes to preserve that heritage.
"That was the history of this place," he said. "It was a gathering place for family, friends and neighbors. We want to create and keep that same atmosphere."
But with the economy sputtering, the restoration has moved slower than expected. Preservationists have refinished the outside of the home, plus the outbuildings, at a cost of nearly $600,000. But hundreds of thousands of dollars in landscaping and interior remodeling are yet to come.
Developers also plan to build a 35-lot subdivision next door that will hold true to the historic architectural guidelines of the Holt home.
So how long until the project is completed? It all depends on money.
Years maybe?
"Hopefully not that long," Tingey said.
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» Samuel E. Holt built the home in 1907 after buying his father's 52-acre homestead for $3,500.
» Built on a granite foundation, the 1.5-story home includes 10 bedrooms -- a design meant to accommodate Holt's wife and 12 children.
» Holt served as the third LDS bishop for the South Jordan community and used food produced on the farm to help supply the church's storehouse for the needy.
» The home is listed on the state and national historic registers and soon will become the centerpiece of a community park known as the Samuel E. Holt Farmstead.