PETER ADOLPH FAMILY HOME IN BRIGHAM CITY

This photo was taken in 1996.

This photo was taken just before the Forsgren Reunion in 2008 after some renovation was begun by David Ericson of Salt Lake City

THE PETER ADOLPH FORSGREN HOME

59 South 100 East, Brigham City, Utah

The following information is extracted from a document labeled “Utah State Historic Preservation Office Structure/Site Information Form. It was prepared by Researcher Larry Douglass of the Museum,  March 1987.

Name of Property: Marilyn P. Pierce home

Street Address: 59 S. 100 E. Brigham City, Box Elder County, [Utah]

Current Ownership: Private
Site No: [blank]
T. 9N R. 2W S. 24
Map Name/Date: Brigham City Quad/1969
Tax #: 03-121-0033

Legal Description with acreage: Beginning at the SW corner of Lot 4, Block 14, Plat A, Brigham City Townsite Survey, thence N. 6 rods, E 10 rods, W 10 Rods to the beginning. .375 acre.

Property Category: building
Evaluation: eligible/potentially eligible
Condition: fair
Alterations: minor
Photo Data: prints, Mar 1987

Research sources: Abstract of Title, plat records/map, tax card & photo, Sanborn maps, obituary index, census records, biographical encyclopedias, newspapers, city/county histories; LDS Genealogical Library

Bibliographical References:
Improvement Era v.II, p. 483; Also June 1950 p. 474-5
Deseret News: Mar 2, 1908
Box Elder Journal: Dec. 27, 1962
Box Elder News: Mar. 5, 1908
Brigham City Bugler: March 16, 1895
DUP Histories: Peter A. Forsgren; Christena Knudson Forsgren

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The Peter A. Forsgren home is described in great detail in a Univ. of Utah College of Architecture & Planning Publication (#10) of 2005.  "Polygamy in Lorenzo Snow's Brigham City: An Architectural Tour" wirtten by Lowell C. Bennion, Alan L. Morrell, and Thomas Carter.  The book also includes brief biographical sketches of Peter A. and Christina Erika Forsgren.  The publication is on sale at the Brigham City Museum and other locations in town.   The following elevation sketches are from that publication:

The home is described in the publication as probably dating from the late 1860s.  It is described as being very fashionable for its time and "one of Utah's finest Gothic Revival cottages."  It was made of unfired brick, or adobe, which was light grey in color & durable.  It was probably unplastered until at least the 1920's.

In Oscar Forsgren's short history of his father he makes this statement about the home:

     "When they could afford it, they built an adobe house.  It was a room about 14 X 16 feet square.  Later a lean-to was built for the loom, Father being a weaver.  Next they built a kitchen, then added a granary.  North of the first room, separated by a hall, was the bedroom.  There was an upstairs used as a bedroom and as a place where they kept silk worms."   

     In January of 2007 the Peter Adolph Forsgren home was in danger of being demolished.  While away on our Senior mission in Chile I was contacted  by Larry Douglass, Museum Director and Historic Preservation Coordinator for Brigham City Corporation, informing me of the death of Marilyn Pearce who owned the home and was its sole occupant for many years.  She had left the home to her son and daughter who were willing to let Mr. Douglass see if he could find a buyer to preserve the home.   He was inquiring if there was any possibility that the Forsgren Family Association might be able to purchase the home to save it since it has such historical significance.   After a minor survey I was able to ascertain that we would not be able to come up with sufficient money.  

     We were so grateful to hear, a few months later, that David Ericson of Salt Lake City had purchased the home and was interested in renovating it to be used eventually as an office of some sort.  He has renovated multiple  homes.  Together with his son (who currently lives in the home) they worked hard - first gutting & demolishing weakened floors and timbers and walls, then shoring up and fortifying important support beams.  David allowed attendees of the 2008 Forsgren Reunion to walk through the home, observe its multiple layers of paint and wallpaper, its tiny doorways and steep stairs to the 2nd floor.  It was quite an experience to get to go through the home and photograph it before they began the renovation in earnest - staying with it even through an economic downturn that could have brought the work to a  halt.   They complied with requirements of homes listed on the Historic Register to retain as much of the original structure as possible, so that now, even after passing modern kitchen equipment, you will step onto a threshold that has been hollowed out with years of use and will still open doors that were hung during the era of Forsgren family inhabitants. 

This  SW corner photo shows the carriage house-turned garage.

The back of the home taken from the SE. Corner.

Back view from the East showing the renovation started on the carriage house/garage.  Note the new horizontal roof support beam in place

Close up of the front upstairs balcony and door and railing which has been replaced by Mr. Ericson.  Later on part of this railing had to be removed in order to place furniture in the upstairs rooms that would have been impossible to bring up by way of the very steep stairs.

Exterior side view from the South.  Notice where roof lines have been changed to add to the original structure that would have been built by Peter A.



The original front door opens off a very warn threshold and stoop

Front door closed, taken from inside the entryway looking out.

Standing at the front door looking into the entry way back towards what was the kitchen.  The indoor kitchen would have been added on in later years from the original structure.  That is a coat closet just to the right.  Large rooms open off just to the left (would have been the parlor) and to the right - later used as a bedroom.

The coat closet in the entryway.  You can see it is beneath the stairs leading to the second story.  Note the original adobe bricks and the wooden pegs in the upper right of the photo which would have been shaped and placed by Peter A.

Close-up of the original hand carved pegs and the wood of the staircase

North room and window taken from the entryway.  The house looks particularly rundown because the work of removing old wallpaper and stucco has already begun.  For some reason I could easily imagine an upright piano in this room.  I don't know why that came to my mind when I entered since I have no idea if the Forsgren's owned a piano or not.

In the North room looking back towards the front entry

Standing inside the kitchen looking back at the doorway leading into the entry way of the house.  Notice the worn threshold and the now-exposed original bricks.  A variety of wallpapers and paint graced this room over the years as noted above the lintel of the door.

Wallpapers detail in kitchen

Three doors side by side.  The left door leads to a bathroom, the door in the middle leads to the upstairs.  You can barely note the opening of the door from the entryway at the right.

A view in the kitchen.  Doorway from entry hall on the left;  doorway on the right leads out into a utility/work room and stairs to a cellar.  Beyond that room is the garage/carriage  house.

Kitchen foundation and floor, original to the house, had to be taken up and re-laid for safety.  Anyone but me remember this type of linoleum???

Another view of the kitchen looking at what must have been a pantry before it was torn down.  Also note the two windows and the exposed floor beams.   The bathroom & stairway doors are in the extreme right of the photo.

A door from the bathroom leads into the front South West facing room.  Most of the window glass is original to the cabin

Another view of the South room.  Note hole for stovepipe denoting that this room might have also served as a sitting room.

It was a fairly daunting task to go upstairs to see the three bedrooms up there.  No handrail (nor evidence that their ever had been)  Steps are quite high and ascent is very steep.

Whew!  I made it!  Upstairs looking back down.  I am standing in a small entry by the door that leads out onto the balcony above the front door.

I hope none of the Forsgrens were tall!  My husband, Victor is 6' 1". 

And here I am standing at the same doorway.  I am 5'6".

Upstairs South facing bedroom

We need to be glad the house never burned down!  Some of the electrical wiring was a little scary!

Looking back to the front upstairs door and the stairway down - from the East bedroom.  All the upper rooms were essentially the same with the slanted roof/walls.  I felt right at home since my room in our family home in Boise was the same.  I thought I was the only one in my group of friends who could lie on her bed and put her feet on the ceiling!   There is a coziness to an attic bedroom.   These rooms are now occupied by the Ericson children.  Hopefully mom and dad don't have to go up and down the stairs too many times during the day.

Back downstairs to the utility room/storage room/porch that is on the back North side of the house.  Dave Ericson believes that these hooks in the beams of the ceiling were probably used for the weaving looms that Peter and Ana Christina used.  They wove silk, but also wove some of the rugs that were used in the Logan Temple.

So there you have it!  A little flavor of 59 South 100 East, the new home (built after they left their log cabin located on First East between Forest & First South which they had moved to after leaving the fort) of Patriarch Peter Adolph & Anna Christina Knudson Forsgren and their 8 children.  Only 6 of the children lived to adulthood.  Rebecca died just after her 7th birthday.  Mary Magdalene died two months after her 16th birthday. 

The home in August 2012 as they continue to update & improve it!  Lovely