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< Back Return to Roads 2nd Street & Chief Little Soldier Way Corner of W. 2nd Street and Century Dr., Aug. 5, 2021 W. 2nd St. a.k.a. Chief Little Soldier Way has golden view of Mt. Lewis & Mt. Eyrie. The 1851 Bingham/Stone Farm was a Native American camping ground for thousands of years; the farm is on the National Register of Historic Places; photo by David Montgomery. A shoe-box full of arrowheads have been found on the Bingham/Stone Farm. In July 2021 the Ogden City Council approved an honorary road name for West 2nd Street: Chief Little Soldier Way. All the concrete and cars hardly reflect 2nd Street's Native American history, so it is important that the name of a Shoshone chief is visible on the top of 2nd Street signposts to elevate Shoshone history to its proper stature and acknowledge West 2nd Street and the surrounding land as Native American camping grounds. This is a starting point inviting all to learn of the unique Shoshone history and listen to Native American voices and perspectives today. Also, amid the busy clamor of 2nd Street is tucked away "The Oldest Neighborhood in Ogden". The 1851 pioneer Bingham Farm and six houses from the the 1860s are rare and unique treasures located on the grounds of the 1853 Bingham Fort. [1] These are among the oldest landmarks in Ogden. The four honorary road signs for Chief Little Soldier Way extend between the east-west borders of Bingham Fort, which are roughly from Wall Ave. to Century Dr. The DUP monument and the crosswalk, a bit west of Century Dr., are located on the actual line of the west wall of Bingham Fort. The crosswalk and the DUP monument are located on the line of the west wall of Bingham Fort. Placing the honorary Chief Little Soldier Way signs in the confines of Bingham Fort reminds us of two facts: The Shoshone were free to enter the fort and camp in the open center portion. 2In the winter of 1854-55, the Shoshone were without food because the pioneer herds had denuded Mother Earth of the seeds, grass and plants that the Shoshone gathered for food. So, the Shoshone lived in the fort with the settlers and shared food and labor until the weather warmed enough that they could go on a long hunt. The six blocks of 2nd Street west of Five Points has many old houses built before 1920; twelve of these homes were built by pioneers. [2] The Native American camping grounds, the 1851 farm, and the twelve pioneer houses make 2nd Street the Oldest Neighborhood in Ogden. 1880 pioneer adobe house at 226 2nd Street. [1] - The addresses of the five old houses of the 1860s that still remain on W. 2nd St. in Bingham Fort are: 152 W. 2nd St., 159 W. 2nd St. rear, 150 W. 2nd St. rear, 142 W. 2nd St., and 386 W. 2nd St. [2] - Some of these old houses are hard to recognize as they have been covered with siding; some are not visible from the street; follow guide. Previous Return to Roads Next

< Back 301 West 2nd Street and Bingham/Stone Farm Return to Homes 301 West 2nd Street “Our new house” – the Chauncey and Edna Stone Home was completed in Dec. 1925. Listed on National Register of Historic Places in 2004, typifying the Golden Age of the Family Farm; listed on Ogden Register of Historic Places in 2021. Thirty acres of the farm placed in a conservation easement for perpetuity. Chauncey and Edna Stone Home and Bingham/Stone Farm This 1920s house was built in the southwest corner of the former Bingham Fort and on the frontage of the old Bingham Farm. This spot yielded simple artifacts like a rocks and adobes that brought back stories of the past that had slipped into the corners of most minds. In 1923 as Chauncey dug with horses and scrapers to begin the foundation, he uncovered the 1850s rock foundation and many adobe bricks of the old Bingham Fort tithing house. His find stirred up public interest, and the Standard Examiner wrote an article about it titled Lost Fort Discovery. Chauncey used the rocks of the tithing house in the foundation of his new bungalow. Another surprise on the farm was the discovery of arrowheads. As Chauncey plowed the fields of the pioneer Bingham Farm from 1913 to the 1960s, he found dozens of arrowheads, the artifacts of the Shoshone and other ancient tribes. Chauncey and Edna discovered more artifacts in the Lynne Ditch that runs behind the house: china chips. When the fort was built in 1853, the Lynne Ditch was diverted to run inside the fort on the south side. Women of the fort threw their broken china dishes and glass into the ditch to keep the silt down. The tradition of throwing china and glass into the ditch continued for fifty years or more, and china chips can be found in the West 2nd Street section of the Lynne ditch today. Chauncey and Edna were married in 1908 and lived 100 feet west of this house in the Old Bingham Cabin for fifteen years where their three children were born. Chauncey and Edna Stone by Bingham Cabin located 100 feet west of 301 W 2nd St.; photos 1911& 1916. In 1913 Chauncey and his brother John purchased the Bingham cabin and the sixty-acre Bingham Farm and combined it with their 1871 Stone Farm which was on the north side of West 2nd Street. In the early Twentieth Century, Chauncey plowed the old Bingham Farm with horses, often using three horses and a triple tree because the plow was so hard to pull. When plowing with horses, it was easy to spot an arrowhead. With years of practice, Chauncey could later spot arrowheads from a tractor. Over the years, he and his son, Harvey Stone, filled a shoe box with arrowheads. In addition to grain and hay, Chauncey started a dairy farm. In the beginning of the dairy, Edna drove about the Five Points neighborhood in a horse and wagon selling her cheese and sweet cream butter. Later they sold milk to Weber Central Dairy. During thrashing and haying time, Edna rose up at dawn to bake bread and cook meals for the workers on a majestic stove. Edna’s Majestic Stove Rainfall, surpluses, and national markets prices made farming difficult and vulnerable. Chauncey took classes in electricity and worked for Bell Telephone for a few years, installing some of the first telephones in Weber County in the 1920s and enabling him to build the new brick house. The new house had electricity and running water and was completed in December 1925 just in time for Christmas. During the 1920s and 1930s Chauncey built two barns, a milk house, a garage, a tractor garage, several chicken coops and a workshop. Chauncey could have had other jobs, but he believed that the farm was the best place to raise children - that farm work kept them all strong and healthy physically and gave them strong minds as well. He also liked being his own boss. [1] Chauncey and Edna lived on their farm through two decades of agriculture abundance, the Great Depression and two world wars. During the Depression the Stones had little cash but plenty of food. Tug Anderson said that the Stones raised six other boys besides their own during this time; young men in the neighborhood worked on Stone Farm in exchange for meals and food to take home. The farm was a busy place characterized by lots of hard work and lots of fun. Mrs. Anderson said it saved her sons’ lives to have milk to drink each day during their growing teen years. [2] In 1935 Chauncey had forty dairy cows, fifty chickens, five horses and two wells. By the 1930s most of the farm work was done by machines although horses were still used for some jobs. Events during World War 11: It was difficult to hire farm labor, and Italian prisoners of war were hired by Chauncey’s niece’s husband, Clyde Montgomery, to work on the farm. The prisoners worked here gladly in a relaxed atmosphere with lunch served in front of the granary. Hemp was grown on the farm for the government; its strong industrial fibers were used to produce rope and other materials for the armed services. Neighbor Taki was taken to Topaz Internment Camp near Delta, Utah. Chauncey, Clyde and others took care of his farm while he was gone. Every third- or fourth-day Chauncey would drive on the tractor to Taki’s farm to feed the cows and chickens. When speaking to his family about this injustice to Taki, Chauncey’s eyes would fill with tears. The Chamber of Commerce and the federal government confiscated a total of 1,679 acres of choice local farmland on West 2nd Street to build the Utah General Depot. Chauncey lost 36 acres and another 40 acres that he co-owned with his brother John. This was a big loss to Chauncey and John’s 200-acre farm. For diverse reasons, nationally and locally, World War ll was the beginning of the end of the era of family farming. By the 1950s Chauncey’s son, Harvey Stone, took over the farm; Harvey also served the agriculture community for 26 years as the Lynne Irrigation President and Ditch Master. This farm was claimed in 1851 by Erastus Bingham. It has been a working farm from 1851 to the present and is among the oldest farms in Utah. For its first 60 years it was known as Bingham Farm; for the next 90 years it was known as Stone Farm. In 1998 the names were combined to Bingham/Stone Farm. In 2004, the National Register of Historic Places accepted the forty-acre farm, this house, Clyde’s house, and ten farm buildings on their list under the title of Stone Farm, Ogden, Utah, typifying the Golden Age of the Family Farm from the 1920s to 1950. Also in 2004, thirty acres of the farm were placed in a conservation easement with the State of Utah for perpetuity. In 2021, the Stone House at 301 W 2nd Street was listed on the Ogden Register of Historic Places. Also in 2021, the Weber County Heritage Foundation held a public event on the Bingham/Stone farm called Meet the Shoshone, to memorialize the ancient Native American presence on the farm and along 2nd Street. China chips found in the Lynne Ditch. Arrowheads from the fields of the Bingham/Stone Farm. Chauncey Stone plowing with three horses in the 1920s. Raymond Peterson planting, 1920s. Hay stacks on Stone Farm circa 1933. Haying 1930s. Tug Anderson & Harvey Stone Warren Stone & Chet. Warren Stone, harrowing, 1935. Warren Stone milking 1930s 1933 chicken coop; later used to store drums of gas for machinery. Chauncey Stone milking barn and milk house. [1] - Interview Tug Anderson 1999 . [2] - Ibid. Return to Homes Previous Next

< Back 136 West 2nd Street Return to Homes 136 West 2nd Street Leon & Josephine Reno House YESTERDAY: 136 W. 2nd Street; photo courtesy of G. Sherner, 1982. Leon Reno and Josie Reno In the 1880s and 1890s there was a surge of Italian immigrants that settled at Five Points, on 2nd Street, and many in the old Bingham Fort. They were poor and were seeking a new life, similar to the pioneers who came thirty years earlier. It was fitting that the Italians purchased some of the old farms and houses that once belonged to the pioneers. By 1900 2nd Street west of Five Points came to be called “Little Italy”. Victor Reno Senior arrived on W 2nd Street in 1887 and became one of the leaders of the Italian farmers that congregated there. By 1912 Victor Reno’s wife, Nellie Bune Reno, built this new bungalow at 136 W 2nd Street 400 feet east of today’s Aspen Acres subdivision which was the Reno farm and site of the first Reno home. The new house was evidence of the family’s economic progress and permanent place in the community. After Nellie’s death in 1931, her son and daughter, Leon and Josephine, continued to live here. Leon Reno (1894-1969) grew up on W 2nd Street working on the Reno family farm but, after serving in the Air Force from 1918-19, he attended Weber Academy, training in pharmacy studies. He served as the pharmacist in the Greenspot Drugstore located in Wangsgards at Five Points and was well known in the community as “Doc Reno”. He was a social person and always had a funny joke or story to tell. After work and on weekends, he continued all his life helping his brother, Vic Reno Jr, on the family farm (Aspen Acres Subdivision). Josie (1884-1966) cared for her mother and worked as a book keeper for W. H. Wright & Sons Co. Because of its prominent spatial location, the house is an easily identifiable visual feature along W 2nd Street in old Bingham Fort. There is a path on the east side of the home (Old Pioneer Road) that gives increased visibility to the property. When the news media wants to represent West 2nd Street, 136 W 2nd Street often appears in their pictures: Standard-Examiner, February 2020. TODAY: Photo in Salt Lake Tribune, October 2021. Return to Homes Previous Next

< Back 150 West 2nd Street - Gillson Return to Homes The Gillson/Genta home left; granary right; abandoned property in 1986 at time of Ogden Reconnaissance Survey. Abandoned Gillson/Genta house, front as it looked in 2001. Restored/Gillson-Genta house/as it looked in 2010. Gillson Family Built the House c.1866 William Gillson & Charlotte King William Gillson Charlotte King. Photo from DUP Museum, Ogden, Utah. William (1811-1873) Gillson and his wife Charlotte King (1810-1899) left England and moved to South Africa in 1845. Nineteen years later they left South Africa and moved to America to gather with the Saints in Zion. That journey took seven months. They settled in the abandoned Bingham Fort in 1859 on the north side of 2nd Street on the Old Pioneer Road which continued on to Harrisville at that time. Upon arrival, the family was dirt poor; William was 48 years old and his son Edward was 18. All had to work together to create a house, a farm and lateral ditches and provide food and clothes. Martha Gillson was nine years old when they arrived. She recalled that her mother would walk to North Ogden and wash all day for a little white flour to mix with the brand they had to make bread for the children. While the mother was away the little children worked but were afraid of the Indians when they were alone. Martha worked helping her father strip sugarcane to grind for molasses, carrying sage brush to make fires and helping with the family cooking. Martha also gleaned in the fields gathering wheat; sometimes she could glean five bushels a day which she could sell for five dollars per bushel. This money would help to buy their clothes. She would start to town with a bushel of wheat on her back, sometimes she would get a ride; she would sell her wheat and buy calico that cost $.60 a yard. She felt very proud when she was able to get a new dress. She enjoyed the bread her mother baked in a large kettle over the fire in the fireplace of the cabin. Sometimes they had very little to eat and very often when Martha went out to glean in the fields, all she would have to eat was a piece of bread with a cucumber and salt. [1] As the years went by the family prospered, and in about 1866 they built the board farmhouse house pictured above. In the beginning, the house was handsome; the exterior walls of the main structure were board and the interior walls were adobe brick covered with lath and plaster. The exterior walls and interior walls of the kitchen lean-to were adobe; the square footage of the house was 24 x 29 feet. A cellar was dug under the lean-to with stone lined walls six feet high and a well in the SE corner. In time a lean-to was added to the lean-to. Square nails were found in all the old construction of the house. [2] These kinds of improvement over the log cabin were typical of farmhouses built the late 1860s. In the 1920s, the Genta family covered the exterior board and adobe walls with cement, as it appears in all the pictures. The interior walls of house were adobe covered with lath‘n plaster. The interior walls of house were adobe covered with lath‘n plaster. Picture of the east side of the Gillson house shows the prominent portion of the house with/double/lean-to. with a lean-to and a second lean-to; photo Dave Montgomery, 1960s. Walls of lean-to are adobe bricks interior and exterior, eventually the exterior was covered by cement. Granary Built By Edward Gillson The granary was built in the 1870s by Edward Gillson; in the 1920s the Genta family covered it with cement and added a room. Right: in 2000 Brent Baldwin stripped the cement off the granary. By 1870 William Gillson was so good at plastering that he chose to make that his vocation; he and his wife moved to another residence on Washington Ave., leaving the farm to his son Edward Gillson who built this granary with orange brick from the Gates Adobe-Brick Mill in the 1870s. The granary was two-level with a four-foot rock foundation. Wheat and grains were stored in the upper level; the lower level had a dirt floor and served as a root cellar. [3] In 2002 Brent Baldwin stripped the cement off the granary, added a porch, put a door on the extension, added a new roof, installed windows and made a barber shop and guest room filled with charm. Brent Baldwin restored the granary in 2002. Genta Family Mary Peraca Bertinotti and Anna Bertinotti Genta Anna Bertinotti Genta immigrated from Italy in 1889 with her husband, two sons and her widowed mother, age 55. Her uncle Michael Bertinotti owned the Gillson property at this time, and he allowed Anna’s mother, Maria Peraca Bertinotti, to live in the Gillson farmhouse and he moved into a simple board house about 100 feet the north. So, there were now two houses at the address 150 W 2nd Street rear, the larger and nicer house for his sister-in-law, Maria, and a simple board house for Michael. Maria never learned to speak English, and Michael looked after her until his death in 1911. In 1912, widowed Anna Genta bought all her uncle’s property on 2nd Street: the Gillson house, the granary, the simple board house and five acres of farmland. She moved into the larger house with her mother, and her son John and his family took the other house, and John farmed the land. They fit right in with the neighborhood; at this time there were so many Italians living on West 2nd Street that it was known as “Little Italy”. By the 1920s the Genta family covered the Gillson house with cement for preservation. They also covered the granary with cement, added a room and turned it into a house. So now there were three houses at the address of 150 W 2nd Street rear. After Anna Genta’s death in 1925, her son John Genta and family continued to live and farm here, renting some of the houses to family members. In 1937 when Wall Ave was constructed and the Utah General Depot was under construction, many farmers were forced to sell their land and the large farming community on 2nd Street dissolved at that time. John Genta quit the farm and left the houses to various relatives. [1] - Rueben L Hansen, A Sketch of the Life of Martha Gillson Hall, manuscript, 1938. [2] - Interview Brent Baldwin, 2011. [3] - On site visit in May 2000 by Gordon Q. Jones, author Pioneer Forts in Ogden Utah, 1996, Sons of Utah Pioneers. Return to Homes Previous Next

< Back Watching Indian Dances at Night Return to Native Americans Photo from LIFE OF A PIONEER, Being the Autobiography of James S Brown, printed by Geo. Q. Cannon and Sons Co., Salt Lake City. While living at 2nd Street and 1000 West the Hutchens children loved to sleep outside at night; they were never afraid and they really enjoyed it. The starlit nights were thrilling when the stars showed out so brightly; the children lay on their backs and tried to count the stars. Then there were nights when the moon shone so brightly that the world seemed to be in a soft enchanting glow. According to Jack Indian, when one could hang a powder horn on the tip of the moon and it wouldn’t slip off, then it was a sign that they could leave their powder outside because it would be dry. The best nights were when they lay on the roof of their shed and quietly watched the Indians at their campfires singing or dancing their many ceremonial dances. “Some dances were so fierce it made them shiver and others so majestic and solemn that it made one want to weep. Then others were just the opposite – almost enticing them into jumping up and down in merriment too…” Headdresses were used in ceremonies and sometimes the ceremonies were very colorful with waving banners and javelins.” On hot nights, their parents made their beds on the shed too, laying their blankets on top of clean straw and watching the Indians dance. [1] [1] - Autobiography of Mary Elizabeth Hutchens Sherner, Mary Elizabeth – Her Stories, dictated to her daughter Dorothy A. Sherner, manuscript, 1933, p 65, 91. Return to Native Americans Previous [object Object] Next

< Back Return to Roads Melling Way 2014 Mary Ellen Melling (1855-1940) was a baby pioneer born in Wyoming as her parents trekked from Preston England to Zion in 1855. The family suffered the physical trials and deprivations common to pioneers in the 1850s, and amid these circumstances, Mary Ellen grew up to be spunky and independent. By the time she was 9 she was living in Marriott with her mother and step-father and her job was to tend the family’s sheep. She wrote that she would go “ a long way from home and stay all day with the sheep. We used to get very hungry as we had only bread and an onion and salt to take for dinner and we used to dip our bread in the river before eating it. One summer following a season after the grasshopper pest we had no bread to eat. We had to live on potatoes and we would take some boiled potatoes and salt and an onion. We also dug wild segos and ate them. Oh, a piece of bread would have been a luxury then. I always feel hurt to see a piece of bread lying in waste, to me it seems a sin for I have known the need of it.” [1] By the time she was 15, the country had become more thickly settled and a little more civilized with the arrival of the railroad. In 1870 dancing was the most important social activity. She wrote: “We generally used to dance in the school-houses; we would go from one settlement to another and dance. Sometimes our dances would continue until a late hour reaching far into the morning.” [2] It was at these dances that Mary Ellen met her future husband James H. Stone. Her mother and step-father had someone else in mind for her to marry and forbade her from dancing with or talking to Mr. Stone. But Mary Ellen liked Mr. Stone and cared nothing for the fellow that her parents had in mind, so the trouble started for Mary Ellen and James. James gave her small tin type of himself making Mary Ellen feel sure that he cared for her as he did not give a picture of himself to any other girl. When her parents discovered the picture, they took it away. [3] James and Mary Ellen continued meeting “accidentally”, as often as they could arrange it. During the May Day celebration of 1871 Mary Ellen slipped out of her house without permission to meet James for the May Day Stroll. James took her to the cabin of his brother Ed Stone in Bingham Fort, and they were visiting there when Mary Ellen’s parents found them. Her parents were excited and angry and told Mary Ellen to come right now and go home with them. Mary Ellen refused to go unless they would promise to give her the freedom to go out with and keep company with the boy of her choice. They said no, and her step-father, Thomas Salisbury, grabbed hold of James’ ear roughly pulling it, ordering him to take Mary Ellen back home. Amid this confusion and in the presence of everyone, James fell on his knee and proposed to Mary Ellen. He told her that he was not prepared to marry, but if she wanted to take the chance with him, he would do his best for her and they would get married on this very day. She accepted. He was 18 and she was almost 16. Her parents were enraged and tried to put a stop to it. Her step-father was Justice of the Peace in Marriott. He hurried around and told all other Justices of the Peace in the area of his protest to this marriage. Knowing that no one in Weber County would marry them, James secured some horses, and with the help of his brother and some friends, they forded the Weber River when its water was at its highest run off and rode south to Kay’s Ward where they were married on the evening of May 1, 1871. The day of the May Stroll turned out to be their wedding day. [4] James Stone and Mary Ellen Melling in 1871; crayon portrait by Ed Stone. For the following year Mary Ellen was shunned by her parents, and James was excommunicated from the Church for their unapproved marriage. It was not uncommon in these times to be cut off from the Church for perceived disobedience or willfulness. But they were devoted to each other and lived happily. After eloping they lived with James’ widowed mother, Mary Cruse Stone, for about a year. James worked very hard to earn money and purchased some land next to the railroad tracks from Sam Gates; this land had a large, elongated pond that was bridged by the railroad track in a narrow portion. Perhaps this parcel of land was sold because of its location by the tracks and the wetlands (today’s Fort Bingham subdivision). James built a cabin next to the pond, and in time the pond came to be known as Stone’s Pond. After the first year of their marriage, they were reconciled with Mary Ellen’s parents, but Mary Ellen did not resume activity in the Church until 1885. [5] James and Mary Ellen had five children and thirteen years of married happiness. In addition to farming James worked as a horse-back mail carrier to Huntsville. He worked hard for five more years, and they were able to buy more land and an adobe house on 2nd Street. Their bliss was cut short in November 1884 when James was injured in a run-away horse and wagon accident; he died on December 24, 1884, and was buried on Christmas Day. After the death of her beloved husband Mary Ellen was a single mother with five children under the age of 12. The Stone brothers, Ed and Moroni, helped her to retain the farm and sustain her family, but they had large families of their own. It was necessary for Mary to go into the field and hold the plow and do other work only suited to a man. During this time, she prayed to Heavenly Father to bless her crops, and the Lord opened up the way. Her tithing record for 1885 is still written on the wall of the old tithing house still located at 196 2nd Street. The older children helped her continuously, and she also took in domestic work. Under these circumstances she accepted three motherless children into her home and raised them as her own. Over the years others who were in need stayed with her for various lengths of time until they could get on their feet and establish their own homes. Baby Carl (1891-1961) was adopted by Mary Ellen and given the Stone family name. [6] Mary Ellen became an active member of the Lynne Ward and the Relief Society and served as counselor to two Relief Society presidents. She also worked in Primary, went to Logan and did temple work, and participated in the Utah silk project. In 1889 she was married in polygamy to neighbor Walter Crane, but she remained independently in her own home and continued to manage the family farm (the west portion of today’s Fort Bingham). She wrote that although she had much sickness and many deaths in the family and passed through many sorrows, she had joy in her labors, particularly since she had become an active member of the Church. Many times, when death was at the door, she exerted faith in behalf of her children and saw miraculous healings. She was known to visit much among the sick and the needy and tried to the best of her ability to comfort the hearts of the distressed. [7] She died in February 1940 at the age of 84. Her obituary described her as an early pioneer in Ogden, Utah, and stated, “She not only reared her own family, but also other children not of her family. She is known by all who have associated with her as a great mother and a friend to all.” Mary Ellen Melling’s silkworm cocoon, part of the Utah Silk project, circa 1878. Mary Ellen Melling with pet owl in front of her home at 386 W. 2nd Street, Ogden; 1912. [1] - Autobiography of Mary Ellen Melling Stone Crane, manuscript, 1922, p. 6. [2] - Ibid, p. 6. [3] - Sarah Stone Crowther, Biography of Pioneer James Hyrum Stone, 1949, manuscript, p. 4. [4] - Sarah E. Crowther, Biography of Mary Ellen Melling Stone, handwritten manuscript, c. 1935, p. 54,55. [5] - Autobiography of Mary Ellen Melling Stone Crane, p.9. [6] - Ibid, p. 9,10; Autobiographical Historical Sketch, p. 2 [7] - Autobiographical Historical Sketch, p.3. Previous Return to Roads Next

< Back 317 West 2nd Street Return to Homes 317 West 2nd Street Site of Bingham Cabin 1850s -1953 1850s map of Bingham Fort on W 2nd Street; red marks site of Erastus Bingham cabin, fort tithing house, today’s crosswalk and monument. Bingham family members lived in the cabin until the 1880s, Mills family members until 1910 and Stone family members until the 1950s. 1911 photo: Chauncey and Edna Stone lived in the Bingham cabin from 1910 to 1925. 1929 photo: Left: Bingham 1870s granary with a garage in front; Center: Erastus Bingham 1850s cabin; Right: Thomas Mills 1910 barn. 1950 circa photo: Clyde and Macel Stone Montgomery lived in the Bingham Fort cabin from 1940 to 1953. About 1950, Ogden Mayor Raymond Wright (pictured) convinced them to preserve the Bingham cabin in a museum; the cabin had been on West 2nd Street for 100 years. 1953 photo of Montgomery children on steps of Bingham cabin. Clyde & Macel Stone Montgomery House at 317 W 2nd Street, 1953 1953: Clyde Montgomery completed building their new brick house and the family vacated the cabin and moved into the new house. It was exactly one-hundred years since the beginning of Bingham Fort in 1853. 1954: The 100-year-old Bingham Fort Cabin was propped up on a trailer bed and moved to a museum (left); in 2022 the cabin stands in Pioneer Village at Lagoon, Farmington, Ut (right). 1958: Montgomery House at 317 W 2nd St. after the Bingham Fort Cabin was moved to a museum. 2022: Montgomery House at 317 W 2nd Street. Sign placed near the site of the Bingham Cabin. Clyde Montgomery and Macel Stone, daughter of John Stone, married in 1930 and moved onto the Stone Farm in 1940, living in the Bingham Fort Cabin for thirteen years. In 1953 they moved into their new house built by Clyde located directly east of the cabin. Clyde had two jobs: he worked at Hill Air Force Base as a glazier and farmed 16-acres of the Stone farm that Macel inherited from her father. As late as the 1940s, Clyde continued to plow with a team of horses. In 1949 he bought a tractor that is still in use. One of his biggest crops was alfalfa hay. He cut, raked and baled the hay and sold it to customers who picked it up in the field. During the 1980 drought in the Midwest, cattle were starving so Clyde donated a large stack of bailed hay to help feed them. He also grew peas, tomatoes, wheat and barley and raised chickens, pigs and cows. The idea to attach the old Bingham granary to their new house originated with Macel. She preserved the granary and the old Mills barn in addition to many artifacts. Macel and Clyde had six children. Photo 1953: Clyde and Macel Montgomery pictured inside the Bingham cabin with four of their six children. The Erastus Bingham Granary, 1870s Photo 1915: Erastus Bingham had the granary built in the 1870s with orange bricks, or burnt bricks, from the Gates Adobe Mill; Erastus Bingham and Sam Gates were longtime friends; the granary was a two-level with a three-foot rock foundation to keep the rain from splashing on the bricks; pictured is Edna Stone’s brother, Noman Kent. Photo 2004: The Bingham 1870s granary was attached to the rear of the Montgomery house in 1953 when Clyde built his house; in 2004 the house and granary were listed with Stone Farm on the National Register of Historic Places. Return to Homes Previous Next

< Back 122 2nd Street Return to Homes Circa 1920 Photo taken 2021 Peter Sherner Mary Elizabeth Hutchens Pioneer Peter Sherner was boarded by Sam Gates in about 1864 when he was 14 years old. Neighbors passing by the Gates cabin on Bingham Fort Lane (2nd Street) saw a young boy wearing Mr. Gates’ old clothes with sleeves and pant legs cut off to fit his size. He was a Danish immigrant with light blond hair that hung down straight almost to his shoulders. It was common practice for pioneers to board immigrant youth for help with farm or domestic labor. After a few years, the youth would move on to better opportunities or reunite with their own family. But Peter Sherner did not move on; he stayed and worked and boarded with the Gates and other families on 2nd Street and also managed to attend school. In time he matured, married and lived the rest of his life on 2nd Street. [1] In 1873, nine years after his arrival, Peter married a neighbor’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Hutchens. She was among those who first viewed and later described Peter standing in front of the Gates cabin wearing Mr. Gates’ oversized clothes. After their marriage, they boarded and worked for Mary Maxham at 214 W 2nd Street while Peter built a one-room adobe house at 122 2nd Street. The property at 122 2nd Street was in poor condition. It still had a wheel and part of the old Gates Molasses Mill standing in a dry river bed where Wall Ave runs now. It took a team of horses and a scraper to level the land, take down the old mill, level crisscross river beds, and make a home site. Peter was a good carpenter and he thriftily recycled adobes, window casings, and doors taken from an old house that Mary’s father had torn down. [2] For the first few years after their marriage, Peter accepted the position as teacher of the Lynne School and was assisted by his wife. Peter had many jobs during his life, but he always preferred teaching or carpentry work to farming. As the years passed, Peter enlarged the house to accommodate ten children. It became a 1½ story home with a hall-parlor plan. [3] One day in about 1880, there was a humorous incident at this house between the Indians and three of the Sherner children. Mary Sherner found it necessary to go to a store three blocks away at Five Points and asked her five-year-old son, Lawrence if he thought he could take care of his younger sisters for about a half-hour. He said he could do this, and she hurried off to the store. When she was halfway home, she could see a number of Indians turn into their place, and she hurried as she knew the children would be frightened when she wasn’t there, even though they were used to seeing Indians. When she got to the gate, she saw the Indians looking through the windows and laughing. When the young Indians on horseback saw Mary, they rode out of the property, and the women moved away. Mary called to them and said, “What are you doing? Are you trying to frighten my papooses? You ought to know better than to come in when I am not here.” Then she looked in the window. There stood 5-year-old Lawrence on the table, facing the window with one arm raised holding the stove lifter. His face was very pale and his eyes flashed in fright. He stood guard over his sisters whom he had pushed under the table behind him and pulled the oilcloth down over the edge so it completely hid the children. There he stood to hold the cloth in place. Mary’s heart ached in sympathy. She called to him, “Lawrence, I have come. Everything is all right now. Let me in.” The Indians left laughing, and how pleased the children were to have her return. [4] Peter Sherner had a strong liking for trees and planted oak and horse chestnut trees in front of his house; one large oak still remains in 2021. On their 25-acre farm, Peter had a group of trees north of their house called The Grove. The Grove was used by church and community for dances, gatherings, and celebrations like the 24th of July. Peter did not care for farming, and in time his son, Lawrence effectively managed the farm. Peter taught new emigrants the English language, became president of the Scandinavian Society and secretary of Lynne Irrigation Company. He spoke several languages and served as an arbitrator for immigrant disputes. [5] Mary had a talent for storytelling; in 1933 she dictated her life memories in stories to a daughter, Dorothy Amelda Sherner, who transcribed them into a 200-page manuscript titled, Mary Elizabeth- Her Stories. These remarkable stories portrayed Mary’s family and encompassed a unique history of the Lynne Community. Peter died in 1899 and Mary in 1935. Eventually, the 12-inch adobe walls of the Sherner house were covered with a cement-like stucco on the exterior. The house has a unique and pleasing architectural design and has been a stately landmark on Second Street for over 140 years. [1] - Autobiography of Mary Elizabeth Hutchens Sherner, transcribed by Dorothy Sherner, Mary Elizabeth-Her Stories, manuscript, 1933, p.79; Dorothy Amelda Sherner, Memories, manuscript. [2] - Dorothy Sherner, Memories; Unknown author, Peter Lorenson Sherner, manuscript. [3] - Ibid. [4] - Autobiography of Mary Elizabeth Hutchens Sherner, transcribed by Dorothy Sherner, Mary Elizabeth-Her Stories, manuscript, 1933, p.81. [5] - Unknown author, Peter Lorenzo Sherner. Return to Homes Previous Next

< Back 152 West 2nd Street Return to Homes Victor G. Reno House in c.1930; built by William Hutchens. Built by William Hutchens in 1867; purchased by Victor G. Reno in 1912; photo 2011. William Hutchens (1828-1885) and Eliza Stone (18337-1904) William Hutchens & Eliza Stone William B. Hutchens was born 1828 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the son of a wealthy plantation owner. He met Mormon missionaries at the age of 14 and was converted and baptized with his family in 1842. In 1854 he married Eliza Stone from England in Salt Lake City. After their marriage Brigham Young sent William and Eliza to Bingham Fort to help build up Weber County. They arrived after the winter of the “great experiment” when the Shoshone and the settlers lived together in Bingham Fort. The Native Americans no longer lived in the fort but they were there in great numbers; all the vacant land north and south of west 2nd Street was one great encampment of tents. The settlers’ herds and the emigrant trails had destroyed the small game, plants, grasses and seeds that the Indians depended on for food so they demanded portions of everything the pioneers had. [1] William learned enough of the Shoshone language to communicate well and gained a mutual trust with the Natives that camped near him. As William developed his farm, he shared every third row of his vegetables with them, and sub-chief Indian Jack shared buffalo from their long hunts. The house at 152 W 2nd Street is the fifth and final house that William and Eliza built in the area. This was their “dream” home built in 1867 on uncultivated land in the disbanded Bingham Fort. The house was located in a popular area between the school house, Old Pioneer Road, and the molasses mill. See Indians Love Molasses for interesting incident that occurred one morning at the Hutchens’ family breakfast. Originally the exterior walls of the house were adobe and the floor plan had two large square rooms arranged next to each other with two front doors and four windows arranged symmetrically on the front façade. The house was one and a half stories tall with end wall chimneys and small second level gable windows on either side of the chimneys; the bedrooms were upstairs. The second door on the front was not installed for polygamy but was a common American form of house that provided a separate entrance to the parlor. The granary was close to the house as it was used as a summer kitchen. 1867 adobe house plan, 1½ stories, granary in rear. The large adobe house was upgraded to plastered walls inside and a shingled roof. Other nearby new houses and the new school house were also plastered. The process of plastering walls is best described by the children in Mary Elizabeth Hutchens’ autobiography: When the (adobe) house was finished, Mary and Mel went up to clean it. They were surprised to find black and red and white hair mixed with the plaster. They imagined that the men’s hair had come out while they were working. They were quite alarmed about it. They took some sample of all colors to show their father that night, because the men who worked on the house were Mr. Taft, who had white hair; Mr. Drake who had red hair, and his brother Orson who had black hair. So when they arrived home, Mary said to her father, “Father, why do you suppose those men’s hair fell out so?” Her father said, “What men?” Mary said, “The men who built the house. The plaster is just full of red and white and black hairs. See, we brought some to show you.” And Mary and Mel showed some of the hair they had collected. Her father laughed and said, “Well, girls, it does look as though it might have been theirs, but that is cows’ hair. They take hair off hides and put it in the plaster to make it stick on the walls. If hair wasn’t put in, the plaster would all fall off.” The girls were glad they had found out before they had said anything about it to their playmates. It took all day to clean the house and the next day their father moved the household goods, and that night they couldn’t sleep for looking at the walls and thinking what a lovely house it was and what clean smooth nice walls it had. On the ceiling was the mark of a switch- just like someone had hit the ceiling while it was yet soft. The children thought that was wonderful too. [2] The adobe house was large and grand, but it was not yet finished. In 1869 the Great Highway across the continent met in Corrine, Utah, eventually changing Ogden from a farming village to a railroad hub. Sometime in the early 1870s, surveyors made a railroad right-of-way through the Meadows (today’s Business Depot Ogden). William got the contract to build a portion of that railroad grade through the Meadows and hired men from their own vicinity and from the valley for the work. They used horses and scrapers. They scraped the soil from the sides of the right-of-way and made a high embankment for the track. Having charge of the work, William also had charge of the payroll, and one Saturday he brought home all that he could carry of money in a bag to pay the men. It was mostly silver. He said to his wife, “Eliza, I don’t know what to do with this money. I am afraid it might be stolen as I have to keep it until Monday. Where would be a safe place to hide it until then?” They both appeared rather worried. Then Eliza, seeing a large barrel of salt said, “Why don’t you partly empty the salt barrel, put the money in this pail, put it in, and then refill the barrel with the salt.” So this they did, and on Monday morning William took the bucket of money out and paid off the men; the men going to the granary back of their house.” This is how the granary became a temporary pay roll station for the railroad. [3] With the money earned from railroad work, William Hutchens built a saw mill north west of his house for the purpose of making lumber to cover the outer adobe walls of his house with board planks. In addition to covering the adobe with the planks, he added a beautiful, long porch; the porch was reminiscent of the three porches on his father’s old mansion in South Carolina. Just east of the porch, he added a third room. Shortly after this William obtained some paint and painted the front doors white. It was the first paint that the Hutchens children had ever seen. Now appearance of the board house was unique and stylish in Weber County; the house evidenced fine craftsmanship and the cultural background of the South. [4] Still another addition to the house came in 1885. William’s mother-in-law needed care and he built a mother-in-law room attached to the rear filling the space between the house and the granary. Now the Hutchens house looked like this: Drawing by Dale Brynor, 1998. Exterior adobe covered with board, front porch and room added in 1870s; rear mother-in-law room added in 1885. William and Eliza had eleven children. William served as a school trustee, an elected alderman to Ogden City Council, and a counselor in the Lynne Ward who managed all the ward business. Eliza was descended from a wealthy family in England, and she kept the house meticulously. On two occasions she chased rude Native Americans out of her house with a broom and was ever after called “Fighting Squaw” by the laughing Natives. She earned their respect, and they treated each other squarely. Victor G Reno (1883-1963) and Mary Allred (1889-1970) Victor Reno & Mary Allred Victor G. Reno was born in Ogden in 1883, the son of immigrant parents. He grew up in “Little Italy” on West 2nd Street and farmed all of his life on the 20-acre farm that became Aspen Acres subdivision in 2001. In 1912, at the age of 29, he purchased this home from the Hutchens for his new bride, Mary Allred. Before Mary Allred married Vic, she worked at Shupe William Candy located at 26th and Wall Avenue in Ogden. After their marriage she canned all the family’s fruit and vegetables and stored them in a cellar under the granary. At a certain time, she began working at Thomas Dee Hospital on 24th and Harrison Blvd. Vic did not like the idea, but she worked until she could get a new kitchen built on and a bathroom so they did not have to use the outhouse anymore. When this was accomplished, she resigned the job at the hospital. [5] c. 1930s the Renos added on a kitchen and bathroom. The Reno name was synonymous with excellent apples and vegetables in the Five Points area. Vic did all his farming with two horses; at one time he had two Clydesdale horses that were quite popular. He was unique and unusual because he always used two horses even in the 1960s. He was an old school farmer until the end. Vic always wore bib overalls and long-sleeved shirts. He had a wooden farm wagon with steel wheels; in the 1950s he drove this old wagon loaded with pea vines along Wall Avenue to the pea vinery on Highway 89. He loved farming and turned down other jobs that were offered to him. Victor G Reno at 152 W 2nd Street. His farm was successful and he provided for his family well. During the Depression he fed many families that were in need, anonymously leaving bags of vegetables and fresh flowers on the front porches. He donated consistently to local church charities. Vic and Mary raised twelve children in this house. Vic was very strict with the children and expected all to help with the farm (except two of the daughters) and to work hard in school. Later his grandchildren came to grandpa’s house and also helped with the plantings and harvests. Victor was also talented in math and could easily calculate math problems in his mind. He would challenge his grandchildren showing them a silver dollar, telling them if they could answer a math problem, they could have the silver dollar. [6] Vic's brother, Leon, had a tractor and assisted Vic with farm work. From the 1920s to the 1960s many teenagers in the area worked on the Reno Farm picking apples, beans, thinning sugar beets, planting and harvesting tomatoes or potatoes, etc. When the day’s work was done, Vic Reno paid them in coins from a long leather purse with a snap on the top. [7] Victor and Leon never retired; they farmed and worked until the end of their lives. Vic passed away in 1963 and Mary in 1970. [1] - William Birch Hutchens, written by his daughter, manuscript. [2] - Autobiography of Mary Elizabeth Hutchens Sherner, Mary Elizabeth-Her Stories, manuscript, 1933, p. 19, 38, 39. [3] - P. 60. [4] - P 19, 38, 68. [5] - Cora Reno, Mary Jeannette Allred Reno, manuscript. [6] - Cora Reno, Victor George Reno, manuscript. [7] - Ibid; interview with Dave Montgomery, April 2022. Return to Homes Previous Next

< Back Indians Loved Molasses Return to Native Americans 52 West 2nd Street, still standing in 2021, 154 years old. William Hutchens was always a friend to the Indians; he learned their language and planted every third row in his garden for his Indian brothers. One day in about 1870 when they were living at today’s address of 152 West 2nd Street, Jack Indian paid them an unexpected visit. Usually, he called out to William before entering the house, but on this day, he simply opened the door and came in. “One morning Jack Indian, dressed in a new blanket, opened their door and walked in when the family was seated at breakfast. He pulled John away from his place and gave him a shove, then he seated himself in John’s place, and no one dared say anything, because Jack was a chief and felt that he had a right to do anything he pleased. William Hutchens said, “Well, Jack, how are you? Will you have some potatoes and gravy?” He said he would, so her father passed them and then told Jack to eat whatever he wished. Jack helped himself to a plateful of potatoes and gravy and then took the molasses pitcher and covered the whole plateful with molasses and then ate it all with great relish. He finished long before the rest of the family, as her father was talking to Jack all the time, and the children couldn’t eat much for watching Jack gobble his up. When Jack was finished, he turned to John and told him he could come and eat now, and then he walked out of the door and went away.” [1] The Hutchens house was located about 400 feet west of the Sam Gates Molasses Mill; both were located in the confines of the old Bingham Fort. William grew sugar cane and took the cane to the Sam Gates Molasses Mill for processing. The Hutchens house still stands in 2021. [1] - Autobiography of Mary Elizabeth Hutchens Sherner, Mary Elizabeth – Her Stories, dictated to her daughter Dorothy A. Sherner, manuscript, 1933, p. 83. Return to Native Americans Previous [object Object] Next