Holladay's 1848 Family Homesteads

The first houses went up in the spring of 1848, and they were rough. By most accounts the earliest belonged to two brothers-in-law — Aaron Farr, twenty-nine, and William Walker, twenty-seven — built near where Kentucky Avenue meets Holladay Boulevard, or perhaps down along Spring Creek. Either way they were oblong log cabins, single rooms with a wide stone fireplace at one end and cloth or rawhide stretched over the holes left for windows and doors. The families clustered them close for help and safety, then set about the real work: clearing sagebrush and getting water to the ground.

What the plaque says

Nearby in early spring 1848 the first group of Holladay settlers began to build houses, reportedly the first being brothers-in-law 29-year-old Aaron F. Farr and 27-year-old William H. Walker. Some say the first house was built in April near the southeast corner of Kentucky Ave. and Holladay Blvd.; others say it was on Spring Creek's south side. These houses, forming a close village for mutual help and protection, were rough log cabins, oblong in shape with a 3- to 4-ft.-wide stone fireplace on one side of a single room and openings for windows and doors covered with cloth or rawhide. Next order of business in the total family affair of settlement was to clear land of sagebrush and bushes for planting crops and gardens and to find ways of getting water to crops. No effort was made to clear the densely wooded north lowlands along Big Cottonwood Creek. Reduced by today's water needs, the creek once was a large stream, often impassable in the spring. By fall the family of John D. Holladay had harvested 110 bushels of wheat. Also by fall a second group of settlers, many of whom were relatives and friends of those who had come earlier, had arrived, and more house building ensued. Apparently rattlesnakes were attracted to some log houses, motivating families to build adobe homes.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Gilgal Sculpture Garden — 5.8 mi
  A surreal and eccentric sculpture garden hidden in a residential neighborhood
• This Is The Place Heritage Park — 6.0 mi
  A living history village at the mouth of Emigration Canyon
• Liberty Park — 6.1 mi
  Salt Lake Citys beloved 80-acre urban park since 1882
• International Peace Gardens — 6.6 mi
  A hidden garden where 28 countries are represented in miniature

More markers nearby

• The 1847 Dugouts — steps away
• First Settlers of Holladay — steps away
• Holladay's 1853 Fort — 0.3 mi
• Old Fort Site — 0.4 mi