2023 Cache Valley Historic Home Tour

2023 Cache Valley Historic Home Tour

The Cache Valley Historic Home Tour returns on Saturday, September 9. The 2023 home tour will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will feature homes in Logan and Hyrum. The event is presented by the Cache Valley Historical Society.

“We have some historic gems on the tour this year, many of which have never been shown before,” says Courtney Cochley, co-coordinator of the home tour and Past-President of the Cache Valley Historical Society.

This year’s tour will feature 5 historic houses built between 1888 and 1907.

Homes featured on this year’s tour include:

• Spencer and Jessie Wright home, built in 1903 for Charles North Paull (67 S 500 W in Logan)
• Lynne S. McNeill home, built around 1900 by Erastus Cole (394 W Center in Logan)
• Paul Vaslet and Amy Hochberg home, built in 1906 for Severin Jeppesen (271 W Center in Logan)
• Jack and Sarah Roberts home, built between 1905-1907 for Soren Hanson (166 W Main in Hyrum)
• Erik and Kellee Linton home, built in 1888 for John O. Hansen (277 S Center in Hyrum)

All of these houses are gorgeous examples of their historic styles. Each home is unique, but they all retain original elements of the house while reflecting the current residents’ style and interests.

“I think the biggest draw this year will be the current home of Jack & Sarah Roberts, which is often referred to as ‘The House that Eggs Built,’” Cochley says. Soren Hanson was a businessman in Hyrum in the late 1800s who built a massive ice house and egg barn that allowed him to store over 4,000 cases of eggs (120,000 dozen, or approximately 1.4 million eggs). Hanson’s use of refrigeration allowed him to sell his eggs year-round and across the inter-mountain west. One year he got a deal on several carloads of eggs in Nebraska, stored them for three weeks, and made a profit of almost $22,000 when he resold them. Hanson promised his wife he would build her a fine house from the profit of his eggs. This Queen Anne-style “castle” was completed in 1907 at the cost of $30,000, built through profits made from the sale of Hanson’s eggs.

The Linton house, also in Hyrum, is the oldest house on this tour; it was originally built in 1888, with a French Cottage style addition added in the 1910s. An artist studio behind the house was completed this year and will be open during the tour.

One interesting connection this year is that two of this year’s houses, 271 West Center and 394 West Center in Logan, were both home to different music supervisors for the city schools. From the 1910s through the early 1920s, Alfred M. Durham lived at 394 West Center and his occupation was listed as both “Professor of Music at City Schools” and “Music Supervisor for Public Schools.” Arthur T. Hensen lived at 271 West Center in the early 1930s and acted as “Supervisor for Instrument Music at City Schools,” while his son, Arthur Jr., was also a music teacher.

Hensen was not the first nor the longest resident of 271 West Center. The house was built in 1906 by Severin Jeppe Jeppesen, a carpenter who had worked on the Logan Temple. Severin and Emma Thatcher, daughter of prominent Logan banker, businessman, and leader Moses Thatcher, were married in 1882 in Logan and they had ten children together. Severin died of a heart attack in Logan Canyon in 1921, after which time Emma sold the Center Street house and moved to Ogden.

The house at 67 South 500 West was built in 1903 for Charles North & Alice Paull. Paull was a well-respected engineer for the Oregon Shortline Railroad and the couple had purchased the property in 1872. Paull conducted the first locomotive into Cache Valley, as well as the train that brought President Taft to Utah in 1909. After Alice and Charles passed in 1910 and 1911, respectively, their children sold the house to Nephi and Ada Wahlstrom. Ada was the home’s longest owner and let rooms in the back of the house for years.

The house at 394 West Center was built in 1900 by carpenter Erastus Cole. Cole and his family lived in the home until 1913, when they moved to Lewiston so he could continue to work for the Lewiston Sugar Company. By 1926 John P. Smith, Jr., was living in the house. Smith was manager of J. P. Smith & Son, makers of fine booklets and stationery, also known as “The Quick Printers.”

Tickets cost $10 each and will be on sale at each of the homes on the day of the tour (cash or check only). Unlike previous years we are not offering pre-sale tickets.

As in past years, proceeds from the tour will fund scholarships for Utah State University students researching local history, as well as provide transportation for local school children to visit the American West Heritage Center in Wellsville.