Oral History Program Vilate Lofthouse Interviewed by Brent Tirrell 02 March 1973 i Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Vilate Lofthouse Interviewed by Brent Tirrell 02 March 1973 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library ii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. Archival copies are placed in University Archives. The Stewart Library also houses the original recording so researchers can gain a sense of the interviewee's voice and intonations. Project Description The Weber State College/University Student Projects have been created by students working with several different professors on the Weber State campus. The topics are varied and based on the student's interest or task for a specific assignment. These oral history assignments were created to help Weber State students learn the value and importance of recording public history and to benefit the expansion of the Weber State oral history collections. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Stewart Library of Weber State University. No part of the manuscript may be published without the written permission of the University Librarian. Requests for permission to publish should be addressed to the Administration Office, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, Utah, 84408. The request should include identification of the specific item and identification of the user. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Lofthouse, Vilate, an oral history by Brent Tirrell, 02 March 1973, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. iii Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Vilate Lofthouse. The interview was conducted on March 2, 1973, by Brent Tirrell, in the home of Mrs. Lofthouse. Mrs. Lofthouse discusses the history of her home. BT: This interview is between Brent Tirrell and Vilate Lofthouse at Mrs. Lofthouse's home, 448 West, 4800 South, Ogden, Utah, 4:00 p.m., Friday, the second of March. This interview is being conducted for the Weber State history program. Mrs. Lofthouse, we would like to have you relax. First of all we would like to know a little about your life before you moved to the terrace. VL: I lived in Rigby, Idaho, and during the depression we came down here to find a job. BT: What year did you move down to the terrace? VL: 1942. BT: When you moved here was there a home for you to live in? VL: No, there was no home, we lived in an old house on 21st street across from the cemetery. BT: I know the first house you had here was a government house, isn't that right? VL: Yes. BT: Did you move this house here? VL: Yes, when we first moved here there was no water, no anything, not even a sidewalk. BT: From this picture you have on your wall it looks like where you live now was just a big field. 1 VL: That's all it was, we bought two acres of ground out here which I thought was nothing but grasshopper country, but time went on and it developed into quite a big project. BT: Can you tell us a little about how you got your home here? How long it took to move your home up here? VL: Yes, my husband was on the board that bought the Terrace. (Byron Cheney) He moved the house across where it is now. It has been here ever since. It took about a year and a half to build it and we had to inspect it afterward to see that everything was alright. BT: Is this the home you have now? VL: Yes, it is the very same place that was moved, at that time it was one of the government houses. BT: When you first moved here it was a government house? VL: Yes. BT: Now, it was moved onto the property, wasn't it? VL: Yes. BT: Do you know where these houses came from? VL: They were built just for temporary homes. BT: Until you could get the project started. VL: Right. BT: About how many people do you think lived here when you first moved out to the Terrace? 2 VL: Well, I'm going to use the church for an example. We didn't even have a ward to go to here. We had to go down on Wall to a church house down there. Now there's a whole stake and another stake besides. So I imagine it's about fourbled itself since we've moved here. BT: It's grown a lot. You mentioned that your husband was on what board? VL: He was the President of the Washington Terrace Corporation that bought the houses. BT: Okay, Can you tell us a little bit about the corporation and how it worked? VL: It was formed as a non-profit corporation. They bought the first fire truck that was ever here. As time went on, their dreams came true, it took a long, long time and lots of work though. BT: What were some of the details in financing the project? VL: Many, many trips to Washington D.C. and government projects and different things we had to do through Washington D.C. because it was a government institution. BT: How much money did it take to start it all off. You mentioned before that there had to be so much in escrow and that there had to be a certain amount of money to begin the project with. VL: That's right and the people rallied around and got behind it and brought this money forth to do it. And all those that did were happy of course. At first we looked around a little bit and thought we could do better, but there was no place like the Terrace. BT: This is a real pretty place to live; you mentioned when we first started talking that you bought two acres. Can you tell us a little bit about what you have done with this land? 3 VL: At first we used it for a garden; we raised strawberries that you would never believe and big weeping willow trees and all kinds of things over there. And then a man came along and I sold it to him and they have built beautiful, beautiful apartments over there. BT: These are the present surface Townhouse Apartments? VL: The Townhouse Apartments. Yes, Brent. BT: About what year was it when you sold this land? VL: These two acres? BT: Yes. VL: Four years ago. BT: So these apartments are just new then, aren't they? VL: Yes. BT: Can you give us some idea of how much the land grew in value? VL: When I first bought it, it was a thousand dollars for each acre and we bought two acres and when I sold it I sold it for four times as much as I bought it for. BT: Do you remember the price you paid for the land? VL: Over there? BT: Yes. VL: $2000.00. BT: And you sold it for four times that much. VL: Yes. 4 BT: That's a good example of how much the Terrace has grown, I think. VL: Then I invested this money in something else, and made money that way too. BT: Can you tell us a little bit, like, were there very many stores? VL: There was nothing except Simpson's Market, they called it. Now they have a big Food King, Post Office, Drug store. We had to go downtown to get our mail and everything. Now we have our Post Office right here and our Big Food King store, and a Drug store, a cleaners, and credit bureau. BT: What are some of the things you remember about the people? What kind of people were there when you first moved here? VL: People from Ogden called us the slum district, but we made up our minds that we weren't going to be that, so we all went to work and made this one of the most beautiful communities. I think it is rated as one of the fourth most beautiful communities in Utah. BT: When you first moved here this was about the time of World War II, isn't that right? VL: Yes. BT: Can you tell some of the thoughts you had about the war and how it affected the people here? VL: Well, when we first moved here, we had quite a time finding a job, but it didn't take long until both of us had work. We raised our four children here. To begin with they go clear out to Weber down Washington. Now we have a beautiful High School here and everything. BT: How many attend the High School here, do you know? 5 VL: They come from Roy and all over, I don't exactly know. BT: It's a big High School, I know. VL: Yes, Bonneville is a big High School. BT: Do you have anything else that you would like to tell us about the Terrace? VL: I enjoy the Terrace more than any place I have ever lived. And I have lived here for quite a number of years, and I have made many, many friends; everyone who comes here admires our place and the things that are around here. The Church houses are just numerous. The stake buildings, schools, we've built our places up to the standards that Ogden expected. It has been very wonderful to live here. BT: You mentioned when we first started talking that your husband got the fire department started. What did he have to do to get this? Did they get a fire engine to start with? VL: Yes, they went to Washington D.C. and got a fire engine; the first one that was ever on the Terrace. BT: Did you have any names for this fire engine? Was it kind of a historical thing? VL: Not particularly, it was the first one we ever had. The corporation just had faith in this project and that's how it became a live thing that has grown and developed to be what it is today. BT: Was this fire department volunteer to start with? VL: It was all volunteer, and it still is volunteer. BT: It is still volunteer. VL: Yes. 6 BT: Okay, I see you have an article on 20 years ago and 50 years ago on the Terrace. Could you read this? VL: Yes, this was 20 years ago when this article was written. It came out in the Standard Examiner. 20 years ago: More than 400 voters turned out to elect George A. VanLeeuwen, Byron H. Cheney, and Marion Wilson to three-year terms on the Washington Terrace non-profit Housing Corp. board of directors. The North Ogden Kiwanis Club began circulating petitions, asking the Weber County Commission to improve, including hard surfacing, the North Ogden Canyon Road to Ogden Valley. Members said the present road is rough and unsafe. An exclusive new "Bumper Bridge" was a feature of the 1952 Kaiser models that went on display at the C-Stone-Kaiser Frazer Agency in Ogden. Portraying Paris in spring, The City of Love and Beauty, the L.R. Samuels Company store window display was judged the sweepstakes winner in the Ogden retail merchant’s spring opening. The display was designed by Mrs. Scott Young. BT: Okay, thank you. VL: You’re welcome. If you would like to take a picture of this picture I have here when the Terrace was first built, I'd be happy to take it. BT: Okay, we will make a record of this, that this picture is available. That it can be obtained as a copy, do you have a date on the picture? VL: 1942. BT: What are some other things you had to do in moving up to the Terrace? 7 VL: Of course one of the first things we had to do was get water here because we were hauling it from a tank, and we had to investigate water, so they went up on the hill and dug a big well. And they had the water all tested and it proved to be one of the best wells around; we've had water from there ever since. BT: Where is this well from your home? Is it toward Hill Field? VL: It's located (pointing south) it's located to the south of where I live now. It has been remodeled from the beginning, but it's the best water in Utah. We have plenty of water now. BT: Okay, I see you have a book here about Washington Terrace. Would you like to tell us a few of the highlights in the book and some of the things you think are important about the Terrace? VL: I can tell you in here the date it was organized now. May 5, 1947. Meeting of the citizen stockholders - held to elect temporary officers of this formount committee which was an outgrowth tenant council and housing committee and to consider and adopt articles, incorporation and by-laws for what purpose to be permanent non-profit Housing Corporation. H. Kenneth Brown of H-2 Army Way was elected temporary chairman and J. F. Anderson of L-4-9 Navy Way was temporary secretary. The following nominating committee was adopted: D.W. Butters, Mrs. Homer Bridshaw, and Byron Cheney. The next meeting was scheduled for May the 10th to appoint a board of directors. The stock holders meeting was held on May the 10th, 1947. The following board of directors was elected: Cecil C. Hatch, Marion W. Wilson, David W. Butters, Jay W. Anderson, W. Kenneth Brown, Albert C. Span, Harold L. Maugh, Byron H. Cheney, Samuel H. King. A motion was made and passed to adopt by-laws. A joint meeting was held on May 12th, 8 1947 by the board of directors of the corporation of the housing committee. The following officers were elected to serve the corporation board: Albert C. Ciecen, President; Vice President, Harold L. Maugh; Secretary, Marion W. Wilson. BT: I notice some pictures here of some of the earlier government houses. VL: Yes, they were units that were fastened together. One family lived in one end and one in the other. BT: How long did you have these government homes before you had the newer homes that you built? VL: Oh, We had these homes for six years, and then they were converted into these other homes. BT: Okay. Thank you for your time today. 9