December 30, 1999 Future still uncertain for DDO house Efforts to move commanders' home seem destined to fail By GEOFFREY FATTAH_ Standard-Examiner staff OGDEN - After trying for more than two years to save a part of her family's past, Deny Cartwright is coming to face the fact that the whitewashed farm house her grandfather built in 1886 will probably meet the blade of a bulldozer in January. It will be torn down to make way for the future Ogden Regional Industrial Center. The house served as the Defense Depot Ogden commander's home from the 1940s through 1997. Initially, it belonged to the Ziemer family, which settled Broom's Bench, as the area was known, in the 1850s. Charles A. Ziemer was a suc- Courtesy Defense Depot Ogden WILL HOUSE BE RAZED?: The prospect of demolition nears for this home, built in 1903 and later used to house commanders of the Defense Depot Ogden. Efforts to move it have failed. cessful fruit and vegetable farmer, as well as a sheep rancher and a member of the Utah Legislature. "I remember my grandfather bought the land for $25," Cartwright said. He wanted it to build a house on it for his wife that was "mouse proof." The 64-year-old Ogden resident remembers her grandparents holding dances in the home. "My father and his sisters were musicians," she said. But by 1941, the World War II effort was in full swing and the Ziemer family soon discovered that the area, along with the farm, would soon be bought by the Army and turned into the Defense Depot Ogden. "The Army thought the house was so unique that they decided to keep it as the house for the base commander," Cartwright said. When it was announced the base was closing, Cartwright said her family had high hopes of reclaiming their family home. But money to make that happen has not been available. Located on 12th Street near the future entrance to the business park, the house was not part of the city's or the Boyer Co.'s plans for the super industrial and business park, DDO redevelopment authority director Mike Pavich. "We met with Derry and said we will give you the house, if you will move it," Pavich said. "We offered up to $10,000 toward the cost," which was budgeted for the house's demolition. But estimates to move the house came in around a whopping $100,000. "Every commander that moved in there made changes to it so that it can't be listed by the historical society," Cartwright said. Cartwright said she and her husband tried to save up some money, but when her husband died suddenly, it left her in no position to buy the house. So she enlisted the help of Marriott-Slaterville officials, who tried to offer Ogden a deal to relocate the house to use as the fledgling city's new city hall. The city's mayor, Keith Butler, said it would be nice to save the house for its historical importance. But he admits no one has the cash to make that happen. "We're just a brand-new city. We just don't have any money to procure it," Butler said. In a letter to the DDO Redevelopment Authority, Butler said even if they could move the house, relocating it would cause the house to lose its historic significance. "We've been back and forth with them for almost three years," Pavich said. "We need to have the house moved and we fi-nally gave them a deadline of the first of November. "It's got a lot of sentimental value but I don't know that its value warrants the cost of moving it." Cartwright said she would have liked to operate a bed and breakfast or a community center from the home. She does not think it is fair that progress must mow over a piece of the past. "It's a shame to see a part of Ogden history go," she said. City officials said the house is under contract to be demolished, pending a permit from the Utah Department of Air Quality. The permit is expected to be granted as early as Jan. 7. "I think we're all famous for putting in malls and parking lots, and I think it sometimes destroys the past. I think you've got to remember the past to go into the future," Cartwright said. You can reach reporter Geoffrey Fattah at 625-4225 or gfattah@standard.net. 279