The Justin Gerald Pugmire Home in Salt Lake City 1944
2010
Direct ancestors Justin Gerald and Clara Lzina Barker Pugmire lived in many homes throughout their married lives but never owned one. When this neighborhood of new homes was built in the early 1940s, their youngest son Glenn took the money he and his wife were going to use to buy their first home and gave it to his parents instead. This act of kindness made it possible for Justin and Clara to have this new home north of downtown Salt Lake City. It was a small but clean 600 square-foot home. It had a deep yard as was the custom at the time, with a one-car garage and an alley at the back of the property which separated the homes on each side. They planted trees and flowers and honeysuckle on the front porch. There was just enough room for one chair on the porch. There was a small living room, a kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. There was also a small room near the back door for a washing machine. Theirs was a ringer washer. There was a clothesline and a raspberry patch. There were venetian blinds in the windows and plain carpet without padding on the floor. The kitchen was linoleum and so was the counter top. There was a tub but no shower. There was a crawl space under the house which was about two feet high and there were “storm windows”. The furnace was in the floor of the living room, covered by a large, metal grate. All heat for the house came from that source. The refrigerator had to be defrosted about once a month and the stove had to be lit with a match. There was a gravel driveway leading to the wooden garage wherein there was a workbench with Justin’s vice attached to it. The garage had a gravel floor which smelled of oil. There was a short wire fence between their driveway and their neighbor’s. At the end of the fence, near the garages of both homes, it ended. An opening was left for neighbors to pass through which they often did. The street in front of their home was wide, in the tradition of early Salt Lake City streets which carefully and faithfully followed a straight and square grid. Their address told anyone looking for their home that they were 10 blocks west of Temple Square and 3 blocks north. One block away was the 29th Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints where they attended church. Three houses away from the church was a small, neighborhood store where they sold a little bit of everything and lots of penny candy. A block away was an elementary school and two blocks away was a large grocery store and later in time a Sprouse Reitz store. A block and one half took a person to the bus stop and a walk of two blocks took a person to the fairgrounds.
Justin died in the living room of this home in 1949. Clara lived in the home until her death in 1969 at which time it was sold and the $10,000 shared among her seven surviving children. The two youngest children received a larger share according to Clara’s wishes in her Will. They had contributed significantly to the mortgage and to the care of the home after their father died.
Today, the house is not recognizable when compared to the original. The old garage is gone and the house is covered with siding of a different color and with artificial rock. In fact, there is nothing in the outward appearance of the house that would give a person the slightest clue that this was once Justin and Clara’s house.