HOLLADAY — Surrounded by multistory houses that now represent life along the Wasatch Foothills, a relic of the pioneering past humbly stands.
The Santa Ana Casto house is smaller than the garages of neighboring homes, and nobody has occupied it for years. Located behind a much newer, larger house and adjacent to a horse pasture, it may be mistaken by a casual observer for a restored shed.
Yet it is this house that tells the story of Holladay's early days, when Mormon pioneers were settling the Salt Lake Valley, a story that the city is hoping to tell more people. This month, the house — at a cost of more than $50,000 — will be relocated from its current site at 2731 Casto Lane (5060 South) to a more prominent area, near the county library and the future Treehouse Museum.
"We need to have our historic home visible," Mayor Liane Stillman said. "It's stuck in the middle of a subdivision right now, and nobody knows about it."
Construction crews are working to restore the house and prepare it for its move, which is tentatively scheduled for the third week of January. After the move and the restorations are completed, Stillman hopes that the city or private donations will fund the renovation of the interior, including purchasing furnishings that represent the time period. (Stillman lost her re-election bid to Dennis Larkin in November.)
While the house does demonstrate the challenges that early settlers faced, Stillman said the home's large living room also gives an idea of the society in the 19th century.
"It's kind of funny, to see a house that is two-thirds living room," she said. "It reflects people's attitudes about visiting their neighbors."
Among Mormon pioneers, Santa Ana Casto may have been one of the youngest, coming to the territory just after his first birthday in 1851 with his parents, William and Racheline. At 20 years old, he moved out of the home his father had built in the Holladay fort, planted orchards and built the house.
Aside from a porch that was was added in the 1920s and stairs that were built in the 1960s, the house is very similar to when Casto built it in 1870, Holladay Historical Committee Chairman Paul Mogren said.
"It is by far the only (pioneer home) that is in any condition representative of the pioneer era," Mogren said.
Moving the house will diminish some of the historical value (some of Casto's orchards remain near the house), Mogren said, and will also cause the house to lose its registry with the National Historical Society.
"The upside is that it has always been kind of hidden," he said. "By putting it in a more visible location . . . and having it owned publicly, it will have a lot more uses."
Along with period furnishings, Mogren also hopes to see craftsmen and actors replicating the pioneer lifestyle at the house for special events. Additionally, the home could also be incorporated into the educational exhibits that the Treehouse Museum will offer to children.
Most important, it will keep the historic spirit alive for current and future Holladay residents.
For Holladay, "this is a historic symbol. It has represented the early pioneer spirit that helped settle the area," Mogren said. "The Castos basically homesteaded here."
E-MAIL: jloftin@desnews.com