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Two years ago, this newsletter pointed out that the use of the term “Mormon” is appropriate for proper names and historical expressions.
Mormon Row, a string of historic 19th and early 20th century homesteads along a dirt road in western Wyoming, fits both.
My wife and I stopped by the landmark in Grand Teton National Park about 10 days ago to see the row for ourselves, especially the Pink House I wrote about in 2021 and will describe again below.
The purpose for the trip was my assignment to cover the media open house for the Helena Montana Temple, the first to be fabricated in a warehouse, then shipped to the temple site and assembled in two weeks.
Serendipitously, Mormon Row is right on the way, if you take the scenic route. This was a perfect chance to see the unique Pink House for the first time and learn how the renovation was going. We also wanted to see the other five old homes and barns along the mile-long row homesteaded by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the 1890s and early 1900s.
Those homesteaders helped settle the area that now is Jackson, Wyoming, where we stayed on a Friday night. On Saturday morning, we made the five-minute drive into Grand Teton National Park. A ranger at the visitors’ center unwittingly suggested we stop by Mormon Row. We smiled and agreed. As we approached the site, we enjoyed a special treat. We pulled over to watch 60 elk cross the road in front of us.
The Pink House obviously stood out. When we got out of the car, the wind whipped. Clouds alternately obscured and then revealed the top of Grand Teton, the highest peak in the park at 13,775 feet — about 2,000 feet higher than the tallest Wasatch Mountain peak.
What is the Pink House?
The backstory of the Pink House and John and Bartha Moulton is delightful.
While Bartha was in the hospital in about 1917, her husband John decided to do something special for her homecoming. She had wanted to repaint the home’s cement stucco exterior. John went ahead without her, but mistakenly chose a salmon pink color.
“When Bartha came home, she despised the color but so loved the sentiment behind it that it was never changed,” according to the Jackson Hole Historical Society and Museum.
After the homes were abandoned, they fell into disrepair, despite being added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 because they so well represent a late-frontier, small-scale agrarian settlement of the American West. Eventually, the Pink House’s walls began to crack.
Preservationists determined the reason. The foundation itself was cracking. In 2021, workers raised the building, poured a new concrete foundation and began to repair the walls. In 2022, they finished repairing the stucco; installed a matching foundation skirt, replaced the wood shingle roof and reconstructed the chimney with historic bricks previously removed. They also worked on the porch, windows and doors.
Today, the majority of the work on the exterior of the house is complete. The day we visited, several couples and a few larger families walked up and down Mormon Row around us. Everyone took photos of the Pink House and the other historic barns and homes. Some had big cameras and bigger lenses.
When my wife, Ronde, peered in the windows, she said she could feel and see evidence of the proud care Bartha Moulton took to keep up her home.
John Moulton’s barn is iconic, too. Photographers love to capture the massive mountains in its backdrop, especially the peak of Grand Teton. I took some myself. Then, when we stopped at a Grand Teton National Park visitors’ center nearby, I bought a beautiful image of the barn and peak bathed in sunrise colors.
Mormon Row is attracting more and more visitors, but it lacks adequate parking, wayfinding, accessible pedestrian paths and interpretation, according to a recent report by the Grand Teton National Park Foundation. The Pink House was Phase One of an effort to raise money, finish renovations and help visitors better connect with the row’s history.
This summer, workers will begin to rehabilitate the Roy Chambers homestead. It will be adapted into housing for park employees, a critical need. Another house on the row, the Clark and Veda Moulton Home, already has been adapted into employee housing.
Those interested in helping can learn more at the foundation’s website or by calling (307) 732-0629.
How to get there: Drive north from Jackson on Highway 191 past Moose Junction and turn right onto Antelope Flats Road. Follow the road about 1 ½ miles until you see a north-south running dirt road marked by the distinctive pink stucco house on the left.
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