From the Sun Advocate, Carbon County, UT online newspaper:
|
| The Daughters of Utah Pioneers organization is proposing the development of a historical museum of Carbon County in an old Price residence. The group is to apply for grants to help with the condition of the structure. The proposed museum will be just down the block of the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. Some say that the closeness of the two museums could possibly mean an increase in tourism to both. |
By RICHARD SHAW
General manager
When Hans Ulrich Bryner and his wife, Magrethe, came to Utah from Switzerland in the Willy-Martin hardcart company, the couple probably did not realize that they would be some of the earliest settlers of a town called Price.
The Bryners also had no way of knowing that someday a house built by their son, Albert, in 1890 would become one of the oldest homes to remain standing in 2005.
The Bryner home stands unoccupied on the corner of 100 South and 100 East in Price.
During the last one-hundred plus years, the structure has served as a private residence and housed various businesses, including a credit union.
The credit union was the last occupant of the historic residence.
The home's current owner, Bruce Bryner, is apparently considering letting the local chapters of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers restore the structure to house a museum that would commemorate the history of the local area.
"When we looked in there, it was stacked from floor to ceiling with old credit union stuff," noted Sue Christensen, one of the leaders of the movement to make the historic building into a museum.
The DUP has six chapters in the Carbon County area and the organization is always looking for more members.
Christensen pointed out that many people have the idea that all the members belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. But the idea is portortedly a misnomer.
"Actually, there are only two requirements to belong to the DUP," said Christensen. "First, a person must be a female. Secondly, they have to have a direct relative who arrived in Utah before May 10, 1869."
Developing a DUP museum would honor the pioneering spirit that the builders of the house showed when they settled in the Carbon County area.
The original Bryner was blind, yet he managed to be the first person to bring domesticated bees to the area and he also had a basket business which thrived, according to local historians.
The settler owned the block where the house presently stands and his kids built houses through the years on that piece of property. The house being considered for the museum is the last of these with the other home on the block disappearing in the 1940's when the building where JC Penney is located was constructed.
The idea of having a DUP museum in Price ties in with what many communities around the state have done when it comes to honoring their pioneer heritages. In Castle Dale, for instance, the Museum of the San Rafael stands kitty corner from a Pioneer Museum that tells about the early white settlers of the Emery County area. In Price the Bryner house stands just down the block from the College of Eastern Utah Prehistoric Museum. The natural tie between the two in terms of tourism seems a natural to many.
"Actually there have been many old things found in the house, despite its years of being used for other things," says Christensen. "Old newspapers dating back to the early 20th century were found and even an old sewing machine that was used in the early days."
But the house is in disrepair and a lot of money will be needed if it is to be brought up to standards to fit a museum building. Christensen is applying for a number of grants from various groups to restore the home, but as will most grants local money is needed as well.
"In every grant I am writing I am pleading for at least enough money to fix the roof because it is in bad shape," she says. "I worry the leaks could damage the entire structure."
Christensen said she has had some estimates done and it appears the DUP will need about $250,000 to bring the building up to standard.
To generate local money the DUP is planning some fund raising events including a yard sale at the site of the home on Sept. 9 and 10.
"A lot of people have already helped, including Price City," says Christensen. "They have waived some fees that would normally be charged when we start up the restoration."
Christensen says of course the project needs money, but volunteer help is also appreciated.
"There's a lot to do on the place," she states.
To contribute items for the yard sale or to help in any other way residents can contact Christensen at 636-1399.
http://www.sunad.com/index.php?tier=1&pub=2006-08-03&page=morenews
 |
| Construction workers repair the roof at the Bryner home on July 27. The home is the planned site of a future museum of the county's ethnic history. |
By STAVROS HIMONAS
Sun Advocate reporter
Plans to create a new Pioneer museum took another step forward as crews began repair and restoration on the roof of the Bryner home located on the corner of 100 South and 100 East in Price late last week.
The house, which has been used as a residence and has housed various businesses for more than a century, is set to be restored and will become the Bryner Pioneer Museum Foundation. The foundation plans to educate and immerse patrons into everyday life of early Carbon County.
Sue Christensen and Rita Alderson who have taken the responsibility of leading this project, know the importance of using the Bryner home as a museum and hope that Carbon County residents realize that as well.
“The only way to make this project a success is to have the support of the whole community of Carbon County,” said Christensen.
Bruce Bryner, the current owner of the house also likes the idea of preserving the county's heritage since he can trace his own to one of the earliest settlers of Price, Hans Ulrich Bryner. Bryner realizes that he shares a common bond with many residents of Carbon County by tracing his roots not solely to Mormon Pioneers but to European immigrants as well.
“Everybody knows the importance of our early Mormon pioneers but there really isn't a place to remember our ethnic heritages. What we want is a museum for both,” said Bryner.
The Bryner home was originally built in 1890 by Albert Bryner, the son of Hans Ulrich Bryner who was one of the earliest settlers of Price.
Hans' likeness is painted on the first floor mural in the Price Municipal Building by his grandson Lynn Fausett. Hans was born in Ilnon, Canton of Zurich, Switzerland, on April 29, 1827. He came to Utah in 1856 and married Margaret Kuhn in 1868 and together they settled in Price in 1884.
Initially the Daughters of Utah Pioneers applied for grants to fund the museum but now Christensen has decided to incorporate the foundation into a tax exempt 501(c)(3) entity.
“To belong to the DUP you must be female and secondly you must trace relatives who arrived here before 1869. Since many of the Greeks and Italians and even Japanese immigrants didn't arrive here until the early 1880s when the Denver and Rio Grande railroads came through, we would be doing Carbon County a great disservice,” said Christensen.
One of the main benefits of tax-exempt status is the ability to accept donations and contributions that are tax-deductible to the donor. Additional benefits include permission to raise funds by receiving public and private grant money which is exactly what Christensen has set out to do.
To incorporate the entire community, Christensen and Bryner have a unique vision of what the museum will offer to its visitors. The idea will be one of a hands-on museum allowing visiting patrons to participate in the everyday labors that early pioneers had to face such as making cheese, bread and candles all from scratch. Original furniture and artifacts will be on display as well. There are even plans to transform the old grainary located directly behind JC Penney into a blacksmith shop where patrons could forge horseshoes and other various tools.
In addition, the foundation would also like to educate the public of Carbon County's diverse ethnic heritages. The museum would like to include exhibits of all who have immigrated from eastern and southern European countries, Asia, Mexico and Native Americans.
In order for this to happen the foundation would like to have contributions other than monetary to their museum such as original furniture, tools, and photographs. Written accounts of family histories are highly sought after not only for their genealogical records but also for their historical accounts. Local artists are invited to display their work in what will become a community donated gift shop where people will have a chance to display their work commemorating the history of the Castle Valley.
“People and businesses have been very generous to our cause such as supporting our yard sale and private donations. Hopefully people can see that we are taking steps such as repairing the roof and know that we are serious and can donate not just money but also help in stripping paint, making curtains and other improvements to the house,” said Christensen.
By muralist Lynn Fausett
Price Municipal Building, 200 E. Main Street, Price, Utah
Many scenes depicted on the Price mural show the history and industry of Price and Carbon County. The chronology follows the first men into Castle Valley and ends with the coal industry in the county. The scene shown at right depicts the artist, Lynn Fausett, leading his blind grandfather. Fausett was paid a total of $1,600 for the mural, which he painted over a period from 1938 to November 1941.
Tenaciously hanging onto their heritage and history, it was of little surprise to local citizens that Lynn Fausett was commissioned in 1938 to paint the now-famous Price Mural, depicting the local history of Carbon County.
The mural was to fill the top half of the foyer walls on the new Works Progress Association (WPA) Price Municipal Building. The project was a dramatic turning point in the artistic career of Lynn Fausett. Fausett was a native son who had studied in New York and Europe to perfect techniques used in murals and mosaics. Now he returned to his hometown after an absence of some 16 years and began work on the mural.
Fausett first used his garage in Price as a studio, but later transferred his work on the mural to a large WP A studio in Salt Lake City. He would paint separate sections of the mural on canvas which were then installed on the foyer walls, the project taking until November 1941 to complete. While working on the Price Mural, Fausett also worked on three other WPA mural projects, one of which was the great Barrier Canyon Mural, one section of which hangs in the CEU Prehistoric Museum in the north part of the municipal building.
Fausett became quite renowned as a muralist following this period. He has many murals in both public and private buildings in many states, but the most famous is "The Pioneer Trek," a large mural encompassing three walls of the visitor center in the This Is The Place Monument at the mouth of Emigration Canyon in Salt Lake City.
The Price Mural actually depicts the history and industry of all of Carbon County and takes about 800 square feet of wall space. There are 82 principal figures in the mural, all done from photographs or personal memories of the artist. These principal figures are about half-size. Many of the early buildings of the Carbon County area are used as backgrounds to provide perspective to the mural.
The mural depicts an accurate chronology of the populating and industrializing of Carbon County. As one enters through the main east entrance, immediately ahead, in the center of the west wall, is a panel showing the first trappers and settlers in the county, Abram Powell and Caleb Rhodes, who came into the valley in 1877. Beneath each new scene is a brief title describing the scene.
One follows the chronology of Carbon County by moving to the right. The second scene shows the construction of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad through the area, which was finished in 1883. Chinese coolies and Europeans are depicted with the familiar cliffs in the background which gave Castle Country its name.
In the third scene is a store and post office built by Fred Grames at the time the railroad was completed. Grames is shown with W .H. Branch as they surveyed the Price Canal in 1884.
Camped freighters, their giant freight wagons in the background are shown in the fourth scene. When the railroad was completed, a freight road to Fort Duchesne in the Uintah Basin to the northeast was constructed in 1886 for supplies to be moved from Price to the Basin. Matt Warner, a member of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch, is shown in this scene.
On the north wall, the fifth scene is a view of the Price Main Street in 1892. Dominant to the scene is the Price Trading Company building. The artist's mother, Josephine Bryner Fausett, is seen wearing a white apron standing in the doorway.
In the sixth scene a group of people are shown as they sought to incorporate the town of Price. Mrs. Isabell Birch Bryner is shown holding an incorporation petition, which she took by train to Salt Lake City and filed to acquire the townsite.
The first town hall after incorporation is in the background in the seventh scene, which shows Price's first town board president and early rancher, J .M. Whitmore.
The eighth scene shows the early religious development of the county. The three leaders of the dominant non-Mormon religions, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Methodist, are shown together while another group depicts early Mormon organization in the county.
The first wedding in the county is shown in the ninth scene. The wedding was for Gilbert and Ann Peterson and was conducted by Justice of the Peace Erastus W. Mclntire. Pigs were used to pay for the ceremony and are shown being held by the best man and Mclntire's son. The old courthouse is shown in the background.
Education is depicted in the tenth scene. Two early schools are shown as are two of the first teachers along with the first superintendent and Joseph Birch, who sponsored legislation providing for free public education. A second setting shows the old high school and one of the first principals along with the block "C" on the cliffs above the first high school.
In the eleventh scene, the artist depicted himself as a small boy leading his blind grandfather, Hans Ulrich Bryner.
The twelfth scene, which moves the viewer to the south wall, shows W. Grant Olsen, first mayor of Price, in 1911. A community promoter, Olsen is shown planting trees in the new Price City Park. In the background is a statue of a pioneer woman, sculpted by Dean Fausett, brother of the mural artist, Lynn Fausett.
A Fourth of July celebration is depicted in the thirteenth scene. A parade during the 1911 celebration features horse-drawn floats and a marching band.
Back on the west wall, the fourteenth scene commemorates the importance of the coal industry to the county. The first setting shows men working the coke ovens at Sunnyside in 1917. Next to that setting, is one showing three miners emerging from an old wooden mine portal. In the third setting of the scene, the outside workings of the mines at Sunnyside are depicted. World War I brought tremendous expansion of the Carbon County coal industry and the setting depicts the hectic activity, which characterized the local industry during that period.