Patrick L. and Rose O. Ward Home

    Located at 511 S Main Street in Springville is a really cool house built at the turn of the century called the Patrick L. and Rose O. Ward Home.  Here is a picture of it from sometime around 1900:

Photo courtosy of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Brigham Young University

     Patrick Ward and his family immigrated to Utah from Ireland to work on the railroad.  It is rumored that he came to Springville to finish the railroad line that went through Spanish Fork Canyon.  For many years they were the only Catholics in Springville.
    At the turn of the century, a really nice house was built for Ward and his family.  The house was built by Lewis J. Whitney and Andrew Pierce.  There is a little bit of discrepancy about when the house was built.  A plaque on the house lists its construction date as 1900 (as do a couple of websites on the internet) although the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form lists the construction date as 1910.  I think that the family in the previous picture may actually be Patrick and Rose Ward with their children (although I have nothing to confirm that).  The house is  a great example of the late Victorian architectural style.  It is rumored that this house was either the first or the second home in Springville to have running water inside in addition to an indoor bathroom.  The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 (although I did find a source listing the date as 1997).  Here is a picture of the house as it currently is found:

     The property is currently privately owned and has been turned into a nice boutique shop called "The Wandering Wardrobe."  I haven't shopped there at all, but the owners are really nice and so I'm sure it is a pretty nice store.  It is a really well preserved building and it looks great.  I totally recommend going to check it out.