Historical Lehi
Marker unveiling highlights Lehi Victorian gem, its builders
Nicole Kunze | Lehi Historical Society
The Lehi Historical Society unveiled its newest historical marker on Sept. 10 at the John Y. Smith House at 518 N. 100 East. Smith was involved in several Lehi businesses, served as the city’s attorney and eventually served in the Utah state senate.
The Lehi Silver Band performed half a dozen songs for the event while past and present occupants of the home shared memories with an audience of more than 100 gathered on the front lawn of the home.
“The weather and setting couldn’t have been more beautiful,” said Lara Bangerter, Lehi Historical Society Director. “We had a large gathering, and the theatrical storytelling made learning about the home very entertaining.”
John Y. and his wife, Emerette Elizabeth Cutler, built the home in 1903 after serving a mission in northern California for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. Its architecture combines Colonial and Victorian elements and stands as an example of the stately homes built in Lehi in the early 20th century as the town matured into a thriving agricultural, industrial, and transportation center in Utah County.
The beautiful home, sometimes referred to as a mansion, is located just a few blocks from the mansion of Emerette’s parents, Thomas R. and Laura E. Coons Cutler, at 150 E. State St. The home was also across the street from what would become Margaret Wines Park.
Michelle “Shelley” Dalton Hannig remembered that the Smith home didn’t have a working toilet when the Dalton family moved in during the early 1960s. They had to run across the street to use the one at the park for a few days. Jodi Dalton rarely played in her own front yard since they had the park so close. She thought of Margaret Wines Park as “their park.”
John Y., 1872-1953, was financially involved with the Union Hotel, Lehi Roller Mills, the Standard Knitting Company, the Kenley Clay Beds of Cedar Valley and the Lehi Commercial and Savings Bank. He even managed the Saratoga Resort for his father-in-law for 10 years.
Smith had artistic inclinations as well. He led the Lehi choir and, with other choirs in Utah County, sang at the 1893 dedication of the Salt Lake Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a founding member of the Lehi Silver Band, which played at the marker unveiling. Smith also used his musical talents as a missionary to capture attention on the streets in San Jose, Calif. With Smith as tenor and two other missionaries singing bass and soprano, the trio’s singing helped them receive many invitations to visit people in their homes. Emerette accepted a missionary call to join her husband in 1898.
John Y. Smith was Lehi City attorney from 1901-1904, a charter member of the Lehi Commercial Club in 1905 and was elected to the Utah State Senate in 1906, serving from 1907 until 1911. The Smiths left Lehi in 1911 and moved to Salt Lake City.
Mrs. Samuel A. Smith owned the distinctive home until 1920. During this time, the house became Lehi’s first hospital, though it only remained so for a few months. In March of 1914, Dr. Fred Worlton rented the house for use as a hospital, opening the facility in June 1914.
The Worltons lived on the first floor, while four rooms on the second floor functioned as patient
rooms and an operating room. After just four months, Worlton purchased the Cutler Mansion on State Street and moved his family and hospital there. In 1920, Ruth Pearl Fowler Cutler and her husband, John Franklin Cutler, bought the house from Mrs. Smith. In 1925, the Cutlers sold the house to Israel L. Lott. The Lott family owned the house until 1951.
In 1964, Glade L. and Laurelle Dalton purchased the house, and they remained there until 1985. The house stayed in its original state, except for the addition of a garage constructed on the east side in the 1970s to store Glade’s collection of antique cars.
Glade and Laurelle’s son Bret Dalton recalled, “I think the finished family room was more about the garage than the family room. There was a curved iron balcony in the family room, and when we had visitors, Dad would take them to that balcony and slowly open the velvet curtains to reveal the old 1906 Cadillac in the garage.”
In 1983, portions of the movie “Footloose” were filmed on the porch of the house. Jodi Dalton recalled coming home from college the day the film crew was shooting. She remembered a spiky-haired stranger talking long-distance on their kitchen phone for about four hours. She later learned the stranger was Kevin Bacon. A producer handed her Mom $20 to pay the phone bill after filming finished.
Today, homeowners Jess and Shaylie Green have worked hard to restore the home to its former glory. “We think of this home as a member of our family. Anytime we want to do anything, we ask ourselves if it’s good for our home,” said Shaylie Green. Jess created a video slideshow of the inside of their home. It featured all their unique touches and attention to historical details.
Wrapping up the evening, Paige Albrecht, Lehi City council member, said, “As someone who loves historic preservation here in Lehi, my hat is off to everyone who takes the time and puts in the work required to restore these beautiful homes. I’m grateful for those who work on this historical marker program for telling these stories.”
The Lehi Historical Marker Program was founded in 2022 when the Lehi Historical Society won funding for the program through a generous donation and support from the John David and Danaca Hadfield family of HADCO Construction and a Lehi City PARC grant.
*Some information for this article was taken from “Lehi: Portraits of a Utah Town” by Richard Van Wagoner (1990).
