12875 Boulter Street
Draper, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Glen M. and Roxie Walbeck House

Statement of Significance:

The Glen M. and Roxie Walbeck House, built in phases between circa 1935 and 1952, is a one-story early ranch-style house located at 12875 S. Boulter Street in Draper, Utah. The house is significant for its association with the peak of the poultry industry in Draper in the mid-twentieth century. The property is eligible within the Multiple Property Submission: Historic and Architectural Resources of Draper, Utah, 1849-1954. The associated historic context is the "Twentieth-Century Community Development and the Poultry Industry Period, 1918-1954." Members of the Walbeck family were among the numerous second and third-generation Draper residents who engaged in small-scale poultry production as a means to supplement their income. Glen M. Walbeck received the land from his mother, Eunice Brown Walbeck, a daughter of Ebenezer Brown, Draper's first settler. Glen M. Walbeck had a varied career as a coal miner and pro-baseball player before settling down in his hometown with his wife Roxie in the 1930s. In the 1940s and early 1950s, the Walbecks, like many of their neighbors, built several chicken coops in the rear of their property and participated in Draper's cooperative egg economy toward the latter part of this contextual era. The Walbeck House is a contributing historic resource in Draper, Utah.

History of the Glen M. and Roxie Walbeck House

The first recorded deed to the Boutler Street land was from members of the Stringfellow family to William John Terry in 1889. William John Terry (1856-1935) later sold two parcels to Alexander Walbeck in 1894 and 1899. After Alex Walbeck's death, the land was deeded to his wife Eunice Brown Walbeck. In March 1937, Eunice Walbeck deeded the property to her son, Glen M. Walbeck. According to the tax records, the house was built just prior to this transaction.
Eunice Brown was born in Draper on October 20, 1865, to Ebenezer Brown (1901-1878) and his third wife, Eliza Samantha Pulsipher (1837-1877). Eunice Brown married Alexander William Walbeck on March 22, 1883. Alex Walbeck was born in Sweden on October 23, 1859. The family moved to Arizona between 1884 and 1889. They bought the Boulter Street property in 1894. Eunice and Alex had ten children, eight of whom lived to maturity. Alex Walbeck died on July 28, 1920. Her oldest daughter Nora also died in 1920, leaving three children. As a result, Eunice Walbeck became very self-sufficient and worked in both the Draper cannery and the sugar factory in Payson, Utah. In 1937, she deeded a portion of her property to her youngest son, Glen Mervin Walbeck. Eunice Brown Walbeck died on May 8, 1950.

Glen Mervin Walbeck was born on May 4, 1901, in Draper. He was known at various times as Glen, Mervin, Merv, or most commonly Wally. Glen Walbeck grew up in Draper, but as a young man moved to central Utah to be a coal miner. He married Roxie Larson on November 14, 1928. Roxie Leadrue Larson was born in Cleveland, Emery County, Utah, on June 27, 1908. The couple is listed on the 1930 census enumeration as living in Spring Canyon, Carbon County, Utah. Glen was working in a coal mine. The family moved to Draper in the mid-1930s. They had three children. The tax records indicate the clapboard cottage was built in 1935. The house was expanded and remodeled sometime between 1949 and 1952, most likely in 1950 when a large mortgage ($3,500) was taken out on the property. It is not known how soon after their move to Draper that the Walbeck began poultry production. They remodeled an old chicken coop in 1943, built two new ones in 1946, and another in 1952. The Walbeck family business corresponds to the peak of the Draper poultry industry in the mid-twentieth century.

The Draper poultry industry officially began in 1918 when eight farmers began to work cooperatively to buy feed and market eggs. Daylight-savings time, approved by Congress on March 19, 1918, may have helped the Draper chicken business: "In winter months night lights were turned on in coops to give chickens more time to eat mash, wheat, calcite, and drink the continuous flow of water."2 In 1926, Draper Poultrymen Incorporated was organized. By the time of the 1930 census enumeration, the poultry business had grown so fast that over 90 workers were listed in the poultry industry. Draper's poultry business thrived despite a general downturn in the economy during the Depression years. But the business was not without risks. In 1932, a disease went through chicken farms in Draper and wiped out entire flocks. Some producers lost everything and gave up the idea of producing and selling eggs.3 That year, the Draper Egg Producers Association was organized when several egg producers formed their own co-operative called the Utah Poultry and Farmers Co-Operative.

During the first half of the twentieth century, Draper was known as the "Egg Basket of Utah" mostly due to marketing copy such as "Egg Basket Quality Snow White Eggs" produced and packed by the Draper Egg Producers Association. Draper's cooperative egg economy was so successful that community leaders from throughout Utah visited Draper and used it as a model for co-operatives in their communities. The city gained national prominence when eggs from Draper were shipped to servicemen overseas during World War II. According to one Draper historian, at one point, "almost everyone had chickens," a fact nearly collaborated by Draper's numerous poultry-related outbuildings.4 The Walbecks were no exception.