1733 South 1300 East
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Westminster College President's House

Statement of Significance:

The Westminster College President's House, built in 1915, is significant under Criterion A for its association with the development of Westminster College in the first half of the twentieth century. The construction and subsequent use of the house as a residence of four college presidents coincides with significant changes in the college's policies and its relationship to the greater Utah community. During the historic period of the house, Westminster College grew from a small, financially insecure Presbyterian academy to a fully functioning, independent four-year college. Much of the credit for the progress is due to Herbert W. Reherd, the home's first occupant, and his successor, Robert D. Steele. A clinker brick and shingle bungalow, the house was designed and built by local contractor, Ralph C. Holsclaw, probably using ideas from Craftsman pattern books of the period. The Westminster College President's House is in excellent condition. It has been modified over the years, most notably with the addition of two bays in 1974; however, it retains enough historic material and integrity to be a contributing historic resource of the neighborhood surrounding Westminster College and of Salt Lake City.

HISTORY OF THE WESTMINSTER COLLEGE PRESIDENT'S HOUSE

The history of Westminster College and its president's house begins with the completion of the transcontinental railroad through Utah in 1869, which brought an end to the relative isolation of the early Mormon pioneers (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS Church). The Presbyterian Church established a congregation in Salt Lake City in 1871. For the next two decades, Presbyterians expanded their influence in the community, largely through the creation of mission schools. At the time Utah had no public school system, and many Protestant leaders felt that there was a need for a better quality of education than was being offered by the private Mormon schools. The Presbyterian Preparatory School located in a church at 200 East and 200 South in Salt Lake City originally offered instruction from kindergarten to high school. 1875, the Salt Lake Collegiate Institute was founded in 1875 as a high school and preparatory school. After 1890, which marked the establishment of a public education system in Utah, the institute dropped the lower grades in favor of a high school and college preparatory curriculum only. Junior college-level classes were first offered in 1897, under the name Sheldon Jackson College. Named after the Reverend Sheldon Jackson, the college's primary benefactor and the energetic superintendent of missions in the Intermountain West, the college operated for several years at the Collegiate Institute's downtown campus (building now demolished). In 1902, the institute was renamed Westminster College, and twenty-one acres of the present campus (between 1700 and 1900 South and 1100 East and 1300 East) were purchased. The first building on the new campus to be completed was Converse Hall, built in 1906, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. However, due to a lack of funds, college classes were suspended in 1909 and high school courses were held at the downtown campus until January 1911, when the new location was sufficiently complete. The president during these financially troubled transition years was Reverend Robert M. Stevenson, who resigned in November of 1912. After nearly a year without a president, the college trustees eventually offered the position to Reverend Herbert W. Reherd, a pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Waterloo, Iowa. The Reherd family arrived in Utah on November 26, 1913.
Herbert Ware Reherd was born in Geneseo, Illinois on August 23, 1869. He was educated at Parsons College, Iowa, where he received a B.A. (1893), and an M. A. (1897). He attended the Princeton Theological Seminary and received his D.D. from the McCormick Theological Seminary in 1897. On June 15, 1898, he married Margaret Louise McClure, who was born in Mediapolis, Iowa on May 15, 1875. She also graduated from Parsons College. The couple had two children, Elizabeth Louise and Harold McClure. Prior to accepting the position at Westminster College, Rev. Reherd participated in a world tour of Presbyterian missions, and as a result was known as "an accomplished preacher, a zealous advocate of mission enterprises, and a proven fundraiser."1
On July 4, 1914, Herbert Reherd purchased a lot on 1300 East just across the street from the campus. The previous owners of the property were Etha B. & Godfrey J. Badertscher, developers associated with the Doerner Realty & Securities Company, who owned large portions of the land east of 1300 East. Richard obtained a building permit on October 15, 1914, for a one-story, eight-room frame dwelling to be built at a cost of $5,000. No architect was listed, and the builder was R. C. Holsclaw, a Salt Lake City contractor. The house was completed the following year. In 1920, the same year the college acquired 13.3 acres of undeveloped land, surrounding the house, the Reherds sold the house to the college for $8,500 with the stipulation that the family remains in the house during the tenure of his presidency. Sometime between 1920 and 1924, one of Reherd's boyhood friends, L. Arthur Cushman of New York City, reimbursed the college the cost of the home and it was known as Cushman Cottage in his honor for many years afterward.

When Herbert Reherd first arrived in Salt Lake City, his intention was to stay five years. He stayed the rest of his life and spent the next thirty-nine years serving the college and the Presbyterian community in Utah. His accomplishments at the college were many. In 1914, he reinstated two-year college courses, and though enrollment was low (especially during times of war, epidemics, and depression), the college was able to sustain its junior college status. President Reherd was never able to fully attain his financial goals for Westminster, however, under his administration the college moved markedly closer to fiscal stability. In addition, Reherd and his colleagues were able to raise enough funds to build additional campus facilities, including Foster Hall (completed in 1926), the renovation of Converse Hall (gutted by fire in 1926), and the Payne Gymnasium (1928-1929). The college trustees unveiled an ambitious master plan, utilizing property on both sides of 1300 East, in 1927, but the project fell victim to the depression and was never realized.

For many years, Westminster College struggled to find funds for operation. The Presbyterian community of Utah was too small to support the college. Reherd predecessors had used the college's unique place in the Mormon stronghold to solicit donations from devout members back east. Fundraising techniques often cited the need for higher Christian education to counteract the perceived evils of the Mormon polygamous system (sanctioned by the LDS Church until 1890), and the de facto control of state government by the LDS Church. As president, Herbert Reherd took steps to change the college's anti-Mormon stance, a strong feature of its

early history. When speaking to audiences outside of Utah, he would give what he termed a "descriptive approach" to Protestant-Mormon relations.3 Though heavily involved in fundraising outside the state, Reherd worked hard to strengthen ties within the state. He helped to make the college more interdenominational by establishing partnerships with other Protestant congregations in the area, including the Methodists, Congregationalists, and Episcopalians.

After undergoing emergency surgery in 1934, Herbert Reherd's health would not allow him to continue both his fundraising and administrative duties. The trustees selected Reherd's son-in-law, Robert Denham Steele to act as associate president and assume the responsibility to direct Westminster's academic programs. Robert D. Steele was a graduate of Princeton Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian minister. He was married to Elizabeth Louise Steele and had a son, David. The Steele family shared the house at 1733 South 1300 East with their in-laws for five years. Rev. Herbert W. Reherd retired as president of Westminster College on August 31, 1939, though he continued to serve the college as president emeritus, fundraiser, advisor, and historian. The "retirement" of Louise Reherd was also a loss to the college. For many years, she served unofficially as acting president during her husband's absences from Salt Lake City. She hosted dignitaries, provided accommodations and meals to needy students, taught Bible classes, sat on the Women's Board, assisted the president's secretary with paperwork, and essentially served as unpaid college staff for over thirty years. The Reherds purchased a home at 1474 Laird Avenue, giving the Steeles full use of the president's house. Louise McClure Reherd died on October 11, 1945. Rev. Herbert W. Reherd died on July 28, 1952. They are buried in Salt Lake's Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

One of President Steele's first administrative decisions was to transform Westminster into a four-year junior college. Though the school continued to offer high school classes until 1945, the college eliminated references to the preparatory department and dropped the name Collegiate Institute from class catalogs, promotional materials, and stationery. During Steele's tenure, the college began to move toward more financial and administrative independence from the Presbyterian Church. Steele strengthened academic programs while softening the religious mores, for example, he lifted the bans on dancing and card playing at campus events. Unfortunately, the college continued to experience financial difficulties. In 1942, the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education withdrew Westminster's status as a mission school and reduced its annual allotment of funding, forcing the college to become more dependent on local resources for operating expenses and endowment. During World War II, enrollment at the college dipped to below fifty students. Steele hoped that interdenominational support would enable the college to meet expenses and replenish its endowment; however, donations from other protestant denominations were always less than expected. Finally, in 1946, the college was forced to sell the property east of 1300 East but retained the president's house.

Enrollment fueled by the G.I. Bill began to climb again after the war, and Westminster expanded its offerings to include pre-professional and business courses in addition to its liberal arts core. Full accreditation for the four-year program was granted in 1951, making Westminster the first junior college in the intermountain region. Despite his many accomplishments, Robert Steele was frustrated by the financial instability of the college, and stated that a presidential change might stimulate growth; Steele submitted his resignation, effective June 30, 1952. He accepted an offer to become president of Carroll College, a Presbyterian Church-related institution in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The departure of Robert and Elizabeth Steele was closely followed by the death of Herbert Reherd, marking the end of a family association with Westminster College and the president's house that lasted nearly four decades.
J. Richard Palmer was president of Westminster College between 1952 and 1956, and lived in the president's house with his wife, Ruth S., during the same period. Palmer was the first non-Presbyterian to fill the presidency. As Pastor of the Emmanuel Methodist Church in Denver, Colorado, he brought an ecumenical perspective to the position. After only three years, Palmer resigned in a period of financial crisis and campus unrest. Looking for strong leadership, the trustees next selected Frank E. Duddy, Jr, Westminster's first nonministerial president. A graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. in modern European history, Duddy was a university professor with extensive teaching experience. He was also a Congregationalist with an ecumenical vision for the college's support system. Duddy was president of the college from 1956-1963, although he only lived in the president's house until 1961 when he moved to a home on 2266 Berkeley. Following Frank Duddy's resignation in 1963, the trustees decided not to look for a new candidate through denominational ties. Their choice was W. Frederick Arbogast, a Westminster alumnus and former principal of East and Highland High schools with graduate degrees in education. Fred and Eleanor Arbogast never lived at 1733 South 1300 East during his presidency, which lasted until 1968.

According to Lewis Webster's history of Westminster College, the house was converted to a men's dormitory after Duddy's occupancy. The Salt Lake City directories do not list dormitory occupants, but do list the following individuals (chaperones?) living in the house between 1961 and 1965 when the college sold the property: Deloy W. and Velta R. Duff (1962, salesman for the Salvation Army Store) and Rev. Gaylord L. and M. Phyllis Hasselblad (director, Association of Baptist Conventions, 1963-1964); and Ronald E. and Sandra J. Coulter (draftsman, Hardy & Naylor, 1965). On November 3, 1965, the property was acquired by the Exchange Finance Company and sold to Ruth W. Block in December 1966. Ruth and her husband, Paul Block renovated and upgraded the house as a private residence (e.g. the swimming pool built in 1969 and the alterations and additions in 1974). In June 1978, the Block family sold the property to John G. and Athena M. Moore. The Moore family has maintained the property and made only minor modifications in the past two decades. John G. Moore, a physician at the Veterans Administration Hospital, currently lives in the home with his daughter.