274 South 1200 East
Salt Lake City, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Frank M. Orem House

Statement of Significance:

The Frank M. Orem House is significant for its association with the life of its owner and namesake, an important figure in the creation of the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad--the state's second electric interurban and the first to connect population centers in Utah and Salt Lake Counties. Put into operation in 1913, the SL & URR or "Orem Line" was part of one of the nation's largest interurban transit systems and gave impetus to the development of 130 new industries along its route. The Orem House, built in 1907, has been well-preserved and recently underwent restoration/renovation by its present owners. Both the interior and exterior of the residence retain the integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Situated on its original large corner lot in Salt Lake City, the house also possesses integrity of location and setting. As the Interurban Building and the structures associated with the railroad have been destroyed, the Orem House is the only remaining building most closely associated with the life of Frank M. Orem.

Born September 26, 1874, in Ray County, Missouri, Frank M. Orem accompanied his parents, Albert J. Orem and Martha Leabo Orem, and his brother Walter C., to Utah in 1890. In adulthood, Frank became an attorney, a prominent businessman, and a leader in a variety of civic and religious concerns. A Baptist, Frank Orem taught classes in religion and became president of the Utah Baptist Convention in 1926. He was also active in fraternal organizations, belonging to the Argenta Lodge No. 3, F. & A.M. (of which he was Worshipful Master), the Utah Chapter No. 1 Royal Arch Masons, the Utah Commandery Knights Templar, and the El Kalah Temple of the Mystic Shrine, as well as the Kiwanis Club. In 1939, Mr. Orem died while climbing the steps of his office in the Interurban Building (now destroyed). At the time of his death at age sixty-five, Frank M. Orem had lived in Salt Lake City for forty-nine years and was still an officer in the Salt Lake and Utah Railroad (SL & URR), his favorite accomplishment.

Frank M. Orem made significant contributions to Utah with the SL & URR, Utah's second interurban railroad, and the first to connect the cities of Utah County to those of Salt Lake County, particularly Salt Lake City. With his father and brother (after whom the city of Orem, population 45,000, was named), Frank M. Orem organized the SL & URR or "Orem Line" in 1912, with operations beginning in 1913. It was created on the heels of Simon Bamberger's interurban (Bamberger was later governor of Utah), built in 1891 as a steam-powered railroad but electrified in 1910 in anticipation of the Orem Line.

After the invention of the electric motor in the 1830s, experiments were made with motorized trains in the 1840s. The first continuous-current dynamo.