8832 South 90 East
Sandy, UT, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Y. Martin and Hannah Nelson Anderson House

Statement of Significant:

The Y. Martin and Hannah Nelson Anderson house, built c. 1910, is significant under Criterion A for its association with the second period of Sandy City's development: the Specialized Agriculture, Small Business, and Community Development Period (1906-1946) part of the multiple property submission, .:; Historic Resources of Sandy City. Several members of the Anderson family were influential business owners in Sandy during this period. Y. Martin Anderson owned and operated a butcher shop-meat market in the city for many years. The Anderson House is a small version of the central-block-with projecting-bays house type and has Victorian Eclectic details. The house is in good condition and contributes to the historic resources of Sandy.

Historical Significance

The Specialized Agriculture, Small Business, and Community Development Period (1906-1946) is the second period of development in Sandy. It encompasses the first half of the twentieth century and was a period of transition for the city. The mining, smelting and small farm era (1871-c. 1910) was being replaced by a more diversified economy. In some ways the town still resembled the earlier predominantly agricultural community founded by Mormon settlers in the 1860s, especially as the "boom town" economy created around the mining industry waned. The population of Sandy remained around 1,500 for the four decades between 1900 and 1940. However, the city was defining itself as the political, economic, civic and social center for a major portion of the southeast Salt Lake Valley.

This period of Sandy's history laid the groundwork for city's eventual transformation from small town to suburb. One of the earliest signs of community development was the creation of subdivisions from large farming parcels. During the first half of the twentieth century, the majority of Sandy residents continued to live on their farms, however most managed to survive economically by combining subsistence farming with other occupations, primarily cottage industries and mercantilism. Other farmers created large specialized agricultural enterprises such as sugar beets, dairy and poultry. Many Sandy residents continued to work in the mining and smelter industries in nearby communities after Sandy's smelters closed down. Y. Martin Anderson owned and operated a meat market and butcher shop in Sandy during this period.

The land on which the Alfred and Annie Anderson home sits was originally owned by LeGrand and Grace Young. The Youngs sold the property to Ghloe Benedict in 1891. Albert E. Cowdell acquired the property in 1906. Albert and his wife Hattie took out a mortgage for $400 in 1909. In 1910, they sold the property to Albert and Anna Larson for $1,800. The large increase in the selling price may indicate the house was built sometime between 1909 and 1910.

The Cowdells probably never lived in the home since they owned a home elsewhere in Sandy. The only information available for Albert and Anna Larson was a Polk directory listing for the year 1914. Albert Larson was a miner at the time and may have left the area soon after he sold the property in 1913. The owner most closely associated with the home is Y. Martin Anderson, who purchased the property on May 5, 1913 and lived in the home until 1950.

Yalmer Martin Anderson was born March 31, 1880 in Norway. Mart, as he was called, was the third child of Karl Ludvik and Maren Christopherson Anderson. The Anderson family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and immigrated to Utah around 1887. The family first lived in Salt Lake City and later moved to a farm in West Jordan where they stayed until 1897. When Mart about seventeen, he went to Cardston, Canada with his father and older brother Alfred to work on a church-sponsored canal and sugar factory. While spending the winter in Salt Lake City, Mart met Hannah Nelson and they were married April 20, 1909. Hannah (Johanna) Nelson was born in Sweden, on October 24, 1885 to Nils Peter and Ingrid Hokanson Nelson. Mart and Hannah lived in Raymond, Canada for a time. Their daughter Ruth was born there in May of 1910. Soon after Ruth's birth, the family moved to Sandy, Utah. Mart found work at the United States Smelting and Refining Company in Midvale, but wanted to open his own butcher shop. In 1911, he opened his meat and grocery business on the ground floor of the Sandy Opera House.

Mart and Hannah's second daughter Vera were born in Sandy, in February of 1913. Mart eventually went into a partnership with his brother Alfred. They built a brick shop at 123 East Main Street in 1914. Within a few years, the partnership broke up. Alfred became a grocer and Mart move the meat market and butcher shop to a new location at 115 East Main Street. Hannah Nelson died of a rheumatic heart condition on June 9, 1919.^ On the 1920 census for Sandy, Mart Anderson was living with his young daughters, a housekeeper Eunice [sp?] Jorgensen and her daughter Virginia. In 1920s, Mart had a partnership with W.A. Nelson, but his business was still known as Anderson's Meat Market. Between 1930 and 1948, the last location of the meat market was at the corner of 120 East and Main Street.

Mart Anderson retired in 1948 after more than thirty years as a butcher in Sandy. He sold his house to his daughter Vera Anderson Squires in 1950. After her father's death on May 5, 1952, Vera sold the house to Telesphare and Maxine Charlier. The house remains in the Charlier family. It is currently owned by Michael Charlier. Michael and his wife Linda have recently been restoring many historic features of the house.