Author: Ashley Mullaney

As you open the front door you are met with the intoxicating smell of old leather and the feeling you’ve stepped back in time. The vintage cowboy regalia is everywhere; it’s hard to take it all in at first. Your eyes jump from old photographs and antique saddles to vintage slot machines and timeworn spurs.

You’ve probably driven past Tom’s Cabin at the foot of Memorial Hill in Midway many, many times. The old cabin looks like a prop from a Western movie, but inside is trove of real cowboy and Native American treasures.

Tom and Linda Whitaker started collecting Western antiques when they got married more than 30 years ago.

“We love stopping in to antique stores wherever we go,” says Tom. “Linda has a great eye and every town has an antique store, so the collection grew quick.”

Their private collection is of museum quality; each display carefully thought through, staged and preserved. The pride gleaned from such a beautiful and expansive collection can be heard in Tom’s voice as he talks about different items.

A staircase lined with old cowboy boots leads the way to the upstairs — a recreated brothel where any Old West madam would have felt right at home. Perfume and medicine bottles meticulously line the antique dresser, dresses and hats sit on mannequins and tokens for services sit at the foot of the bed. Tom picks up a broch acquired during a recent a trip and explains how the brothel collection came together.

“A friend had collected a lot of the items and we purchased it all from him knowing it would make a great display. Everything is here a madam may have had,” Tom says as he picks up an old folding fan. “You can just imagine them sitting the in window fanning themselves. We’ve got knitting needles, garters and even the small pistols they kept handy for protection.”

Tom could probably spend a month talking about the history of many of the Whitakers’ historic items — and yet there would still be more to explore. The cabin itself was once a barn and a photograph of the original structure hangs proudly on the wall as you walk in, reminding visitors of the humble beginnings from which this picturesque place started.

As Tom walks through the different rooms — pointing out special guns, chaps and spurs — the Wild West comes to life. His passion for the past and stories about the thrill of finding different relics is contagious. Those lucky enough to get a glimpse inside can confirm that the private collection is extensive and impressive — and the rest of us will just have to rely on pictures to tell the story of what’s inside Tom’s Cabin. The Whitakers’ cowboy museum is open a couple times a year to the public. Over the years, they’ve hosted private events and concerts at the cabin.

How much of our future will be about preserving our past? With all the hustle and bustle that comes with a growing community, it’s easy to lose sight of what got us here in the first place.

An old building is torn down to make way for something “bigger and better.” Historic homes are replaced with fancy new ones, and our attentions turn as quickly as the seasons change to the newest neighborhood or hot spot. Growth is a double-edged sword, but luckily, we live in a community with a dedication to preserving our past.

Honoring where we came from and preserving our history is a trend we now see everywhere — on television, in shopping and home design, and in the rise of at-home DNA testing and family genealogy quests.

Likewise, the history of the Heber Valley is alive all around us and we are blessed with countless reminders of our community’s past. There is no shortage of history in our valley, and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum is one of the best places to turn the clocks back, reflect and reconnect.

Heber City and the New Deal

“It is so peaceful,” says Kathryn Berg, chairwoman of the DUP Museum Board. “From the moment you walk in, you can feel the history. I remember coming to the building when it was the library in my younger days and now to see the transition to the museum is wonderful.”

As part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal programs in the 1930s, the federal government established the Work Progress Administration (WPA) as a means of creating government jobs for some of the many unemployed workers in the United States.

During the latter years of the Great Depression, the historic Heber City library was constructed using such WPA funds. The WPA supplied a grant of $13,275 toward the project – nearly half the total cost of $27,529 – and the library opened in May 1939.

“Interestingly, in the 1920s, some of the original members of the DUP started raising money for a place to store artifacts,” Berg notes.

It would be nearly 90 years —and a new library — before those artifacts would find  a home.

Home Sweet Home

For years, local historic items were stored in unsecure locations while the quest for a museum building was underway. In 2010, however, the long journey was over. The artifacts were scrubbed with toothbrushes, new frames were built, and on May 9, 2011, the DUP Museum declared the old library its official home.

With its location on Main Street, free admission and some of the most well-organized displays you’ll ever see, so many local residents are missing out on the charm of the museum.

“What’s the old saying?” Berg asks. “You’re never as appreciated in your own town? We certainly seem to see more out-of-towners than locals.”

While the old saying may be true, patronage has increased over the years and the displays are continually being added to and rotated. Of note, a Wasatch County Fire Department hand fire truck now proudly sits in the museum, alongside hairpin lace pillowcases from William Madison Wall.

And if you don’t know who Wall was, you should! The museum has tons of great resources to learn about our community’s past. “We have books about our history and there’s a table in the back where patrons can take time to read and reflect on the artifacts and displays,” says Berg.

The list of things to see and learn at the
DUP Museum goes on and on, but the
big question remains – how do we make people care?

Promoting Passion in Future Generations

Berg laments personally watching historic homes being torn down and sadly says, “Once they’re gone, the history goes with it.”

She continues, “You may have memories of what used to be, but others will never know. You can’t tell people what to do with their property, but younger generations are getting so far removed from our history. It just doesn’t mean as much. Do we say – well that’s progress, or what? I worry.”

We’ll always have books, pictures and memories, but truly preserving history means it needs to be felt, experienced and passed down to the next generation. Can you imagine Main Street without the historic buildings? Years from now, will we have to live with the regrets of not preserving our past?

“I wish I knew how to get a younger generation more passionate and interested in preserving history,” Berg admits. “We are trying. Building awareness and we’re always looking for volunteers.”

The good news is that you can start small. Visit the museum. Have family visiting? Take them with you. You never know what kind of interest you may spark learning about our community and sharing our history.

Sitting at the rich wood bar, built by a local resident from reclaimed lumber, with the glistening of the warm candlelight and timeless deco-patterned tile, you can almost hear the hustle and bustle from the Midway Mercantile building’s customers in the early 1900s.

You may remember it as Midway Mercantile Antiques, Winterton’s, Nielson’s or Ivers. Or maybe you’ve heard stories about the original Bonner Brothers Merc, but at one of the newest restaurants in the Heber Valley, the building’s history is celebrated from wall to wall.

The Midway Mercantile building has seen many changes over the years — the original white building has been moved further back, the façade has been delicately restored to brick and — whereas only one bathroom with one sink serviced the prior tenants — all modern functionality has been added to bring this restaurant into 2018.

The wood floors, cozy lighting, roaring fireplace and open flame from the oven give a sense of how the building would have felt decades ago, yet there is still a modern sophistication. The combination of new and old blends so well, it is almost seamless.

Preserving History

The original brick walls not only create a backdrop for a beautiful dining experience, but also highlight the owners’ passion for preservation. Honoring the building’s longstanding history is something Co-owners Paul “Pablo” Butler and Sandra Perala-Platt, and Co-owner and Executive Chef John Platt made their priority when renovating and opening Midway Mercantile.

In the back room, now referred to as “The Granary,” the original wide-planked wood floors show where the back and forth of grain carts have worn down soft sections of wood.

“The back floor isn’t exactly level but we love the history of the building and wanted to honor everything it had once been while creating a space people could enjoy,” says Sandra.

“We love that we have been able to open a restaurant where people can feel nostalgic,” Pablo adds. “I’m told the floor still creaks like it used to.”

From Antiques To Après Dreams

Sandra, John and Pablo visited friends in the Heber Valley for years and, as friends do, they casually talked about the need for some local après ski dining. They dreamed out loud about how great it would be to open something in the valley.

John remembers sitting at home in Seattle on a warm August evening and getting a call from his friend, Joe, in Midway.

“I found a building for your restaurant,” Joe said.

“Were we serious about that?” John asked in reply.

John and Pablo had run a popular neighborhood restaurant in Seattle for 17 years with dreams of someday relocating to Utah. After some discussion, the trio decided to come out for a visit.

“We talked about the viability for a new restaurant and crunched some numbers. It was a major decision, but we walked in to the antique store and within 24 hours had made an offer,” John says.

The Renovation

Pablo says that in the early days “it was hard to look past the antiques” and Sandra wondered if the space would be big enough. Ideas were discussed and a few rough drawings helped provide some vision for the project. Eventually, Interior Designer Teri Pena and Architect Rob Bouwhuis were called in to help make the dream a reality.

“We wanted to create a swanky yet rustic, elegant mountain town restaurant that celebrates the nearly 150-year history,” Pablo says.

Teri, the interior designer, sketched her vision for the restaurant, channeling her artistic side. “My goal was to keep it as real as possible, use the existing materials like the wood floors and brick walls, and bring other surfaces in that resemble what may have been there for years, such as the tile floor in the bar area,” she explains. “Following that, I wanted to layer in more current elements like the mid-century chairs.”

For Rob, the architect and owner of inForm Architecture, the renovation was all about preserving local heritage. “Renovations interest me as one way of incorporating more sustainable means of architecture and protecting the existing fabric of a city,” he says.

“Being located in the heart of Midway Main Street and having already played a key role in Midway’s history, it was a building capable of significant influence in preserving the personality of Midway and who we are in Wasatch County.”

Connecting Past And Present

Memories of the old Midway Mercantile building are often shared between old-time locals – those who remember going there to buy penny candy and to shop for furniture, grain and clothing. Today, some of the antiques and remnants of times past remain, giving a glimpse into earlier days. Old photographs line the walls, celebrating the building’s past and its preservation over the decades.

Thanks to the beautiful renovation that includes large, fully-opening front windows, a state-of-the-art kitchen and an inviting, contemporary décor, the Heber Valley can now dine in an upscale atmosphere where history shines.