Johnson-Hansen House

About this property

The Johnson–Hansen House is a historic house located in Provo, Utah, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Located at 485 East 400 South, the Neils Johnson home is both architecturally and historically significant. "The log cabin, brick house, and garage, built between 1870 and 1938, describe settlement patterns and periods of development in Provo. Linking the brick historic home with a "modern" garage through the log cabin symbolizes the connection between past, present, and future. These structures are architecturally significant as excellent examples of local 1870s architecture and as a unique, late 1930s blend of nostalgic and modern influences on residential design (Historic Provo p. 25)." "As soon as it was considered safe to move out of the fort, instead of making a home on his piece of land as the ordinary pioneer farmer would have done, the Provo settler, following the advice of President Young and the example of the older colony, selected a site and made his home in the platted part of the city. Each family had a quarter of a block -- perhaps more -- on which was the dwelling house... Each morning the farmer and his sons went to their work on the farm, returning to their town home in the evening." The purpose of combining town and farm life was to provide better protection against the Indians and to provide a greater opportunity for a religious and social life. Born on August 5, 1848, in the country of Denmark, Neils Johnson was both a farmer and a sexton for the city cemetery. He was married to Josephine C.M. who was born in Norway on December 17, 1846. Together they had five children, although three of them died before 1898. Johnson lived in this home between 1871 and 1923, and was listed as residing at 356 South 500 East for four years afterward. Albert L. and Beatrice Hulick resided at the Neils Johnson home between 1926 and 1929, and J. Lanning Hall in 1930–31, but throughout their tenancies Neils Johnson still owned the home. Johnson died in 1937, bestowing the property to his daughter (two-thirds to Caroline Hinckley and one-third to Christine Hinckley Robinson. Mr. Ray Hansen then purchased the home. Born in Benjamin, Utah, Ray Hansen was born on February 22, 1902. He was married on July 2, 1927, to Blanche Mcbeth, and they lived at 356 South 500 East in Provo before purchasing the Johnson–Hansen property. Ray Hansen was employed under Pacific States CI and P Co., a pipeline manufacturer. In the year 1939 Mr. Hansen became a foreman, and in 1959 a patternmaker for the same company. He married a second time to Helen Hansen, and he died on June 3, 1989.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Utah County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Utah County.

More historic places in Utah

Browse all historic places in Utah.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Utah history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.