Ogden History: The Henry H. Hudman Home

One of the things that attracted Kim and I to Ogden was its rich history.  The older neighborhoods are teeming with stories and a rich heritage.  One of the things I find interesting is to tie the people together with the homes that they owned.  Often, the history of the home is intriguing in its own right.

This weird fascination of mine took me back to the Weber Title Abstract Vault for some more research on my own home.  Here is the story:

In 1907, the lot at 2227 Jefferson Ave. was owned by Leslie S. Hodgeson.  This name might sound familiar to Ogden historical buffs.  He was the same gentleman that designed the Perry Egyptian Theater, Peery Apartments, Ogden High School, Ogden City Building, Forest Service Regional Building, Shupe Williams Candy Factory, Old Dee Elementary School, Ogden Masonic Temple, John S. Houtz Home, LDS Branch for the Deaf, The Hotel Bigelow, Polk School, and many other structures.  Mr. Hodgeson has probably left more of a mark on the city than any other person.

On October 4, 1907, Henry H. Hudman, the Vice President of Pingree National Bank and the Treasurer for the Blackman Griffin Company, acquired the lot from Mr. Hodgeson for the princely sum of $1,200.  Converted to 2010 dollars, that equates with a $28,000 purchase price...all for a .15 acre lot. Mr Hudman proceeded to construct the home with cash.  A building permit was pulled in 1908 and the home was completed likely in 1910.  We know this because the steam pipes in our basement are stamped with the year 1910 on them.

(This structure existed at the current site of El Matador's at 26th and Ogden Ave.)

The home was constructed for a family of four.  Henry and Anne Hudman had a son and a daughter.  Their son served in The Great War (World War I) and their daughter worked as a stenographer.  The home has a master bedroom with two closets on the main level.  I am sure Mrs. Hudman had the larger walk-in closet with window and Henry was relegated to a much less impressive closet that I use today.

(Located on the 24th block of Washington where the plaza north of Markestar is today.)

On April 29, 1920, Mabel Hudman, the daughter, received a life estate from her parents and it was finally recorded at the county office upon Henry's death in 1937.

Mabel owned the home until October 9, 1952 when Leonard Bauman purchased the home for $9,750 (just $79,000 today).  Mabel seller financed $5,250 of the purchase which the Baumans finally paid off on July, 2, 1969.

The Baumans owned the home for 50 years until 2003 when it was sold to some investors in Salt Lake City for an undisclosed amount.  The investors procured private hard money financing and then proceeded to default.  By early 2005, we had purchased the home from the lender who repossessed it.  We paid $72,500.  A lot of damage was incurred during that short two year period in which the investors owned the property.  It wasn't helped by the fact that the Baumans made their last significant improvement to the property in the early 1970's.

Here are some photos from when we purchased the home:

Cool woodwork. But the cool wallpaper had been ruined.  

Here you can see the shards of glass and the rock (left of the fireplace) that had been thrown through the window. 

The home was coated in wallpaper and it required a lot of scraping to get rid of it all.  You can see the latch on the top of the door.  The investors tried to turn the property into a boarding home.  I am sure that worked for then until the boiler stopped working.

Of course, no old home would be complete without a creepy basement.

The restoration process has been extremely rewarding.  We have grown to appreciate the amount of workmanship that went into home building so long ago.  We look forward to preserving our home for another generation to own in the decades to come.