BOUNTIFUL -- A bus tour highlighting the city's historic homes and buildings left from the parking lot of the Davis Art Center every hour during the Handcart Days celebration last week.
The city's historical commission is hoping that very parking lot will house the South Davis Museum of History and Archives by next year.
"We need to get it done and build it now so our kids can know their pioneer heritage. If we don't know where we've been, we don't know where we're going," Councilman Tom Tolman said as he started a tour. "That's my passion ¬-- to show what they sacrificed to make this such a beautiful place to live and raise a family. The next time you come on this bus ride, we want to see a building right there."
The tour highlighted places such as century-old rock homes that were among the first built in the area, the Bountiful Memorial Park which is a resting place to many pioneers, a replica of the Heber C. Kimball grist mill; the wide streets that were once lined by a wall to keep out Native Americans; Sessions Tavern which served as a stop for the Pony Express; "Governor's Lane" or a portion of 100 North where Govs. Charles Mabey and Calvin Rampton were each raised; the Bountiful Tabernacle which is the oldest Latter-Day Saint chapel in the state, and Hales Hall, which was a popular entertainment venue for 40 years.
Doris Schmidt has lived in the city 26 years and wasn't aware of the history behind the city's old structures until she took the tour.
"It was wonderful, very informative. Some of the places I didn't know why they've been left like they are. I'm very impressed. I didn't know who lived on Governor's Lane," she said. "It's interesting that two governors lived right here in Bountiful. It told a lot of the history most people don't realize. It's a nice addition to the celebration."
It bothers Tolman that the city has so much history and no museum in which to showcase it.
"I'm disenchanted that this was the second settlement in Utah and we have nothing to show for it. There are lots of little cities with museums," he said.
Tolman said pioneers came to the Bountiful area right after they came to Salt Lake City and because everyone was related, they learned the area's history from each other.
"Now that we're progressive, the kids don't sit on Grandpa's knee. We need a place. ... I feel an overwhelming desire from my ancestors to tell their story" he said.
The place he has in mind is a 14,000-square-foot building that will wrap around the parking lot of the art center on 800 South Main St. Dean Collinwood, chairman of the historical commission, said the museum will include a big multipurpose room can be used for family reunions, an upstairs gallery and an interactive center for children in the basement.
Tolman said there will also be a learning garden and orchard included in the landscaping so children can "get their hands dirty" and learn what pioneer children's chores were like.
Twins Ashley and Lindsey Aune, 6, of North Salt Lake, said they enjoyed the tour and like to learn about the pioneers.
"The houses were pretty small. They couldn't fit a lot of stuff in it," Lindsey said.
Sandy Inman, a member of the historical commission, said that's the very problem the city has with its current home for artifacts. There are over 1,000 documents and photographs and other artifacts in an office at 845 South Main St., which is open to the public from 2 to 4 p.m. on Wednesdays and 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturdays. Many of the artifacts will not fit there.
"We have stuff stored all over the city with no place to put it," Collinwood said.
The city council has allocated $750,000 for a museum that's expected to cost $1.5 million.
"We are in the throes of a big fundraising project," Collinwood said. "We need $400,000 to break ground. Maybe this fall, that's our goal."
Collinwood said the museum will show the history of the area from Native American settlement to the present for the historical district that includes Bountiful, West Bountiful, Woods Cross, Centerville and North Salt Lake.
"We don't want to displace other museums but help them out by drawing attention to the history of the area," he said. "We will be a central depository for diaries, journals and birth certificates for the museum district. You'll know what to do with Great Aunt Mimi's diary. You can put it in a place that is humidity controlled and temperature- and light-protected."
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