The old red brick Victorian-style Dimond house was once an iconic structure located at the intersection of Redwood Road and Interstate 2-15 in what is now Taylorsville, Salt Lake County, Utah.
Built in 1898 by Thomas W. Dimond (sometimes written as Diamond), the two-story pressed brick residence was described as one of the prettiest homes in Salt Lake County. It contained 13 rooms and was outfitted with walnut banisters, hot and cold running water, and all the modern luxury improvements available at the time.
Thomas W. Dimond was born in 1866 in the town of Crewkerne, England, to a weaver, Henry and Elizabeth Dimond. At the age of 12, Thomas Dimond spent a year working in a factory in England; not content with the opportunities afforded to him in his native land; he immigrated to Salt Lake City in 1880 at the age of 14 to join his eldest brother who had arrived in 1874. The family had converted to the Mormon faith in England and by the end of the nineteenth century all members had immigrated to Utah.
His first job, at the age of 14, was working on a farm where he and his brothers became interested in the sheep business and within a few years they were running six bands of sheep of their own in Wyoming under the name Dimond Brothers Company. The sheep business proved to be profitable for the Dimond brothers.
In 1896 Thomas W. Dimond married Nora Bennion and he purchased 20 acres of land on Redwood Road, east of the old Taylorsville Post Office. In 1898 his two-story red Victorian was completed and the couple raised 7 children in the home. Nora died in 1909 and in 1913 Thomas married her sister, Laura Bennion who continued to care for the children.
In 1909, Thomas W. Dimond disposed of his interests in the sheep industry and became a merchant, purchasing the Murray branch of the Utah Implement Company dealing in farm implements, coal, hay and grain. The name of the company was changed in the 1920s to Dimond Coal & Feed Co. (located at 41 W 4800 South in Salt Lake City) and Thomas’s only surviving son, Samuel became the assistant manger.
Thomas W. Dimond died in a hospital after a prolonged illness. After his death, his wife Laura moved from the Dimond farm to an assisted living facility where she died a few years later, in 1948.
Read Part 2 of the History of Dimond House
Sources
- Biographical Record of Salt Lake City and Vicinity: Containing Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present (Google eBook). By National Historical Record Company, 1902. Salt Lake City (Utah) pgs 635-636
- Utah Since Statehood, Historical and Biographical (Google eBook) by Noble Warrum. S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1920 – Utah. Pgs 449-450
- Pro, Con Views Key Belt Route Hearing by Bob Said. Salt Lake Tribune March 1 1959
- Century-old haunt bites the dust in Taylorsville by Jason Swensen. Deseret News. April 3 1997
Comments