Mormon Row Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Grand Teton National Park, National Park Service

Historical Research Associates, Inc.; Cowley, Jill; Mardorf, Carrie

Defined by a linear array of uniform building complexes lining the north‑south Jackson to Moran road, the Mormon Row Historic District is located at the southeast corner of Grand Teton National Park in a gently sloping sheltered cove formed by Blacktail Butte and the Gros Ventre Mountains. The Teton Range is located seven miles to the northwest and is a dominant visual presence. The community once extended from the Gros Ventre River at the south to the initiation of the arid and rocky soils north of Blacktail Butte. Extant buildings are now limited to six building clusters and an isolated ruin (representing six homestead withdrawals) within the rough center of the historic community parameters. These homestead withdrawals comprise the Mormon Row Historic District. The building clusters incorporate domestic and agricultural infrastructure and are constructed of locally procured materials in a simple vernacular style. Associated landscape features include fence and corral systems; the extant Mormon Row Ditch system; remains of the Johnson/Eggleston ditch; a domestic dump; a hay derrick; the community swimming hole dammed in an intermittent drainage; windrows marking the location of former homes and of the community church; and the still‑sage‑free cultivated fields and pasturage laboriously cleared by the original settlers. Important natural features within the general area include adjacent sage‑covered valley bottomlands, The Knoll (a sled and ski hill used by area children), Ditch Creek, the Gros Ventre River, and Blacktail Butte. Timbered Island, Shadow Mountain and Teton National Forest lands are in the distance. The historic road that once linked residents of Moran, Wyoming with those of Jackson bifurcates the community and largely defines the strikingly linear (row) pattern of settlement. This linear pattern is reinforced by fence and field lines. The curvilinear, irregular patterns of tree‑lined drainages (most notably Ditch Creek and the primary canal of the Mormon Row Ditch system) as well as topographic features outside the district boundary (most notably Blacktail Butte, The Knoll, and the Teton Range) stand in stark contrast to the human‑imposed grid. The Mormon Row Rural Historic Landscape is significant on the state level for its history, vernacular architecture and landscape architecture. The district's period of significance extends from the settlement of Andy Chambers, John Moulton, and T.A. Moulton homesteads in 1908, to 1950 when extension of Grand Teton National Park marked the end of concerted agricultural development. Significant dates include 1927, when residents were granted a dependable water source, and 1943, when the Jackson Hole National Monument was created by Executive Order. The community illustrates the extension of the "Mormon Culture Region" from Utah, Idaho, and Arizona, to interspersed communities throughout the West. The community also represents late‑frontier Mormon settlement of high and arid country, where homesteaders practiced diversified agriculture on a limited land base, where multiple generations inhabited the family farm (or adjoining farm) and where the number of failed homesteads equaled or exceeded the successful enterprises, as shortcomings of farming 160 acres became self‑evident. The domestic and agricultural infrastructure was constructed of locally procured materials and is a significant expression of vernacular architecture and landscape architecture. The irrigation systems also represented the life‑blood of the community; engineered systems assured proper distribution of water from distant sources to extensive fields and continue to represent the unique contribution of Mormons to western irrigation and settlement patterns. Additionally, the Andy Chambers complex, the John Moulton complex, and the Reed Moulton barn (Heninger barn) retain a remarkable degree of physical architectural integrity.

Mormon Row Historic District: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Grand Teton National Park, National Park Service

Series

Collections