Dimple Dell: Muir-Poulsen Historic Home

 The Muir-Poulson Historic Home is a neat old house in sandy, located on the northern edge of Dimple Dell Regional Park. It is currently fenced off, but you can see the outside of it, so it was worth a quick visit while we were in the area.

Quick Details:

Length: About 500 feet out and back from the Mount Jordan Trailhead.
Trail Type: Out and back, balloon.
Difficulty: DR3. It is currently not paved and a little bumpy. But it is super short and easy.
Elevation Gain: NA
Restroom: No. Closest would be at Granite Park or the Bell Canyon Preservation Trailhead might be a better bet in winter since I know it is open year round.
Dogs? Yes, leashed.
Other Info:

To Get Here:

Take i15 to 90th South heading east for about 6.8 miles. Turn right on Mount Jordan Road. Follow that for about 7/10ths of a mile and the Mount Jordan Trailhead will be on the right. 3015 East Mount Jordan Road.

Go back to the northwest on foot.

The Trail:

The house from the road.

There is a wide trail that connects to Granite Park from here and the house is just off of it.

Little picnic area on the other side of the trail.

The house again.

The current sign:

“Preservation in Progress: Dimple Dell & the Muir-Poulsen House.

A Granite Home

Finished in 1897, this stately granite home was built by James Alma Muir. Son of Scottish immigrants, James was born in Utah and found a job in the Little Cottonwood granite quarries at the age of 11 in 1870. He built this home from blocks from what is known as the Temple Quarry, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple in downtown was built from this stone.

He and his wife Janet, lived in this home until 1922, and owned the property until 1938 when it was repossessed during the Great Depression.

Agricultural Landscape

During the Muir years, a large grove of Black Locust trees were planted to the south of the home. Fruit trees were also added to the 113 acres, including peach, plum, apricot, and apple. Today these trees still bear fruit, well over 100 years after they were planted.

A Work In Progress

After repossession in 1938, George and Alta Poulsen acquired the property in 1942. In 1958, they built a concrete block addition. The home was lived in until 2015, and now is managed by Salt Lake County. A group of dedicated volunteers is working to restore the home back to its original glory. Please help us preserve this important piece of Utah History!”

Wow. There is a lot to unpack here. My favorite highlights are that is is built out of the same stones that the temple is. And also that people lived in it all the way until just 11 years ago! Also, it is not quite old enough to make the list of oldest building in Utah. But I would wager if there was a list of oldest buildings in Sandy, it would probably make that.

Neat home.

I think one of these was the main entrance.

I decided to walk around it really quick.

The side.

I hope that one day we might be allowed to tour the inside. It’s a neat old house.

This must be the cinderblock addition the sign mentioned. Man I bet this house was super drafty!

Around the corner.

The picnic area again.

This looks like a little outdoor classroom of sorts.

The house again.

Back to the Mount Jordan Trailhead.

I checked out the link the sign provided and found some neat pictures. Obviously definitely not my images.

Here is the house in 1938, without the addition.

2001. It looks like I was right about the main entrance, and they decided to remove that porch. From the previous photo, it looks like it was fairly original? I wonder why they removed it. Maybe they plan to replace it?

2018.

The addition, again, 2018.

Gables from 2018. Looking back at my image, it looks like they have already restored these.

And 2 images from inside. Sadly it would seem the assholes with spray paint beat the historical society. I just don’t understand the mindset that compels people to tag in general, but specifically historic things or nature.

Anyway, there are a couple more images of the house from 2018 in the article linked from the sign (outside link).

Just for funsies, here is what it looked like in 2012, courtesy of google maps.

Well, that was a fun little add-on trail to see a little bit of history! I hope one day they will open it up to get to explore a little more closely, but for now just seeing the outside is fun too. Definitely a fun little add on trail. 8 out 10 squirrels today.

As for difficulty, it is super short, but a little wild still. DR3.

Dogs are allowed on leash in Dimple Dell, so I don’t see why it would be different here.