The Spencer Homestead Site is locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Exploration/Settlement through its association with the peak of homesteading in the state as an example of the hardscrabble lifestyle that Utah farmers encountered, from achieving homesteading, to obtaining water, to operating investment farms. It is also significant under Criterion A in the area of Agriculture/ Subsistence for its demonstration of a mixed use of private farm and investment farm and use of new farming techniques. The Spencer Homestead is significant as a rare extant example of a late nineteenth-century homestead and farmhouse. Its significance is enhanced by its current location on public property, Dimple Dell Regional Park, assuring preservation of the site and access to the public. The intact landscape of the property features one of the few stand-alone settlement-era homes in the area along with surrounding land that has remnants of undisturbed farming and orchard areas and trash deposits, and contributes to historic agricultural context of the Crescent, Granite, and Sandy communities. Thomas and Sarah Spencer applied for a homestead grant for 160 acres in a mostly unsettled area of the southeast bench of the Salt Lake Valley in 1893. After building the frame house, a brick addition, and making other improvements, the Spencer’s were granted a patent in 1898. The family lived on and worked the land until 1910 when they sold the property and moved into the center of Sandy. This period is associated with the “Mining, Smelting, and Small Farm Era, 1871-1910” context within the Historic Resources of Sandy City Multiple Property Submission (MPS). The second period of significance is a 60-year span between 1910 and 1970. During this period, the Spencer farmstead changed hands twelve times with each subsequent owner interested in the property as an investment farm. Very few of the owners lived on the farm, choosing instead to rent out the house and land. This period is associated with the “Specialized Agriculture, Small Business and Community Development, 1906-1946” of the Sandy City MPS. While not particularly successful in the area of specialized agriculture, the property is an excellent example of a homestead converted to an investment farm and illustrates an underrepresented pattern found in Utah’s rural history. The overall period of significance dates from 1893, when the Spencer family homesteaded the site and built their house, up to 1970, when the land was purchased by Salt Lake County to create Dimple Dell Regional Park. This is important because the Spencer Homestead was not subdivided, even after changing hands many times. There were 47 acres—a remarkable amount of land during a housing boom—available in 1970 when Salt Lake County began assembling parcels to create Dimple Dell Park. For this reason, the site is also significant under Criterion D for its potential to yield information regarding the use of the homestead and farm for various farming practices compared to other areas in the region. The Utah State Historic Preservation Office has identified only five documented examples of similar types of homesteads that date to a similar period as the Spencer Homestead with clearly definable association and historical context within Salt Lake Valley. A particularly useful comparative site is the Devereaux Mansion (NRIS #MP100003042), which is at the opposite end of the economic scale and the only fully excavated site of a historic period residential site in Salt Lake Valley.
