Excerpts from

History of Stansbury Park, Utah

Excerpts from “The View From Stansbury Park: Stansbury Park at the Beginning”

Published in 1990 in The History of Tooele County, Vol.2

by Ouida Blanthorn

(Excerpt taken by Lisa Bergantz)

In 1969 a new company was formed in Salt Lake City for the purpose of developing recreational communities in a four-state-wide area. One of those communities planned was Stansbury Park in beautiful Tooele Valley, where the company set out to exhibit “new standards of quality” in land development. Executives of the new company styled themselves “Terracor,” from the word “earth”.

‘We’ll put a golf course there and the sailing lake over there…and the clubhouse will be here,’ one company executive declared, as they emerged from a dark blue Mercedes-Benz at the entrance to Tooele Valley carrying maps and plot plans which they spread over the hood of the car. They had decided after purchasing 1,200 acres of cheap land to name the residential part after the island looming out of the Great Salt Lake, described by a U.S. Government Surveyor Howard Stansbury and called after him.

Along with the construction of the new homes, shopping, recreational and industrial needs were to be dove-tailed into a long-range plan for growth of Stansbury Park. … By June of 1971 a 100-acre, sailing lake with a six-mile long convoluted shoreline was carved out and half-way filled with artesian well water. By 1973 an Olympic-size swimming pool was completed, operating year-round by means of a hot-air inflated bubbletop, and a tennis court adjoining the pool. A 9,000 sq foot, two-story clubhouse, 38 feet at the highest point, designed by Brixen and Christopher with inside café, separate lounge, meeting and exercise rooms was planned for completion by that year’s end. Lots, ranging in price from $2,500 to $6,500 were being sold in a launched house boat on the lake.

At the center of the development was the golf course, which by June of 1972 had the first nine holes of golf in play, Hole No.5 being the first completed. Listed as one of the finest new courses in Utah then, the only championship course in the county today, the 53^rd Utah Open Golf tournament was played at Stansbury. … The fact [that] Stansbury had qualified for the honor was a big plus for Tooele County. From the onset it was planned that the course would be owned and maintained bye the resident association, but under the Terracor reorganization, a lease agreement was signed in May of 1982 by David Bingham (a consultant in the planning of the $1 million course) with Tooele County Service Area No. 2 of Stansbury Park for 25 years. During the construction of the course, a tree transplanting machine helped to place some 30, 40 foot high Siberian Elms on the 7,000-yard-long course, and on April 9, 1975 a Golf Association was formed to provide management of the game, along with associated social activities. …

As the work on the Park progressed, a system of 20 circulating lakes, up to four acres in size were built, providing a totally scenic setting for the golfer, and also serving as storm retention basins. Homes were also designed to take advantage of the golf course setting. Five miles of waterfront homesites were plotted, and 48 impressive, single dwelling-appearance condominiums of contemporary design from $19,990 were laid out in the Millpond area. By late 1970 some $5 million in capital improvements, such as streets, gutters, underground utilities and water systems had been installed, along with a $100,000 children’s adventure playland and Kiddie Farm. The prominent Lombardy Trees that line the park entrance today were up by the spring of 1971.

In the beginning the marketing phase of Stansbury Park was exceptional. Terracor’s top executives were probably the highest paid in the state of Utah, and they pumped thousands into advertising campaigns in newspapers, magazines, and on TV. The executives were also young, the average age about 32, the President of the company was 35. To promote and emphasize its image of quality, the company leased and renovated the Keith=Brown mansion on 529 E. South Temple, which remains its headquarter today. The obvious and attractive facilities at Stansbury attracted the potential buyer and builder, and a sales team. …

[The] ‘First Families’ [of Stansbury Park] were closely-knitted in the beginning. [One family] hosted a New Year’s and Halloween party…[another], an Open House at thanksgiving. Holidays, in fact, were celebrated in a big way during the initial years. The company, itself, also did many things for the ‘Pioneers of the Park’, providing … a hay wagon ride for the children and transportation for their parents to college football games, and huge baskets of fruit gifts at Christmas time. … Mail for the first families, who later qualified for rural delivery, was available at the Construction Office at 850 Lakeview. … Residents could keep abreast of ‘What was going on?’ by reading the ‘Terraviews”, a newspaper published by the company. …

One of the first families to live in Stansbury Park [was a household who’s head] was the coach of the Utah Jazz basketball team in Salt Lake City…and he promoted the Park for Terracor with television ads. He [then became] head basketball coach at BYU. John Smith, representative of Tooele County to the Utah State Legislature, while a resident has spearheaded restoration of the E.T. Benson Gristmill. …

A family of three in 1974 paid to enjoy the amenities of Stansbury $204 a year. They could swim, play tennis, golf and use the clubhouse facilities, while a non-member of the community paid $250. By 1978 a one-year, full-family country club membership was included with [the] purchase of a home. …

By the summer of 1974, enough homes had been built that residents of the Park celebrated what would become an annual event- ‘Stansbury Days’, featuring fire truck rides, sailboat regattas and a parade depicting some aspects of life in the Park, with the day’s activities culminating in a feast of succulent, whole roast pig. In addition to this traditional day, the Stansbury Park Homeowners’ Association was to sponsor variety shows, theatrical productions and a beauty contest. A ‘Miss Stansbury Park’ contestant …went on to become ‘Miss Tooele County’ in 1978, a preliminary to the Miss America Pageant.

The Constitution [of the Homeowners’ Assoc.] was written… [in] 1975. Dues for the Association were collected; and officers were elected for two-year terms, with the officers and trustees comprising the Board of Directors. An Architectural committee was appointed by the Homeowners’ to insure maintenance of property values, and compliance with the ‘Stansbury Village Protective Land Use Covenants’, which among other things contained limitations for building materials, tree planting specifications, limitations of height (for a fence or roof pitch), and complete absence of clothes lines visible from the street.

The Stansbury volunteer Fire Department … held meetings in a building constructed by Tooele County in the Park and designated as the ‘North Tooele Co Station No. 1’. Membership in the department was contingent on being a property owner, resident and/or employee, and 18 [years old]. The Board of Managers included the Chief, two assistants, a maintenance supervisor, county fire inspector and five alternates.

When the Stansbury Park Homeowners’ Association was formed, the original intent was to make membership mandatory for property owners and residents, not voluntary, as it is now, with the homeowners owning and maintaining the 18-hole golf course and the other recreational facilities. Things were looking up to that end and running smoothly, until land developers in this county, as well, as in the Country, fell on hard times in the early 70s.

Continental Mortgagae Investors of Coral Gables had loaned money to Terracor during the fir project development phase. After a reorganization of Terracor, which failed to help the ‘sinking ship’, CMI went into bankruptcy. A new company- Senior Western formed by CMI’s principal creditors- forced Terracor into Chapter 11 bankruptcy February 24, 1981. Terracor was given a chance to remain in possession and control of developments, until it could devise a plan for paying off its debt.

Along with school and religious activities, social organizations were formed in the Park. A chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, part of the largest Greek letter sorority in the world, was organized a Stansbury. The sorority has financed various projects in the Park, including repair of the water-propelled fountain in the clubhouse complex, and a plexi-glass street directory for visitors to the Park.

…Life at Stansbury Park went on; and as reflected by a recent survey, families living here have the highest income in the State of Utah. Several doctors, lawyers, industrials, mining and construction management officials ‘have opted to locate in the planned community’. The direction of the Park today has been determined in part by its reorganization which has preserved its facilities and also its quality of life determining the direction of its destiny. As a recent newspaper article boasted, ‘Stansbury Park is Positive About Its Growth’