EDWIN G. WOOLLEY / CHARLES F. FOSTER HOME
(aka Woolley-Foster Home, Seven Wives Inn)
St. George, Utah
Home
Calendar
Organizations
Museums
Reference
Documents
Maps
Photos
Videos
Genealogy
About WCHS
Contact WCHS
St. George
Histories
Washington County
Cities and Towns
Artifacts
Buildings
Businesses
CCC
Cemeteries
Churches
Homes
Hospitals
Libraries
Motels
People
Roads and Trails
Schools
Water Resources
Zion National Park
Miscellaneous
LOCATION
217 North 100 West
St. George, UT 84770-2805
Northwest corner of 200 North and 100 West
HISTORY
When the home at 217 North 100 West was built for Edwin G. Woolley in 1873
it was considered the mansion of Washington County.
The woodwork and glass in the fifteen-room house was of the finest,
and he had much of the early furnishings shipped from England.
There is a pioneer legend that the then unfinished attic
was often used as a hiding place for polygamists when the U.S. Marshals came to town.
Credence is given to the story when the present owners were installing a bathroom
in a huge closet in the second story of the building and found a concealed door
that opened from the outside and a hole in the ceiling directly over it.
In 1907 Mr. Woolley moved his family to Salt Lake City and sold the home to Charles F. Foster.
Mr. Foster had nine daughters, one son, two orphaned nieces, and an orphan boy
in his family and so they finished the garret for more bedrooms.
The Fosters had the finances and taste not only to improve the house but to make additions
such as one of the first five bathrooms in town and a fine piano from the East.
It was the scene of much of the social and cultural life of pioneer Dixie.
It remained in the Foster family until 1952.
Then it was put to a number of uses.
It served Dixie College as a dormitory and was a care center.
It was even scheduled for demolition when it was rescued and restored by Col. Elvin Maughn. ???
In 1981 it was purchased by Jay and Donna Curtis who immediately began to restore the house to its former grandeur.
Their careful and loving attention to detail and accuracy have made it once again a mansion to be proud of.
The many balconies have been preserved as has the woodwork, the high ceilings and the glass transoms over the doors.
It is furnished with antiques of the period.
After the restoration, the Curtises opened the home to the public as the Seven Wives Inn,
St. George's first Bed and Breakfast Inn.
To step into this house is to step back one hundred years and see how prosperous and refined people lived.
It engenders in us more respect for our ancestors.
BIOGRAPHY
Edwin G. Woolley was a carpenter, a judge,
and a member of the very prosperous mercantile firm of Woolley, Lund, and Judd.
He was a man of education and had a taste for the finer things in life.
He was described in his day as a true aristocrat.
Charles F. Foster was a pioneer stockman, merchant and banker.
PHOTOS
1940 photograph by Delos H. Smith
1940 photograph by Delos H. Smith
August 1968 photograph by P. Kent Fairbanks
|
|
WCHS photos:
WCHS-00548 Jon Bowcutt sketch of the Woolley-Foster Home
REFERENCES
Historical Buildings of Washington County (Volume 1), pp. 18-19.
Landmark and Historic Sites: City of St. George, pp. 27-1 through 27-8.
Library of Congress, Historic American Buildings Survey, Edwin G. Woolley Home
Call Number: HABS UTAH,27-SAGEO,11-
Survey number HABS UT-14