WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
CERTIFICATE OF COMMENDATION (March, 2006)
to the Santa Clara Historical Society
for the preservation and restoration the Hug-Gubler home
The Hug-Gubler Home, as we now call it, was originally owned by the Henry Hug family in the mid to late 1860's. This was one of the first permanent homes built in Santa Clara. This family came to Santa Clara from Switzerland with the original Swiss settlers in 1861. They were early converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but were kept in Switzerland to do missionary work and gather the saints to immigrate to America. After serving five years as a missionary, Henry was finally able to join the Saints in Utah.
It appears that the home was added on to, making a kitchen and bathroom. This was probably done in the 1920's or 30's. In the 1890's the Henry Hug family left Santa Clara and the L.D.S. Church and moved to Oregon. John Gubler purchased the home and married Anna Muller. They raised their family of ten children in this home. Two of their children, Laura and Hyrum, who never married lived in it until the 1980's.
The L.D.S. Church had purchased the property including the Hug/Gubler Home and the Relief Society Building, but had permitted the family to live in it until they died. Once the last of the Gubler family was gone, the home fell into disrepair and stood vacant for a few years. In the early 1990's Bruce Anderson was a bishop in the building adjacent to the home. He came home from a meeting and told his wife, Sherri, that the two buildings were to be torn down to add more parking space around the church.
At this point, a group of interested citizens - Claudia West, Clark Ence, Pam Graf, Vicki Lasswell and Sherri Anderson formed a committee to save the buildings. It was a fight, but they won and ended up purchasing the property with the two buildings from the L.D.S. Church for $22,000. The committee had no money so it was decided to have a town celebration to help raise the funds and Santa Clara Swiss Days was begun.
As money became available, the restoration began SLOWLY. First it was the Relief Society House, then the front of the property with the landscaping and monument, then finally came the money from Jay Ence, Quentin Ence, Floyd Ence and Bruce Stucki to make it possible to do the restoration of the Hug/Gubler Home. It was in such bad condition that it was feared one wall that had been undermined by water, would collapse before it could be repaired. Ence Construction sent out a crew of workers and the committee worked along side them to make decisions and help with the work.
At the dedication of the building the committee was able to locate descendants of the Hug family in Oregon and also the John Gubler family descendants. They had a wonderful ceremony and celebration. The Hug and Gubler families donated many artifacts original to the home and to the Hugs and Gublers to help furnish the newly restored home.
Today the Hug-Gubler Home houses the Santa Clara Historical Society Archive and Museum. Many are able to enjoy seeing what one of the first pioneer home in Santa Clara looked like. Wedding receptions, family reunions and other meetings are held on the Santa Clara Heritage Square.