WASHINGTON COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY (Washington County, Utah)
CERTIFICATE OF COMMENDATION (February, 2007)
to Tracy & Tamera Hinton Cox
for the restoration of the Wright home
Alma Tam Wright and Carolyn Burke Wright built the Wright house after living in a smaller home on the same property at 87 East 400 South, Hurricane, Utah. It is not known exactly when the home was built, but it is believed to be before 1919.
This home was one of the finest homes in town. It was built of beautiful red adobe brick with diamond shaped beveled glass in two different windows in the front of the house. There were 32 windows, with arches in all the basement windows. The home consisted of three floors, the middle floor being the only one finished, approximately 1000 square feet. The basement was dirt floors and rough cement walls. Fruit and melons were stored in the basement. The attic was only studded walls, with window dormers built on both sides, and electrical wires strung around with light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. It was very cold upstairs in the winter and hot in the summer.
They had a cook stove in the kitchen and wood burning stove in the living room for heat. The middle floor consisted of a living room, one bedroom with a double door entry where there were two beds for the children. The kitchen was in the back just off the living room. A very small bathroom with a claw foot tub and a small bedroom for the parents were in the back corner. Plastered walls were 9 feet high, with pine planked floors through out the middle floor. There were no closets.
A son, Floyd Wright bought the home after the parents both died. Floyd and his wife, Mary, remodeled it, closing in the porch, lowering the ceiling to 8 ft., tearing out the stairways and adding hideaway stairs to enlarge the kitchen. Cement floors were poured in the basement. Many of the architectural features were destroyed during that remodel.
The home was purchased by Robert Owen, and then abandoned after 10 years. The yards were overgrown and the home fell into disrepair.
In 1989 Tamera Hinton Cox and her husband, Tracy, discovered the home and determined to buy it. After much legal hassle, they purchased it for $30,000. It took two years to clean up and remodel the home before they were able to move in. They took 32 large trailer loads of trash to the land fill in Washington. It took 235 hours of weekends, holidays and evening after work just to clean up the yards and home. The cleanup actually took longer than remodeling the home.
Tamera and Tracy did the work themselves, much of it by "trial and error". They were not able to restore the home to its original condition because of the cost, but they remodeled it as best they could. The entire remodeling cost $80,000. They moved into the home in February of 1991. They have grown together as a couple, with 16 years of wonderful memories, and raised four children in a home "built with love."
