Old Town Park City Homes

255 Daly

Tax Photo - circa 1930s

Recemt Photo

Built c. 1905, this house was originally only 12 feet wide by 20 ft long.  The north (left) side of the home with second story windows is the original.  Albert Jernette owned the home and lived here with his wife Mary.  Albert was born in New York in 1856 where he met and  married Mary in 1877.  They moved to Utah from Michigan in the 1890s and Albert worked in the local mines.  His oldest son, Frank also worked as a miner and probably did not live in this tiny house.

Milka moved back to Park City, year unknown, but .Prior to 1940, Mary Rukavina purchased the little house for $35 from a Mrs. Davich.  Mary, real name Milka, came directly to Park City from Croatia with a friend (Strena).  (The year she came to US is unknown, but probably early 1900. Even her birth date is unknown, although her headstone states 1878 as the year with no month or day _ this was a best guess from family at the time of her death.)  Both women were single at the time and chose Park City because of the town's mining history.  Milka married a Frkovich and operated and lived in a boarding house for miners on Daly Ave (boarding house was located approximately where David Gardner's A_frame home is located today).  She had a number of children with this first husband, including the four sets of twins.  Only two of these children survived past birth _ Johnny and Joe Frkovich.  Johnny was a resident on Daly Ave and raised his family there _ he moved to Salt Lake and Las Vegas in his last years.  Joe was a barber in Park City and moved to Chicago at some point.  Neither brothers are alive today.

Milka then married George Rukavina (probably around 1910_11) and had three more children _ Jack (1912), Mike (1914), and Mary (1916).  They were born in the boarding house on Daly.  Her second husband, George, was a miner (and gambler).  He died at age 35 from lead poisoning in the mines.    She moved around after this time, living in Murray, UT and other Utah mining towns. While living in Murray, her son Mike was hit by a car and killed on Halloween; he was four years old.

When she bought this house her four surviving kids were grown and were no longer living with her _ although her daughter Mary would visit and spent some time with her at this house, and her grandson, Jack, son of Jack and Maude Rukavina, who lived down the street, also spent some time with her.  She lived in the house until she died in 1966. At her death, the house was given to her son, Jack, his wife, Maude and grandson, Jack.  They did some remodeling of the two room structure in approximately 1971.  After renting it for a few years, they sold it in approximately 1973.  Before selling the house, they purchased the property under the house from the mining company.  This apparently was the first time this was done in Park City.

(Note from Leslie Burns: Daly Ave has quite a history of people from Croatia, as you are well aware.  But, basically, Milka did have 16 children (4 sets of twins), but only 5 survived past birth, and one of the 5 died at age 4.  She had 2 husbands _ Frkovich and Rukavina.  She didn't live at 255 Daly until the kids were gone.  Currently, two of her children are still alive, Jack who lives at 266 Daly with his wife Maude, and Mary who lives in Modesto, CA.  Grandchildren that I know include my dad, Jack Rukavina, who lives in Oakley, my aunt, Shirley LaFevre who lives in Provo, and the son of Johnny Frkovich, Jerry Frkovich who lives in Salt Lake.  There are probably other grandchildren from Joe and Mary.  If you are interested in Milka's companion to the US, Strena, one of her sons was Johnny Fritch, owner of Fritch's Garage on lower Park Ave (I think).  He also lived on Daly until his death in approximately 1987_88.  His wife, Leila, is still alive and lives in Midvale. Johnny Fritch was originally a Frkovich, but changed his name.  Leslie can be reached at e-mail: lburns@midvale.com)