561 Park Avenue
David Storey House

Tax Photo - circa 1930s

Recent Photo

Alexander Smith purchased this lot in 1879 for $80 but in 1883 he traded with David Storey for the lot next door (569 Park Ave). Storey probably built this house shortly thereafter as it appears on the 1889 Park City Sanborn map. David Storey appears on the 1880 census as a single miner, 41 years old, living in the mine boarding house. Prior to 1901 all single miners were required by Territorial law to live in the boarding house of the mine where they worked. David worked hard and invested well, as was apparent when he died suddenly in 1890. His estate included the Mammet, Neptune, Alaska, Storey, Franklin, Little Friction, Cliff, Rene, Logan and UP No. 2 mining claims along with this three-room home and the four-room house above it at 564 Woodside Avenue. Coincidentally, the current owners John Plunkett and Barbara Kuhr also own both homes.

The Park Record newspaper reported on June 15, 1887 that David Storey and John O’Donovan have organized a local company to develop the Golden Eagle group, situated just the other side of the Snake Creek divide in Big Cottonwood. They have owned the property for some time and the little work being done on it has revealed a lot of fine looking ore. The gentlemen have already begun operations for the season.

Esther Cavanaugh inherited the property and rented out the homes along with five other homes on Woodside Avenue. In 1910 a pre-prohibition liquor merchant John Fennel and his wife rented the home. By 1920 William Westfield, a shoe store salesman, had purchased it. In 1999, John and Barbara received a Park City Historical Society Preservation award for their outstanding restoration.