MILES GOODYEAR CABIN located by the Weber county museum.

The cabin was erected in 1845, two years prior to the entrance of the Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley. It is the first permanent home built in Utah by a white man and was constructed by Miles Goodyear on what is known today as 28th Street and the Weber River. The area was the site of Fort Buenaventura which means “good venture” or “achievement of goal.” While Goodyear was away on his many trapping and trading ventures, a man named Wells cared for the fort and livestock. The site also contained a garden that was irrigated by caring water in buckets from the Weber River. The cabin was moved from Fort Buenaventura to Brown’s Fort When the Mormon pioneers arrived in 1847, Goodyear began to feel Civilization closing in on him Negotiations was conducted for the sale of the fort and property. Captain James Brown had returned from California where he collected money for the services of some of the Mormon Battalion members Part of this money was used to purchase the Goodyear property. In addition to the fort, Goodyear claimed that he owned a "Mexican land grant" for property which today is about one half of Weber County. No proof has ever been found to support his claim. The deal was completed in November 1847.

James Brown and his family lived in the cabin only until 1850. Because of the Weber River oved1oing its banks, Brown moved the cabin about a quarter of a mile to the southeast. It was then called Brown’s Fort. According to the biography of Minerva Pease Stone Shaw, “one cabin was later moved to Tabernacle Square.” In 1857 Amos Pease Stone purchased the cabin from Captain Brown and used it as a blacksmith shop. In 1860 Stone moved the cabin to Mill Creek where the old Phoenix Mills later stood and which is now on the east side of Washington Boulevard between 14th and l5th streets. In 1866 it was moved to 1342 Washington Boulevard. When Stone died in 1890, it became the possession of his widow, Sarah. Her daughter, Minerva Pease Stone Shaw, purchased the cabin from Sarah’s estate in 1896 and moved it to her residence at 1265 Washington where it remained until 1916. Concerned about the cabin’s deterioration. Mrs. Minerva Shaw, in the 1920s, gave the cabin to Ogden City. The city moved the cabin again, this time to the lot in the rear of the fire Station on 9th Street and Washington. Minerva prized the cabin highly as a relic and desired that the Daughters of Utah Pioneers might possess it and preserve it. Ogden City commissioners returned the cabin to Mrs. Shaw who, in turn, presented it to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers on November 8, 1926. Two years later it was moved to its present site on the southwest Corner of the Ogden Tabernacle Square. Now known as the Ogden temple Square. The Daughters remodeled it by replacing decayed ground-level logs with new ones and replacing the old dirt roof with a shingled roof.

As part of the Pioneer Day celebrations in July 1934, the Utah Pioneer Trails and Landmarks Association dedicated a granite marker and bronze tablet next to the Goodyear cabin. LDS Apostle George Albert Smith, in his capacity as president of the association, acted as master of ceremonies. Presiding at this event was Dora P. Holther, a former president of the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Minerva Shaw, age eighty- three, attended the ceremonies and was honored as largely responsible for sang the cabin for posterity. Minerva’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Dee Shaw Stewart, unveiled the stone monument and plaque. In 1970 the cabin was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. Once accepted, it became eligible for protection under the 1966 Historic Preservation Act passed by Congress.

Many artifacts in the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum were owned
by the family of James Brown including the following: sugar bowl with red
pectoral design and an earthenware pitcher with lavender design located in
the china cupboard by the stairs; handmade plow used at Brown’s Fort;
gambrel (hanger for butchering animals); cupboard of open shelves and a
table.

In 1986 the descendants of Captain James Brown donated two pieces of furniture which had been in the Brown family. The pieces are said to be original to the cabin-a small cupboard and a drop-leaf kitchen table. In 2007, a baby cradle belonging to the Brown family was donated and is also on display in the cabin. In 1994 the cabin was dismantled and reconstructed to face the west. A sod roof was put in place at that time to more accurately replicate the original roof. Elizabeth Shaw Stewart, granddaughter of Minerva Stone Shaw, states, “It stands as a monument to a devoted pioneer who wanted to keep in mind the early life of those who made this northern empire possible for those who would follow.”