Jesse N. Smith Home

The Jesse N. Smith Memorial Home was built in 1906 at 203 W. Smith Avenue. Jesse Nathaniel Smith (1834–1906) had the Colonial Revival house built for his fifth wife, Emma Ellen Larson, and her nine children. Tragically, Bishop Smith died the same year the house was completed and never lived in it.

Jesse N. Smith was one of southern Utah and northern Arizona’s most prominent pioneers and a first cousin of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. He served as the first president of the Eastern Arizona Stake from 1879 to 1887, and as the first president of the Snowflake Stake from 1887 until his death. He was also a farmer, stockman, probate judge, and served in the Arizona Territorial Legislature.

Jesse practiced plural marriage and had five wives and forty-four children. The home’s four upstairs bedrooms feature rare displays dedicated to four of his “sister-wives,” offering visitors an intimate look into the domestic life of a prominent polygamist pioneer family. The home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.