5769 West 3500 South: The Perkins Family Home
Remembering 5769 West 3500 South
The home at 5769 West 3500 South was a charming World War II–era cottage, built in the late 1940s and reflecting the Minimal Traditional style common in postwar America. Simple in design yet full of character, it featured a side-gabled roof, narrow eaves, and multi-pane sidelights flanking the front door. The residence stood on a raised concrete foundation with a semi-subterranean basement and was accompanied by a detached garage and a few old shade trees that added to its quiet charm.
Though modest, this home represented an important period of growth in Hunter and Granger as families settled into the area following the war. Generations came and went, making memories in its rooms, its wide concrete porch, and its backyard gardens.
In time, progress and change came to 3500 South. The property was acquired by UDOT, and like many neighboring homes, it was demolished to make way for the Mountain View Corridor. Today, the house itself is gone, but the story of 5769 West 3500 South remains part of the community’s living memory.
The land was originally part of an expansive farm and ranch owned by Alfred Abraham Jones and his wife Hannah Maria Gibbs Jones. Alfred, born in 1850 in South Wales, immigrated to Utah and married Hannah in 1875. Together they raised five children: Alfred Thomas, Charlotte, Horace, Robert, and Willard.
Willard James Jones (1883–1971) and his wife Mary Alice Warr Jones (1885–1975) were the stewards of the Jones homestead on 3500 South, land first settled by Willard’s parents, Alfred Abraham and Hannah Gibbs Jones. Willard, born in Hunter, Utah, dedicated his life to education, serving as a beloved school principal whose influence shaped generations of local children. Mary Alice, a Granger native, was known for her devotion to family and community. Together they raised seven children on the land, preserving the pioneer legacy of their parents while adding their own chapter of hard work, faith, and service. Their homestead later became the site of homes,
Sometime before 1947, Willard and Mary Alice Jones deeded a portion of their family farm to Donald and Nancy Perkins, who became the first true owners of what would later stand as the residence at 5769 West 3500 South. In 1947, the Perkins secured an $8,000 mortgage, and the following year they constructed the one-story World War II–era cottage that became their home. They also owned the neighboring property at 5765 West 3500 South, expanding their presence along the historic Jones farmstead.
Though the new home marked a fresh chapter, the Jones family’s influence lingered—records from 1949 still listed Willard Jones’s name alongside Donald Perkins’s on tax documents, showing his continued connection to the land. Donald and Nancy nurtured their family life here for decades, creating a household that blended modern postwar living with the deep pioneer roots of the area.
Nancy Perkins passed away in May 2010. The home was sold to UDOT. The house was later demolished to make way for the Mountain View Corridor, closing one chapter of Granger’s residential history while preserving the memory of those who first built on the land.
The Perkins Family: The only family to build and live in the home at 5769 West 3500 South were Donald Earl Perkins and Nancy Jeanette Clifton Perkins, who constructed the residence in 1948. Nancy, born in Magna in 1915 to Floyd and Pluma Belle Clifton, grew up on her family’s two-acre “truck farm,” where hard work and resourcefulness carried them through the Great Depression. A spirited young woman, Nancy pitched on a local coed softball team in the 1930s and carried her love of sports throughout her life.
She married Donald on April 4, 1942, and together they raised a lively household of boys in their new Granger home. With hearty appetites and energetic personalities, the Perkins sons filled the home with laughter, music, and competition, all grounded by Nancy’s steady love and guidance. Widowed in 1976, Nancy remained in the home until 2010, tending her family’s legacy with the same determination and warmth she had shown all her life.
Nancy passed away on May 30, 2010, at the age of 95, leaving behind four generations of descendants—children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and even a great-great-grandchild. Soon after her passing, the home was deeded to UDOT and demolished to make way for the
Mountain View Corridor. Though the house is gone, the memory of the Perkins family, and especially Nancy’s enduring spirit, still lives on in the history of West Valley.
