{"id":17,"ordinal":0,"modified":"2026-04-17 19:33:17","content_modified":"2026-04-17 19:33:17","featured":0,"title":"Historic Homesteads","creator":"Samuel Hauber, Brigham Young University","description":"<p>Congress passed the first Homestead Act in 1862. It opened millions of acres for Americans to settle outside of cities. The plots were generally 160 acres, and the opportunities west of the Mississippi seemed endless. As long as homesteaders built a home, improved the land, and lived on it for five years, they could file for a deed of title. Tens of thousands of people responded to this opportunity and moved westward. This flood of homesteaders, combined with the advent of railroads, mining towns, and ranching, led Frederick Jackson Turner to declare the end of the Western Frontier in 1893. Now that the West was covered in little houses on the prairie, the American public no longer viewed it as the Wild West. Homesteading remained relevant through the 1930s when Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted subsistence homesteading under the New Deal. Though there was less land available, people were still drawn to the independent lifestyle that homesteading provided.\r\n\r\nSome homesteads were established in beautiful places that eventually became protected by National Parks. Some homesteads were the birthplace of outlaws, such as Butch Cassidy. Some lasted late into the twentieth century. The environments and families of these homesteads were diverse, yet they all shared common elements of hard work and rugged beauty. \r\n</p>","postscript_text":"","tour_img":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/19f12888865cf412905d029dc4280975.jpg","items":[{"id":198,"title":"Butch Cassidy’s Childhood Home","latitude":38.1446021000000001777152647264301776885986328125,"longitude":-112.30502649999999675856088288128376007080078125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/19f12888865cf412905d029dc4280975.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/19f12888865cf412905d029dc4280975.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":199,"title":"The Larson Homestead in Kolob Canyon","latitude":37.46249999999999857891452847979962825775146484375,"longitude":-113.18411100000002988963387906551361083984375,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/fa6d43239eb30b5d24b6a17c13bab6f7.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/fa6d43239eb30b5d24b6a17c13bab6f7.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":200,"title":"The Wolfe Homestead","latitude":38.73642720000000139179974212311208248138427734375,"longitude":-109.519718300000022281892597675323486328125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/af938743024b683a80bf043ceb5c95ce.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/af938743024b683a80bf043ceb5c95ce.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":201,"title":"The Meeks Homestead","latitude":37.84252450000000322916093864478170871734619140625,"longitude":-112.835523899999998320708982646465301513671875,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/c9a46cae00ad7635fa400a6d14999276.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/c9a46cae00ad7635fa400a6d14999276.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":"20 N 400 W Parowan , UT 84761","custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}},{"id":202,"title":"The Swett Family Homestead","latitude":40.87827200000000260615706793032586574554443359375,"longitude":-109.48788899999999557621777057647705078125,"thumbnail":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/square_thumbnails/d6d7be381bb83a940cb28f070fb46eae.jpg","fullsize":"https://www.intermountainhistories.org/files/fullsize/d6d7be381bb83a940cb28f070fb46eae.jpg","subtitle":null,"address":null,"custom":{"subtitle":null,"text":null}}]}