Projects - Ghost Town (2014-2016)
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Corinne | Photographs | About the Artist | Corinne QR Code
Corinne
I created my Corinne wall quilt in the folk art style to conjure an older, more "naive" time — though the irony inherent in this choice is that no respectable quilt maker in the 1800's would have made a quilt for anything but a bed. True to the style, however, I only paid a little attention to proportion and perspective, and I left many raw fabric edges to indicate that the original town had "frayed" over time. As a tribute to both the town's historical roots and its current place in the digital age, I used old technology (hand sewing) and new (fabric image transfer and a computerized sewing machine!) to create the quilt. The surrounding environment is exactly the same, however, and I chose to feature the mountains and sky that represent so much of the immutable beauty of northern Utah.
I became interested in Corinne when I discovered it was founded in 1869 as a "gentile" town and was named after one of the founder's daughters. I visited the town in the spring of 2015 to see what it "felt like" and to take some photos of buildings that interested me. I also visited the cemetery, whose headstone dates told many tales of babies and children who died too young — though at least one resident made it to the ripe "old" age of 76. I combined these photos with others I found online to give the quilt both a new and historical representation.
According to Wikipedia, "Corinne had some 1,000 permanent residents in its heyday, not one of whom was a Mormon, according to the boast of the local newspaper. As an end-of-the-trail town, Corinne reflected a very different atmosphere and culture from the staid and quiet Mormon settlements of Utah, containing not only a number of commission and supply houses but also fifteen saloons and sixteen liquor stores, with an elected town marshal to keep order in this "Dodge City" of Utah. The permanent residents of Corinne did their best to promote a sense of community pride and peaceful, cultural pursuits but had a raucous and independent clientele of freighters and stagecoach drivers to control."
Corinne today is clearly a mix of "old town" and new, with many of the older buildings still intact. The surrounding scenery provides beautiful mountain views and the railroad still runs on the outskirts, though it certainly doesn't support the travel of old. Again according to Wikipedia, "Brigham Young assured the demise of Corinne when he and the Mormon people built the narrow-gauge Utah Northern Railroad from Ogden to Franklin, Idaho. Although construction of the line beyond that point ceased for four years as a result of the Panic of 1873, in the autumn of 1877 the Union Pacific bought the spur line and began pushing it northward through Idaho. The tracks reached Marsh Valley and cut the Montana Trail at that place, thereby supplanting wagon traffic from Corinne with rail transport from Ogden. The Gentile merchants soon abandoned Corinne in favor of Ogden or the terminus of the rail line, while Mormon farmers moved in to buy the land around Corinne and make it into another Mormon settlement."
And indeed, a Mormon ward house stands in the middle of the town today, and has since 1914.
Holmes Grocery
This building is clearly used for something else now, but at one time it was the site of the general store.
Corinne Railway Sign
This is a photograph of the actual Corinne railway sign that I transferred to fabric.
Masonic Building
According to Wikipedia: "First meeting in Corinne in 1872, Corinne Lodge No.5 was chartered as the first Utah Masonic Lodge north of Salt Lake City on November 11, 1873, by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Utah. Edmond P. Johnson, the first Master of the Lodge and a past jurisdictional judge in Box Elder County, along with many other prominent Masons of the day, are buried in the Corinne City Cemetery."
Daily Reporter
Online image featuring the news reporters of the day.
Street View
Online image showcasing the various businesses in town.
Methodist Church and Headstones
The Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest (1870) extant Protestant church building in Utah. It now serves as the Corinne Historical Museum.
Sky and Mountains
Oh, I do love our northern Utah sky and mountains! Corinne Photographs
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Corinne | Photographs | About the Artist | Corinne QR Code
| by Sheryl Gillilan |
|
I became interested in Corinne when I discovered it was founded in 1869 as a "gentile" town and was named after one of the founder's daughters. I visited the town in the spring of 2015 to see what it "felt like" and to take some photos of buildings that interested me. I also visited the cemetery, whose headstone dates told many tales of babies and children who died too young — though at least one resident made it to the ripe "old" age of 76. I combined these photos with others I found online to give the quilt both a new and historical representation.
According to Wikipedia, "Corinne had some 1,000 permanent residents in its heyday, not one of whom was a Mormon, according to the boast of the local newspaper. As an end-of-the-trail town, Corinne reflected a very different atmosphere and culture from the staid and quiet Mormon settlements of Utah, containing not only a number of commission and supply houses but also fifteen saloons and sixteen liquor stores, with an elected town marshal to keep order in this "Dodge City" of Utah. The permanent residents of Corinne did their best to promote a sense of community pride and peaceful, cultural pursuits but had a raucous and independent clientele of freighters and stagecoach drivers to control."
Corinne today is clearly a mix of "old town" and new, with many of the older buildings still intact. The surrounding scenery provides beautiful mountain views and the railroad still runs on the outskirts, though it certainly doesn't support the travel of old. Again according to Wikipedia, "Brigham Young assured the demise of Corinne when he and the Mormon people built the narrow-gauge Utah Northern Railroad from Ogden to Franklin, Idaho. Although construction of the line beyond that point ceased for four years as a result of the Panic of 1873, in the autumn of 1877 the Union Pacific bought the spur line and began pushing it northward through Idaho. The tracks reached Marsh Valley and cut the Montana Trail at that place, thereby supplanting wagon traffic from Corinne with rail transport from Ogden. The Gentile merchants soon abandoned Corinne in favor of Ogden or the terminus of the rail line, while Mormon farmers moved in to buy the land around Corinne and make it into another Mormon settlement."
And indeed, a Mormon ward house stands in the middle of the town today, and has since 1914.
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
|
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| by Sheryl Gillilan |
|