Archives West Finding Aid

Samuel Newhouse (1853-1930) was born on 14 October 1853 in New York City. Newhouse was the son of Jewish immigrant parents from Europe. He grew up in Pennsylvania. He studied law before going to Leadville, Colorado in 1879, where he was involved in the freighting business. Newhouse married Ida Stingley in 1883; she was a sixteen year old girl whose mother ran a boarding house in Leadville, Colorado. Together, the Newhouses operated a hotel there. Samuel later acquired mining property at Ouray, Colorado, and he eventually sold it for several million dollars. Afterward he moved to Denver where he operated as a speculator and promoter, and cultivated contacts in the eastern United States, England, and France.

In 1896 Newhouse moved to Utah, where he and Thomas Wier acquired the Highland Boy mine and other properties at Bingham Canyon. Newhouse secured English investments in the enterprise, and then organized them as the Utah Consolidated Gold Mines, Ltd. These properties were originally purchased for their gold potential; however, when high-grade copper ore was discovered, Newhouse pushed for construction of a copper smelter in September 1898 which was built at Murray and put in operation on 23 May 1899. In 1899 Standard Oil Company acquired the Utah Consolidated Gold Mines in a twelve-million dollar transaction. In 1898 Newhouse and Wier developed the Boston Consolidated Copper and Gold Mining Company, Ltd. They maintained control of that company until 1910, when it merged with Utah Copper Company in.

In 1905 Samuel Newhouse acquired mining property in the San Francisco Mountains of Beaver County. He spent 2,000,000 dollars there developing the mine, mill, and town of Newhouse. Newhouse was perhaps the wealthiest of Utah's mining magnates, at the time, and occupied four residences: a home at 175 East South Temple in Salt Lake City which he renovated as a colonial style mansion in about 1905; an estate on Long Island; a chateau outside Paris, France; and a mansion in London, England.

Newhouse liked living in Salt Lake City, although his wife preferred living outside of Utah. In 1907 he launched a significant building program design, in Salt Lake City. Its purpose was to shift the city's center from the Temple Square area to Exchange Place between 300 and 400 South streets and between Main and State streets, about four blocks south. In 1907 construction began on the Boston and the Newhouse buildings, the city's first skyscrapers. Just east of the two buildings, Newhouse donated land for construction of the Salt Lake Stock Exchange and Commercial Club buildings. Exchange Place was to be a little "Wall Street" with a grand hotel, the Newhouse Hotel, and would be constructed between 1909 and 1915 across Main Street on the southwest corner of Main and 400 South. Newhouse was also involved in the development of the exclusive residential area of Federal Heights in the northeast section of Salt Lake City.

Over-extension ultimately proved to be Newhouse's financial downfall. Money from his mines failed to finance his elaborate projects, and there was addition strain caused by World War I (WWI). It became very difficult to obtain loans from eastern U.S. and European sources. Samuel and Ida separated in 1914. The South Temple mansion was sold. From 1915-1919, Samuel resided at the Newhouse Hotel. He then sold his interest in the hotel and left for France, where he lived with his sister her chateau, outside Paris, which he had given to her. He died there, at the age of seventy-six, on 22 September 1930.