By the end of the year, a historic cabin dating back over a century ago will transform into affordable housing for a Teton County employee.
This week, potential contractors attended a walk-through of the cabin to shape their bids before a Feb. 6 deadline.
At least two dozen crowded into the one-bedroom cabin, pulling out tape measures and jumping in and out of crawl spaces. In between, April Norton, the town and county’s housing director, was on the receiving end of a slew of questions for a project that will soon be a county first and sets an example.
Norton said she’s seen a lot of old – but potentially valuable – construction leave the valley. Either through demolition, or pieced apart via the restoration nonprofit Shacks on Racks.
“We’d love to try and figure out a way to make it economically feasible to keep those old homes here and then to actually use them as affordable workforce homes,” Norton said.
The Lincoln-log-style cabin built in 1920 is 852-square feet and sits on the west side of Mike Yokel Park in east Jackson. It once housed Jackson’s first Cache Creek-fed turbines and Edward Benson, the man responsible for bringing electricity to Jackson more than a hundred years ago.
“[Benson] had a hydroelectric turbine in the basement of this building that powered the first seven lights on Town Square that would stay on until 11 p.m.,” said Katherine Wonson, a historic preservation consultant hired by the county.
Now, contractors are squaring up for the bid to restore the cabin to a livable space. Teton County has already put a lot of money into the home, though the amount is in line with what other public employers are paying to snatch up employee housing in the ever-tightening market.
The county first purchased the cabin in 2020 for $2.3 million. The county paid $275,000 to move the cabin about 100 feet to make way for nearby 18-unit Habitat for Humanity homes.
There is no price limit on the county’s call for proposals, but it is encouraging contractors to reuse features such as windows.
“This home is not intended to have luxury finishes and amenities,” the housing department stated in an email.
Preservation involves retaining historic aspects of the house, from the log-cut exterior to original hardwood floors, while refurbishing the dilapidated 1990s-era finishes left by the last owners.
Wonson brings expertise from restoring buildings around the country for the National Park Service, including Mormon Row at Grand Teton National Park. She’s also the director of the Western Center for Historic Preservation and vice president of the Teton Trust for Historic Places.
This is the first time her skills have been tapped to help address the county’s affordable housing shortage.
“People have trouble seeing places like this as worthy of preservation, but I find the second you tell somebody the history of electrification of Jackson, suddenly, the building comes alive for them and they see why we’re trying to save it,” Wonson said.
