FARMINGTON -- The newly restored 1880 Walter Grover rock home at 630 N. Main Street in Farmington is one of 37 stone structures still standing that were built during Farmington's pioneer and agricultural period. It will be open for public viewing on Thursday, May 22, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. The home's floors, beams and rock walls have been restored to their original form by current owner and occupant, Bob Aamodt, Inc. The company, which provides comprehensive wealth management services for families and small business owners, is inviting the public. "The preservation of the home as part of Farmington's historical tradition was something personally important for me," said Aamodt, founder and CEO of Bob Aamodt, Inc, in a written statement.

The home was built in 1880 by 19-year-old Walter Grover as a gift for his mother, Elizabeth Walker Grover, a Mormon handcart pioneer who emigrated from England to Utah in 1856 and was the sixth plural wife of Thomas Grover. Grover began and finished the construction of the small two-room house that year.

Grover received consent from his father to build the home on the east end of the family farm. He began the building of the home by chopping logs in the Farmington canyons and hauling them by oxen team to a Farmington saw-mill. He then hauled rock from the foothills for the walls, and sand and clay from the shores of the Great Salt Lake west of Centerville.

A stonemason was then hired to lay the rock walls, and Grover did all of the shingling himself and most of the carpentry.

"I love the history and heritage of Farmington," said Aamodt. "My great-great grandfather, Leonard Rice, helped settle Farmington. I saw this structure as a great opportunity to preserve a part of this town's wonderful pioneer legacy and some of my own family heritage"

For more information on the Walter Grover home and its history, people are invited to the public open house on May 22. Contact Suzanne Kimball Rekow, publicity representative for Bob Aamodt, Inc., (801) 427-6438, suzkimball@ gmail.com.