Mayor James Shepard Home

James Isaac Shepard was born in Richmond on April 5, 1865, the son of Justin and Eliza Maria Allred Shephard. James married Hortense Vilate Griffin on Feb 24, 1886. The following year, James entered the practice of polygamy on June 1 by marrying Anna Maria Olsen. James I. Shepard served a single term as the 8th Mayor of Richmond from 1898-1900.

Anna purchased the property where the home would be built upon in 1904 from John Robinson Jr. and Hilda Ulricka Erickson. The house was built in 1904. After it was completed, Anna transferred the property title to James in 1905. In 1912, they sold the home to John Scowcroft & Sons Company, which sold it to Ethal Bullen, her husband, and George Oliver Webb in 1913. George O. Webb served a single term as the 19th Mayor of Richmond from 1934-1936. This home is the only home in Richmond to have been lived in and owned by two mayors who are not related.

Accompanying the property were some old chicken coops, sheds, and other agricultural structures. As to who constructed the buildings, it is not clear.

After Ethal died in 1936 and George died in 1951, the home was given to their son, Champ Eli Webb, and his wife Theda Bair. They sold the property in 2000 to Deer Flats Estates LLC. By 2006, the home was added to the Cherry Creek Heights subdivision owned by Deer Flats Estates. They split the land between the house and the agricultural structures with a road. They sold the property with the agricultural structures to the Richmond Village subdivision in 2024. Richmond Village leveled the structures the same year to build their homes. In 2015, the current homeowners purchased the house.

In 2002, the James Shephard home was nominated to be added to the National Register of Historic Places, however, the nomination never went through. 

Utah Office of Preservation (May 2002). Utah Office of Preservation Historic Site Form: George E. & Elizabeth M. Doty House (By Beatrice Lufkin / Richmond Historic Preservation Commission). Richmond history papers USU_COLL MSS 434, Box 1. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah