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Murray • Two links to Utah's past are hiding in plain sight in Murray — two pioneer-era homes that have survived since the first decades after the state was settled.

Well, not altogether in plain sight. The James and Mary Ann Miller home (circa 1882) is completely surrounded by the Miller Estates apartment complex (circa 1970) near 4900 S. Lake Pines Drive.

And the Wesley and Frances Walton home (circa 1899) is down a narrow lane near 5200 S. Wesley Road.

Both houses once sat in the middle of 160-acre farms. Both are successors to more primitive dwellings on the same property.

That both are still standing is more than a bit remarkable to architectural historian Korral Broschinsky, a preservation consultant who led about 30 people on a municipal-sponsored tour of the two historic dwellings on Saturday.

"That could be a theme of this tour — hidden architectural treasures," Broschinsky said. "I was very surprised. And then when I got inside [the Miller house] and saw what was here, I was, like, 'How did this survive?' "

The Victorian house, which now serves as the office for the apartment complex, with apartments upstairs, contains "hidden treasures." The woodwork was not only painted to look like it is oak, but the artist included a number of small paintings that appear to be part of the woodgrain at first glance — horses, eagles, an American Indian and — perhaps — a scene from Nauvoo, Ill.

"The way this has been integrated — you might walk past it and not even notice it — that is unusual," Broschinsky said.

Rebecca Santa Cruz, who bought the Walton home last year, said she feels a sense of stewardship over the Victorian Eclectic house, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.

"I may take care of the house for a little while, but I'm just passing through," she said.

She grew up nearby, and her grandmother's house is across the street, but she didn't ever expect to own the home. But the former owners put it on the market last year and invited "all the Walton descendants" to come by, see the place and, perhaps, put in a bid.

"I found myself saying, 'Yes, we're very interested in buying it,'" Santa Cruz said. "And my husband was, like, 'We are?'"

And she's found that living in the house is "definitely a tie" to both Utah's history and her family history.

"One of the things that's really happened with this house is the people have really come alive for me. I look at the kitchen and I think, 'Well, there's where Nan got that phone call when the bank was robbed. And there's where Arthur slid down the railing. And there's where the Christmas tree stood. Those people have become very real to me. They're not just pages in the book, they're living, breathing people."

Both families were Mormon pioneers who helped establish Murray — back when Murray was a rather remote outpost of Salt Lake City. Both houses stand as reminders of the area's 19th-century origins.

"At a time in the world when things are so divisive, I think it is our common history that brings us together," said Wendy DeMann, a member of the Murray History Advisory Board who recounted the histories of the Miller and Walton families. "Even though none of us may be descended from the people who built this home or established parts of this community, we are here today because of the things they did. And that's what binds us together."

Twitter @ScottDPierce