The Thompson Family Farmstead is a multiple resource 23.84-acre property within the River Bottoms agricultural area in the vicinity of Spanish Fork, Utah County, Utah. The farmstead is locally significant under Criterion A in the area of Agriculture. The agricultural significance of the property is represented by the intact condition of the farmstead that includes a stone farmhouse, a large barn, nine contributing outbuildings, eight contributing structures related to the livestock industry, and three contributing structures that facilitated the culinary water and irrigation needs of the farmstead. The historic fencing in and around the farmstead has been counted as an additional contributing linear structure. Non-historic fencing erected by both the current owner (compatible wood fencing) and adjacent property owners (mixed materials) is the only substantial out-of-period modification to the farm made outside the historic period. All of the contributing resources were built within the period of significance between 1899 and 1973. The period begins in 1899 with the documented construction of the stone farmhouse. The period of significance ends in 1973, or fifty years ago, as the farmstead function and use continued well into the 1970s.
By the late 1970s, the output of the farmstead was substantially reduced, and no additional improvements were made giving the farmstead excellent integrity in all seven qualities: location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, association, and feeling. Agriculturally, the Thompson farmstead is historically representative of early to mid-twentieth century agricultural life in the River Bottoms area in the production of dairy cows, beef cattle, other livestock, and hay. The farmstead is an excellent example of the early twentieth-century make-do attitude of salvaging and recycling materials in constructing agricultural buildings and structures. The Thompson farmstead is distinguished from other properties in the River Bottoms neighborhood in three aspects: size of its acreage, the number of extant surviving historic resources, and in the qualities of its historic integrity. The Thompson farmstead was designated a Utah Century Farm in 2000. The current owner has plans to continue the conservation work of the farm in supporting the local firefly population and hopes to one day restore the house and outbuildings to museum quality for the general public.
