‘Every day was worth it’: Utah man leaving behind Old West museum he built behind his home

Local historians are crossing their fingers that a buyer can be found who is interested in maintaining the relics

Published: July 1, 2024, 12:50 p.m. MDT

Mike Ackley poses in front of his favorite wall of cycling memorabilia at his home in Ogden on Saturday, June 29, 2024. After nine years of constructing and preserving memorabilia showcasing American western history, Ackley and his wife, Sharyl, are moving. His advice: “Get a hobby, make it your legacy. Whatever it is do something positive for other people and just have fun doing it.” | Marielle Scott, Deseret News

By Tim Vandenack, KSL.com

TAYLOR, Weber County — For nine years, Michael Ackley has assembled his own private museum focused on the history of the U.S. West on the land sprawling around his western Weber County home.

There's a caboose, a restored covered wagon, a tipi, a pioneer cabin and, the latest addition, a rediscovered old cabin dating to the 1870s where some of Weber County's earliest settlers lived. "So many good memories and hard work. Every day was worth it," he said.

At the age of 76, though, it’s time to slow down and he and wife Sharyl are in the process of selling the property ahead of a planned move to Idaho. First came a final public bash on Saturday that served as a farewell to Ackley and as a public unveiling of the old cabin. “That’s my last project,” Ackley said.

Call it a celebration of Ackley's efforts, but it also raises questions about the future of Ackley Western Town, as his historic creation is called. Ackley and local historians are crossing their fingers he's able to find a buyer interested in maintaining the relics on his property. Ackley plans to sell smaller items and memorabilia, but the large structures, including the caboose, will stay.

Michael Ackley stands outside a caboose transplanted to Ackley Western Town, the Old West museum he built on the grounds of his home in Taylor. The photo was taken Tuesday, June 25, 2024. | Tim Vandenack, KSL.com

"All we can do is hope and pray that someone will take it on and have the same appreciation for it," said Sabrina Lee, president of the Weber County Heritage Foundation, which has taken an interest in Ackley's efforts and the 1870s-era cabin.

The foundation, Lee said, is particularly interested in preserving the old cabin, featured in a video created by the organization, which advocates for preservation of buildings representative of local history. Foundation reps will be paying attention as the property changes hands with an eye to safeguarding the future of the old structure. “There’s only a few of these in the county,” Lee said.

'He loves history'

Ackley, 76, has long been collecting memorabilia related to his love of western and railroad history. "I've been collecting things since I was about 15," he said.

His curating and historic preservation efforts really started taking off when he moved to his Taylor home in 2015. Maybe having time on his hands as a retiree figured in things. "I just needed some projects, needed something to do. I have a lot of energy, a lot of ideas," said Ackley, a painting contractor before retiring.

But there's more to it than that. "He loves history and he loves to share," said his wife, Sharyl Ackley.

Fast-forward and the efforts have yielded a small western town on the parcel behind his home.

There's a replica of a Main Street-type structure from an Old West town filled with a variety of memorabilia, including, incongruously, things he's collected stemming from another passion, professional cycling. There's a restored caboose (a mere 44 years old), a small Old West cabin called Fred's Place and a tipi meant to replicate the dwellings of yore of members of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation. There's a restored old-time railroad station baggage car and a mock wooden windmill.

Neighbors have wandered through his creation and he typically gets other visitors out of the blue as well. "People hear about it, they call us and they come through," Ackley said.

He learned of the old cabin, the newest addition, in a classified ad in the Standard-Examiner, the local newspaper. Kathryn Penrod, of Hooper, was born in the structure back in 1935 and was looking for anyone interested in acquiring it. Otherwise, she said, it may have faced demolition.

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Ackley jumped at the opportunity, relocating it to his nearby property and restoring it. "He knows what to do and how to get it done," said Penrod.

Penrod said her nine siblings were also born in the old cabin and she couldn't bear to see it torn down. It's hardly luxurious, but shows what life was like for the early pioneers to the area. "We had the bare minimum. We didn't have anything fancy. We just thought we had all we needed," she said.

Restoring the structure required hard work and funds. Indeed, Ackley's hobby hasn't been cheap, but no matter.

“I just enjoy it,” he said. “It’s just so much fun to put things all together. I hope that whoever buys the place appreciates all of this.”