The local silk industry (overseen by Zina D. H. Young) was also moved to a cocoonery on the farm, where nearly 30 acres (12 ha) of mulberry trees were planted to provide food for the silkworms.

[4] Brigham Young did not regularly live in the Forest Farmhouse, and one of his 56 wives (the "wife in residence") would supervise the farm.

After Young's death and as the new neighborhood grew, the farmhouse was used as a schoolhouse, ward meetinghouse, and community gathering place.

[6] In 1923, the home was heavily remodeled, including removing the porches and southern portion of the building, to create a "modern" house.

[7][8] What remained of the home was purchased by Frank and Gwen Wilcox in the 1950s, and after learning it had once belonged to Brigham Young, they started to restore what had survived.

The Wilcoxes, together with the church (and its curator Florence S. Jacobsen), restored the farmhouse, including rebuilding the demolished portion of the home.

[16] In order to move the house from its original location, the building was sawed in half horizontally, where the gables reached the walls.

[23] At the park, the farmhouse was placed away from the rest of the recreated village and is surrounded by farmland, to reflect the home's original location outside of Salt Lake City proper.