Flora Stanley

The first known photograph of Delicate Arch, taken by Flora Stanley in 1906.

NPS, ARCH

Quick Facts

Significance:

Daughter of John Wesley Wolfe. Took the first known photograph of Delicate Arch in 1906.

Date of Birth:

September 22, 1877

Date of Death:

February 25, 1937

Flora Stanley moved to what is now Arches National Park in 1906. Her father, John Wesley Wolfe, started homesteading in the Arches area eight years prior. He asked Flora and her family to join him.  

When Flora saw the shack John and her brother Fred were living in, she demanded John build a better cabin with a wood floor and real windows. John agreed to build the new cabin, which still stands in Arches today. All six family members: Flora, her husband Ed Stanley, their children Esther and Ferol Stanley, John Wolfe, and Fred Wolfe, lived in this one-room cabin. 

During her two years living at the homestead, Flora took up photography. John surprised her with a camera and developing kit, which she used proficiently. Flora took one of the earliest pictures of Delicate Arch, the most famous feature in Arches National Park today.  

Flora worried her children weren’t receiving a good education at the ranch. In 1908, Flora and Ed moved to nearby Moab so the children could receive a formal education at school. Flora’s father and brother soon joined them. In 1910 the Wolfes and Stanleys moved back east.  

Flora’s legacy is still seen in the park today through the cabin she demanded her father build and through her famous Delicate Arch photograph.