“Being the center of a region rich in resources and enormous in area, nothing can prevent Salt Lake from becoming one of the largest and most important cities in the west.” Samuel Newhouse, 1908
The history of Salt Lake County is inextricably tied to the extraction and alteration of natural resources for human use. The mining of mineral resources has not only shaped the environment and visible landscape of Salt Lake County, but has also had a direct impact on the built environment. As previous blog entries have discussed, entire communities in Salt Lake County have arisen and disappeared as a result of the spread of the open pit copper mine on the county’s western border.
The history of mining also directly ties to some of the most interesting buildings in the county’s urban landscape. In 1896 mining magnate Samuel Newhouse moved to Salt Lake County and with business partner Thomas Weir began acquiring several Bingham Canyon mines, discovering the high concentration of copper in that area. In the early 1900s, Newhouse used this fortune and influence to design and build the first skyscrapers that would grace the skyline of Salt Lake City, and in 1907 construction began on the buildings of what would come to be known as Exchange Place. Newhouse, as a non-Mormon businessman, hoped that this area would serve as a new, or at least rival, center for downtown Salt Lake City.
Two of those buildings were named for Newhouse. The Newhouse Hotel, at the southwest corner of 400 South and Main Street, was completed in 1915. This photograph and plat diagram from the Archives’ Tax Appraisal collection shows the hotel circa 1939. Today the site is a parking lot.
Newhouse Hotel, circa 1939.Plot plan drawing of the Newhouse Hotel, circa 1939.
Perhaps the most notable buildings conceived by Newhouse were the Newhouse Building and its partner the Boston Building. Completed around 1910, these distinctive buildings at Exchange Place and Main Street still serve to help define Salt Lake City’s urban landscape. Again, using photos from the tax appraisal collection, we can see the buildings as they appeared circa 1940.
Newhouse Building, circa 1940.Boston Building, circa 1940.
Sources:
Hynda Rudd, “Samuel Newhouse: Utah Mining Magnate and Land Developer,” Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly, July 1979, 298-302.
Tax Appraisal Cards and Photographs: Newhouse Hotel, serial 1-1644; Newhouse Building, serial 1-1960; Boston Building, serial 1-1961. Salt Lake County Archives.
Research and writing of this Utah Archives Month entry by Dr. Jenel Cope, Salt Lake County’s Volunteer Archivist.
Industries that develop natural resources have a dual impact on our environment. The actions of removing, transporting, and processing have the most direct impact that can be traced to the industry. There are other indirect changes, such as population growth, new homes, roads, and services so that even when an industry has gone, the impact it had on our environment remains – long after the last factory chimney, warehouse, or silo is demolished. Sugar production in Utah represents such a case where an industry springs up, builds fortunes, and less than a century later disappears.
Large scale production of sugar started in Utah during the late 19th century. The country was looking for cheaper, domestic alternatives to importing most of its sugar. Sugar beets could be grown in Utah and were viewed as having the most potential. Processing techniques and equipment were studied in Europe and around the U.S. and then brought back to Utah and adapted. The Utah Sugar Company was formed in 1889 and its first factory was built in Lehi two years later. At harvest time, the local farmers brought their produce to “beet dumps” where it was gathered and transported to the factory. One of the men responsible for bringing this to fruition was Thomas R. Cutler, who, for over 25 years, served as general manager and other executive positions with what later became the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company.
Thomas Robinson Cutler came to the United States from England in 1844 and was the brother of Utah governor John C. Cutler. Cutler was one of the men responsible for examining the techniques used to extract sugar from sugar beets. The knowledge he brought back from Europe and other parts of the country was vital to building a successful industry in Utah. Once the first factories were open, he continued to oversee the operation for nearly three decades. Sugar, as well as other business pursuits in insurance and mining, helped to make Cutler a wealthy man.
2000 South 500 East, circa late 1930s. (Historic address 1910 South 500 East). Image courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Captains of industry often displayed their success through the opulence of their residences. In 1905, Cutler purchased what was known as the DeGolyer House at 2000 South 500 East in order to be closer to the new Salt Lake City offices of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. Architect Frederic Albert Hale had designed the house, and with its grey stone and turreted corner it was an impressive landmark in East Waterloo. The house was named after its first resident, E.S. DeGolyer, who made his fortune in mining and built the house in the 1890s, but then lost it due to unpaid taxes. Cutler lived in the DeGolyer House from 1906 to 1916. A petition that he wrote to the Salt Lake County Commission in 1907 indicated the changes resulting from development of areas outside of Salt Lake City. In the petition, he asked for additional sprinkling of the dirt road in front of his home due to the dust thrown up by hundreds of cars and wagons that passed each day on the “East Road”(500 East):
Salt Lake County Commission Petition, August 12, 1907. Page 1.Petition, page 2.
Cutler remained in this house until 1916 when he sold it to an executive from the mining and transportation industries. His next house was a much more humble abode at 1126 East Michigan Avenue that still stands today:
1126 East Michigan Avenue, circa 1937.
The Utah-Idaho Sugar Company continued to expand in the early 20th century despite anti-trust allegations by the federal government. Factories were built wherever substantial beet farming could be supported, including locations outside of Utah. In Salt Lake County, a factory was built in 1916 at approximately 8200 South 2200 West in West Jordan to handle the production of the town’s beet farmers. The factory, located along rail lines, was capable of processing hundreds of tons of beets each day during the harvest “campaign.” The sugar inventory created after each harvest was stored in silos and shipped out as orders arrived. By the time it closed in 1971 the factory had produced over 10 million bags of sugar.
Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1780 West 8000 South, circa 1938.Utah-Idaho Sugar Company diagram of factory, circa 1948.
Like many relics, the last structures that had made up the West Jordan sugar factory were demolished in 2010 to make way for new development. The farms that had supplied the beets are gone too, having been used for new housing and commercial developments needed by the workforce of Utah’s modern industries.
Part of our “Ecology in the Archives” exhibit series for Utah Archives Month, this entry was researched and written by Vincent Fazzi, Salt Lake County Archivist.
Sources:
Moroni Heiner residence, 1910 South 500 East, Salt Lake City. Collection 728, photo number 7497. Utah State Historical Society.
1126 East Michigan Avenue, Salt Lake City. Tax parcel 16-08-409-007. Tax Appraisal Cards and Photographs. Salt Lake County Archives.
Utah-Idaho Sugar Company shop, office, and diagram. Tax parcel numbers 21-34-151-008 and 21-33-426-003. Tax Appraisal Cards and Photographs. Salt Lake County Archives.
“Petition of Thomas R. Cutler regarding speed of automobiles on 5th East Street,” August 12, 1907. Petitions, Salt Lake County Commission. Series CM-333. Salt Lake County Archives.
Online (all accessed 09/2013):
Deseret Evening News 1890-11-04 – The Contract is Signed
Salt Lake County’s First Annual Report of Recreation, from which this poem was taken, was published in 1947 and reflects the value that the County placed on developing recreational programs in the mid-20th century. Prior to 1947, individual schools and cities administered recreation programs, but this report marks the first year of a county government sponsored effort. The 1947 report reveals that the County focused on creating various activity-based programs. These ranged from familiar activities such as soccer and skiing, to indoor activities such as radio broadcasts and upholstery classes. The report also charted the activities of boys, girls, and adults in various activities, and reveals that the role adults most often played in 1947 was “spectator.” Apparently soccer moms and dads have a history in Salt Lake County.
First Annual Recreation Department Report, 1947.
One of the highlighted annual events that demonstrated an early affinity for outdoor recreation was Huck Finn Day, which the county sponsored along with the State Fish and Game Department. The event featured fishing competitions for children 14 and under, as well as awards for “best Huck Finn” and “best girl Tomboy.” The drawing below representing Huck Finn Day is one of the report’s many quirky hand-drawn illustrations.
Two decades later, in 1969, another Recreation and Parks Department report demonstrated the shift in emphasis toward land and green space. The report entitled “We Must Act” includes an impassioned speech from Gary C. Swensen, the Superintendent of the Recreation and Parks Department. “While we sleep our open-space shrinks, our rivers and streams become polluted,” Swensen warned. “We must not allow our abundance of open space to become our undoing.” Though some of Swensen’s predictions for the future, like his idea of an “age of leisure” in which people would work four days a week and retire at 60, seem humorous in retrospect, Swensen’s call for a greater emphasis on obtaining land for public use echoes debates that still take place in Salt Lake County.
The 1969 plan included blue prints for proposed park development. One of the blueprints given was for the development of what the report called “Millcreek Park.”
This site now exists as part of Big Cottonwood Regional Park. This link demonstrates that the County eventually developed the site to reflect those 1969 plans.
Sources:
First Annual Report of Recreation, Salt Lake County Recreation Department, 1947. Salt Lake County Archives.
“We Must Act” Report, Salt Lake County Recreation and Parks Department, 1969. Salt Lake County Archives.
Special thanks to our Volunteer Archivist, Jenel Cope, PhD, for researching and writing this entry.
On August 31, Salt Lake County’s Assessor of nearly two decades, Lee Gardner, retired his post. Just last week, Chief Deputy Assessor Kevin Jacobs was elected to become the 27th County Assessor. Mr. Jacobs has been with the County for 23 years, and will be up for reelection as Assessor in 2014, if he chooses to run.
A quick look at the funds that Mr. Jacobs would have had to work with if he had been Assessor in 1937:
The man that held the office of Assessor in 1937:
Readers of this blog have seen some of Assessor Skidmore’s employees at work in previously posted Tax Appraisal Photographs, assessing residences and commercial buildings throughout the County. Researchers have the Assessor’s office to thank for creating the Tax Appraisal Cards and Photographs that give us such an amazing view in to the County’s history.
Source: 1937 Annual Report of the Salt Lake County Auditor, pp. 12, 32.
Next week on this blog: “Ecology in the Archives” exhibits throughout the month of October. These entries will highlight ecology, culture, and the built environment in Utah’s history. Join us next week for the first exhibit! Also check out the events that other Utah archives are planning for Archives Month.
If you live in the Salt Lake County area, on September 21 you have an opportunity to improve the slopes of the Emigration Canyon road by planting trees and shrubs, providing a safer (and more beautiful) environment for everyone.
In partnership with the Emigration Canyon Community Council and Utah State University Extension, Salt Lake County identified 10 areas along Emigration Canyon Road where slopes could benefit from the addition of native trees and shrubs. The plants will improve safety by stabilizing soils, curbing erosion, and reducing debris that poses safety hazards to canyon users.
More than 1,000 native trees and shrubs were grown at the Utah State University Botanical Center in Kaysville specifically for this project. USU Extension will assist in directing these efforts and have recruited certified Master Gardeners to act as “site captains” and guide the volunteer planting efforts.
Shovels (along with breakfast and plenty of water) will be provided to those working with the trees and shrubs. Check out this news release for additional information about the event, spearheaded by Salt Lake County’s new Office of Township Services.
In addition, October is right around the corner! As regular readers of this blog know (and new readers are soon to find out!), October is Utah Archives Month. Archives Month is an opportunity to promote public awareness of the value of archives across the state. Salt Lake County Archives will be publishing four special blog entries surrounding this year’s Utah Archives Month theme, “Ecology in the Archives.” Have no idea what that might entail? Stay tuned. The first entry will be published in just two weeks! (No shovel required).
Civic improvement demonstration at a church in Holladay, 1922. 40 ornamental trees and over 100 shrubs were planted, overseen by landscape gardener E. Hansen.
Image source: Annual Report of Extension Work: Agricultural Agent of Salt Lake County, 1922; Utah Cooperative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics; Salt Lake County Commission Correspondence.
The Quality Produce Company and the Scott Tire Company used to be located at 508-512 South State Street in Salt Lake City. The store fronts and the houses directly behind were all built circa 1890. Business appeared to be thriving when the above photograph was taken on March 22, 1936 by the Salt Lake County tax assessors.
Although the 2 stores and the residences have been gone for almost 70 years, the tall two story building to the right of the tire company still survives. Located at 502 South State Street, it was built around 1895 and currently houses the florist shop called The Flower Patch.
The image below is of the residence directly behind the Scott Tire Company (you can see the roof and part of the second story in the above image). This photograph was taken on November 17, 1942, two years before it was torn down.
The house below was behind the Quality Produce Company. The photograph was also taken on November 17, 1942, and it was torn down in 1944.
The Grand America Hotel now occupies the space where, in 1936, you could buy food for your poultry, tires for your truck, or coal for your stove.
Source: Salt Lake County Tax Appraisal Cards and Photographs, serial 1-1386, parcel 16-06-351-020.
170 Pacific Avenue. Loading docks for various fruit companies, built circa 1940. Photo taken in 1941.
The Growers’ Market was a central wholesale and retail produce market located in Salt Lake City. The market was built in 1919 on what had been called Kendall Square at 440 South West Temple. The new market replaced the Growers’ Exchange that had operated at Second West between South Temple and First Avenue. Both the Exchange and the Market were owned by associations of hundreds of Utah farmers from the region. Utah’s produce industry was growing at a rapid pace during the early 1900s and a larger location with access to transportation was imperative. The roads around the smaller Growers’ Exchange had become notorious for the jams created by wagons and trucks waiting to be unloaded. The Kendall Square address offered better access to roads and rail lines.
Horse drawn wagons, and later trucks, arrived early in the morning with produce directly from outlying farms. Wholesale buyers had first pick with retail purchasers allowed in later in the morning. A rail spur that ran parallel to the stalls provided access to markets outside of Utah. Local newspapers based their weekly produce price listings on the asking price at the Growers’ Market.
460-464 South West Temple, built in 1929. Photograph taken in 1937.E.C. Olsen and Co. at 429 South 100 West (original address). Photograph taken in 1937.
The Growers’ Market Corporation also owned many residential buildings in the area, including this house located at 172 West 500 South (address and owner as noted in 1936):
Residence built circa 1900. Photo taken in 1936.
Post-war and into the 1950s and 1960s, large companies usurped the role that farmer associations and local distributors had in delivering and selling produce. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s many of the buildings that made up the Growers’ Market were torn down and replaced. The Sheraton Hotel now stands on the site of the old Growers’ Market.
Check out this 1950 Sanborn map for a view of the Growers’ Market area.
440 South West Temple. Service station and offices, built 1929. Photo circa 1960-1970.
Thank you to our archivist (and guest blogger) Vincent Fazzi for researching and writing this blog entry.
This house was built circa 1911 and used to stand at 234 North Main Street (just to the north of the McCune Mansion). In 1936, the date of the above image, it was owned by Alfred and Anna Kreidler. It contained 1,392 square feet (including a tower), and had been remodeled in 1932.
The house was demolished in 1958 to make way for the “Panorama,” an apartment building completed in 1963 that still stands today (8 East Hillside Avenue, or 240 North Main Street).
Copy of 1962 newspaper clipping found in Tax Appraisal Card packet.
Tax Appraisal Card for the Panorama Apartments, dated 1963 (shortly after completion):
This photograph of 3358 East 2000 South was taken in 1941, shortly after the house was built. This is a great photograph because it is a portrait of the owner (outfitted in riding breeches and boots) and her new residence. If you look closely (click on the image to make it larger!), you can see that she is smiling, and even the tax assessor looks like he might be smiling.
Salt Lake County Aging Services manages 19 centers for the valley’s senior citizens, and one of those senior centers just celebrated its 50th anniversary. The Tenth East Center, reportedly one of the earliest senior centers in the United States, marked the event with speakers, food, and entertainment. Read more about the party in this July 11 Tribune article.
Another event for Utah’s seniors featuring music, prizes, and special guests occurred in 1970. “Senior Citizen Day” was held at the Utah State Fairgrounds on September 16, 1970. Awards were handed out for an art competition, and plaques for being the oldest senior citizen, the senior citizen with the most grandchildren (the winner had 78 grandchildren!), and the couple married the longest were given out by “honored guest” Bob Barker (of game show fame).
“TV star Bob Barker awards plaque to Gus Franz, 91, Fair’s oldest senior”
Entertainment was provided by Clyde Wolf and Richard Eliason, and also the “Singing Grandmothers” Effie Yates and Lillian Shaw:
Clyde Wolf and Richard Eliason performing.Effie Yates and Lillian Shaw, the “Singing Grandmothers.”Some of the Senior Citizen Day attendees.Enjoying the performances.More performances.Jennie and Lloyd Hobbs of Provo received award for longest married of attendees (58 years).
Source: Salt Lake County Aging Services Photographs, 1968-1987, Acc. 04-145. Salt Lake County Archives.
Salt Lake County Archives 