Magical Places in Salt Lake City Growing up in a Salt Lake City suburb, I heard older kids speak about places in the city that kept an imaginative young girl convinced that I lived in a magical place where legends were true and remarkable things might happen. Gravity Hill, Gilgal Gardens, and “Hobbitville” were spoken about in reverent tones and with excitement about whether … [Read more...]
A Tale of Two Prisons: Construction of a modernized state penitentiary is underway almost 70 years after the closure of Utah’s first state prison in Sugar House
Nearly 70 years ago, Utah’s first state prison closed its doors and was transformed into the much-loved Sugar House Park. Construction is now underway on a new penitentiary that is 15 miles away but vastly different from its predecessors. The Utah Territorial Prison opened in 1855 with 16 cells on 80 acres selected by Brigham Young. The original facility was built of brick … [Read more...]
Chains Not Interested in Sugar House Decorations
For decades, the Sugar House Chamber of Commerce paid the cost of setting up the iconic Santa House on the Monument Plaza at Christmastime and decorating it with lights and garlands of greenery. Now, the Chamber's membership has dwindled to less than half, and its income is insufficient to support large public events such as Santa's arrival or the expense of holiday … [Read more...]
Slow Down! Sugar House to Benefit From Curbing Speeding Vehicles
The Sugar House Neighborhood Residents of a Sugar House neighborhood were fed up with all the speeding vehicles that exit Interstate 80 and cut through their streets so drivers could avoid the more heavily traveled 700 East, 2100 South, and 2700 South. Scott Doutre, a neighbor who has been working to resolve the traffic problems, said residents want to keep drivers … [Read more...]
Ty’s Garden Dedication in Memory of Dr. Ty Harrison
Dr. Ty Harrison's Story A special unveiling took place on October 11 of a monument to a man who touched countless lives, and had more titles than the letters in his name. The eastern edge of Hidden Hollow Nature Preserve in Sugar House was officially renamed and dedicated to Dr. Ty Harrison, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Westminster College, an environmentalist, … [Read more...]
Sugar House—Furniture Capital of the West
Furniture Capital of the West Sixty years ago, Sugar House was known as the "Furniture Capital of the West,” with 21 home furnishings stores in the business district. Today, there is only one full-line furniture store left—Sterling Furniture Company. Coincidentally, thousands of individuals are moving into the new apartment buildings in downtown Sugar House and along the … [Read more...]
Sculpture Memorializes a Man and His Mission in Sugar House
Jim Kirkman Jim Kirkman was known as many things to his friends and family in Sugar House: Master Gardener, educator, an encyclopedia of desert knowledge, an archaeologist with a reverence for what came before us—and a selfless individual always willing to lend a hand. Kirkman passed away in May from cancer, but his legacy lives on in the form of a sculpture crafted from … [Read more...]
From monuments to murals, Sugar House public art continues to thrive
It's known as the Sugar House Monument: an art deco obelisk with bronze statues and flowing water features at its base. Fifty-five feet high and 60 ft. wide, the monument is a cultural marker for Sugar House residents, and was likely an abomination to traffic engineers with its placement in the middle of the busy intersection of 2100 South and 1100 East, at least until the … [Read more...]
Liberty Wells Historic District
Liberty Wells before it was Liberty Wells In 2011, two Salt Lake City neighborhoods officially merged to become the Liberty Wells Historic District, but the story of the area’s development begins in the 1800s. Imagine it’s 1875. You have journeyed to 900 S, the southern edge of the city. The urban blocks, the original Plat of the City of Zion, are 10-acre squares. … [Read more...]
Trek reenacts arrival of first Utah Mormon pioneers
Walking in the footsteps of Utah Mormon pioneers—covered wagons not included On July 22, 1847, after traversing hundreds of difficult miles, a determined group of Mormon pioneers guided the first covered wagons into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Pulled by weary oxen, they rolled ponderously down the rocky escarpments of Emigration Canyon to what is now called First … [Read more...]
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