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Red Reed Water: Clear Creek as Native Waterway
The valley floor and cliffs of Clear Creek Canyon were sculpted over millions of years and evidence hints that humans moved along its waters as early as 8,000 years ago. You may have driven through this canyon yourself, but do you know the importance…
Remembering Calvin Rampton
A reflection on the life and long political career of Calvin Rampton, Utah's longest serving governor. Rampton was born in Bountiful, attended Davis High School, and then graduated from the University of Utah with bachelors and law degrees. Soon he…
Reva Beck Bosone
Reva Beck Bosone’s political ambitions began as a lawyer in Carbon County and eventually led her to become Utah’s first congresswoman.In 1948, Reva Beck Bosone became the first woman elected to Congress from Utah. Born in American Fork to…
Roadside Motels
Motels dotted Utah’s highways throughout the twentieth century, beckoning motorists to pull off the road and spend their tourist dollars in rural towns. Now that hotel chains dominate accommodation options, what happened to these locally owned…
Robert Smithson's Journey to Spiral Jetty
One of the most important artists of the 20th Century took a convoluted journey to create one of the most significant works of land art in the world. And it happened right here in Utah. Robert Smithson was one of the pioneers of the land art…
Rural to Rockets: Box Elder County Takes Off
So, you are a giant aerospace company and you want to build a rocket plant: what do you look for? This week, learn how one Utah town met all the requirements to become a center for the US rocket industry and how that decision forever changed its…
Solstice Sun Tunnels
Sun Tunnels, an art installation by Nancy Holt, has become a unique part of Utah’s heritage.On June 21, 1976, the day of the summer solstice, New York artist Nancy Holt gathered several friends under the massive skies of Utah’s west desert to…
State Street River: Salt Lake City’s 1983 Flood
Find out how a season of terrible floods left Salt Lake City residents with a memorable scene: their neighbors packing sandbags to create a river running down State Street.
The uncharacteristically wet winter and spring seasons between 1982 and 1983…
Steen’s Folly: Utah’s Frenzied Uranium Boom
A frenzied uranium boom swept up southern Utah in the 1950s. The boom had a long term impact on the health of countless miners.On July 6, 1952, a down-on-his-luck uranium prospector named Charlie Steen made a major strike near Moab, Utah. His…
Sundance: How Hollywood Changed Rural Utah
The natural beauty and recreational opportunities offered by the Wasatch Range have long brought people seeking an enhanced quality of life. But how did the arrival of Hollywood change the culture and economy of this corner of Utah?Tucked in the…
Swaner: The Nature Preserve at the Center of Change
This week learn about one family who made it their mission to preserve nature in the heart of a growing city – and they succeeded!
In Summit County, a precious 1200-acre area of wetland is permanently preserved through conservation easements as a…
The Angels of 25th Street
Mary Nakaishi and her husband Uke devoted their life’s work to helping Ogden’s poor get back on their feet and earned the reputation of Ogden’s “Angels of 25th Street".
Mary Nakaishi and her husband Uke devoted their life’s work to…
The Canyonlands Controversy
Canyonlands is more than just Utah’s third national park. Its designation in 1964 occurred after a fight over who exactly public lands are meant for.
In the late 1950s, the National Park Service began assessing lands for a new national park in the…
The First State Arts Agency in the Country
Utah was the first state in the nation to establish state arts support!
In 1965, Congress established the National Endowment for the Arts to support arts organizations and artists throughout the nation. Part of its mandate was to give funds to any…
The Founding of SOCIO
The creation of the Spanish Speaking Organization for Community, Integrity, and Opportunity in Salt Lake City sought to identify problems of the Spanish-speaking minority. This group worked on behalf of the community to improve equality and access to…
The Last Brothel in Utah
Urban spaces in twentieth century Utah are known for their vice -- gambling, prostitution and more. But did you know the last brothel to close in Utah was actually in a rural town?
Sitting in the second floor windows of Helper’s Carbon Hotel,…
The Militarized West
World War II and the Cold War brought the military to much of rural Utah, transforming those places in the process. The economic boost that followed was long-lasting in some communities, but devastatingly short-lived in others.
While the federal…
The Origins of Rose Park
Rose Park began as an affordable, working class neighborhood. But the true costs for the subdivision would not be revealed until decades later.
In 1947, housing developer Alan Brockbank scoped out a plot of land not too far from the center of Salt…
The Salina POW Camp Shooting
A shooting in a Salina prisoner of war camp killed nine prisoners and wounded over 20 others. The motive for the shooting remains unclear.At 12:25 a.m. on Sunday, July 8, 1945, two months after Germany’s surrender in World War II, the report of a…
The Salt Palace and the End of Salt Lake’s Japan Town
A small area of downtown Salt Lake City used to be “Japan Town”, an area that served as the focus of the city’s Japanese American community. The area was demolished in the 1960s in order to make room for the Salt Palace.These days, if you turn…