We all live downstream of history and upstream of the future.
Winter/2005
| In This Issue - Liberty & Justice for All | Features | News |
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How Lagoon came to be at the cutting edge of Civil Rights in Utah...(more)
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Ogden's Central Bench National Historic District by Chris Hansen Have Artifacts, Will Travel Book Marks by Curt Bench JUMP iN (for kids of all ages) |
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| Members of the Four Fives Club at their annual formal in 1950. The club was started as a way to socialize at a time when most restaurants and other establishemnts would not serve African American.s Photo courtesy of Eva Sexton. |
LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL
How Lagoon came to be at the cutting edge of Civil Rights in Utah by Kristen Rogers
You go to a movie. You have just settled into your seat when the manager comes up and taps your shoulder. “Sorry,” she says. “The owner won’t let people with brown hair sit in the front of the theater. You’ll have to move to the back row.”
You decide to take the family swimming. But when the pool manager glances at you he quickly tells you that people of your hair color are not welcome in his pool.
You want to go out to eat, but you have to search for a restaurant that will serve people with brown hair. You can’t find any.
Absurd? Yes. Outrageous?! Yes. But that’s how it often was in Utah before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, not for brown-haired people but for African Americans.
If you were African American, you couldn’t sit at a drugstore counter. You couldn’t go dancing or skating or to concerts. You could go bowling, but only after midnight. Betty Moore of Ogden points out that although her father had paid taxes on his house every year since he bought it in 1915, “We were not able to take advantage of any of the municipal facilities that were supported by property taxes. We couldn’t swim with the other kids; we would just sit and look at them swimming in the municipal pools.”
Because restaurants would not serve them, Salt Lake residents Henry and Eva Sexton organized a club of couples who took turns cooking dinner for each other on Sundays.
“When I first came to Salt Lake [in 1943] it was pitiful here,” Eva Sexton says. “I came with four years of college, and they wouldn’t hire me. I worked at the Paris and Auerbach’s [department stores], but I worked in the restrooms, cleaning toilets.”
In some ways, life was harder for blacks in Utah than in the South, because in the South the demeaning “Whites Only” signs at least let blacks know where they could and could not go. But in Utah, segregation was “hidden,” Sexton says. That meant humiliation for families, couples, and individuals who were turned away from public places.
Civil Rights pioneers in Utah worked tirelessly to end such discrimination. A significant chapter in the story of the Civil Rights Movement involves the Lagoon resort in Farmington, which became, very likely, the first white-owned establishment in Utah to desegregate its swimming pool and dance floor.
The popular Lagoon resort first opened its doors in 1896. During World War II it closed down, but in 1946 four brothers approached Lagoon’s owner with an offer to lease it. The owner agreed, but he insisted on a clause in the lease banning African Americans from the swimming pool and dance pavilion.
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| Robert E. Freed at Lagoon |
The Freed brothers were upset with this provision. “We had been raised to feel we weren’t better than anybody else,” explains Peter Freed, who still oversees the park. Their parents taught them to treat all people—hoboes, hired help, people of all cultures—with respect. In addition, Peter’s brother Robert, then the park’s general manager, had hated the racial discrimination he saw during his time in the U.S. military. He decided it would not be that way at Lagoon.
“When we took Lagoon over, it looked like a lost city,” says Peter Freed; it had only the 1921-built roller coaster, the merry-go-round, a couple of other rides, a dance pavilion, and a pool. As they worked to build the resort, Bob Freed began to push the owner of Lagoon for a change in the racist lease provision. The answer was always, “There’s no way you can do that.”
In the meantime, the Freeds had to enforce the lease. “It was so embarrassing,” Peter Freed remembers. “We’d see a nice black family in line for the pool, looking as good as or better than the other people in line. We had to go up to them and say, ‘You can’t go in.’ We’d try to do something nice for them, like give them food or a free ride…. But it was horrible. It was the same on the dance floor. When we had Ella Fitzgerald or Duke Ellington performing there, they were on stage, but blacks couldn’t dance. It was awful when they had children too—oh gosh, it makes you sick to think about it.”
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| Lagoon's swimming pool in June 1937. Until about 1950, blacks were prohibited from swimming there. |
Bob Freed’s brother-in-law, Stephen L. Robinson, recalls discussions about how blacks could clean the urinals at Lagoon but not swim. “We all agreed it was flat wrong. Bob adamantly stated he was going to do something about it.” But his goal collided with the prevailing mind-set among Utahns.
During the 1940s and '50s, the many black performers who came to Lagoon and to the Terrace (also owned by the Freeds) experienced severe discrimination in Utah. Boyd Jensen, who has worked for Lagoon for 53 years, once tried to book a room for a performer at the Hotel Utah, but the manager said, “I’m sorry, there’s no way we can accommodate Louis Armstrong.” “So I had to go explain that to Louis Armstrong. I was very apprehensive and frightened, but he was the nicest person. He said, ‘Boyd, don’t worry about it. It happens all the time.’” Armstrong explained that the performers had created a network of black families where they could stay as they toured.
“He was the finest gentleman in every way conceivable, yet we couldn’t book a room,” Jensen continues. “The black people made the best of it all the time, in my experience. Every time. They could teach more about understanding and forgiving than many of the rest of us could.”
Robert E. Freed’s intimacy with the Lagoon and Terrace performers and their stories had a big impact on him. He was friendly with them all, says his widow, Jo Anne Freed Chavré, often bringing them home for late-night suppers. “Bob would call at 10:00 and say, ‘I’m bringing Johnny Mathis home; can you put something together?’”
Almost naturally, the Freeds got involved with the NAACP. “I started working at Lagoon in 1952,” Boyd Jensen says. “After I’d been working a couple of years, Bob took [my wife] Beverly and me to one of the NAACP meetings. So pretty soon we were standing at the table holding hands and singing ‘We Shall Overcome.’ 1/3 of us were white, 2/3 were black…. Bob supported the NAACP in everything they did. If they had special meetings or membership drives, he was at the forefront.”
Eva Sexton, another NAACP member, recalls those days: “We picketed places, wrote senators, did everything. We picketed the Capitol in the rotunda, picketed the Mormon church, picketed bowling alleys. We went through the devil for a long, long time here.” In 1969 she and her husband Henry were the first African American family to move to Holladay. But that courageous act is another chapter in the story of the Civil Rights movement.
Over time, the owner of Lagoon admitted it did not seem fair that blacks could be on stage but not in the audience. Finally, he allowed Lagoon to open the pool and dance pavilion to all. Word gradually spread among the black community. “We low-keyed it to begin with. There was still tremendous prejudice,” Peter Freed says. “We just started letting them in. There was no big reaction [among the white patrons]; nobody boycotted us.”
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| 1950s photo of the Four Fives Club 's annual picnic. |
Soon after the change, Eva Sexton and her husband went to a Nat King Cole concert at Lagoon. It felt natural to her that she could go. “I just felt, ‘This is something I’m supposed to do. This is one more mile we’ve come.’”
Gradually, other establishments followed Lagoon’s example—until the Civil Rights Act required complete desegregation. Bob Freed later said, “One of the most satisfying experiences of my life was when Lagoon opened its doors to people of all races.” He died in 1974; the next year the NAACP of Utah posthumously awarded him the Human Rights Award “in grateful recognition for integrating the Lagoon resort prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Law, without fear of financial reprisal; for solemn devotion to the moral crusade for the dignity of man, and with dedicated heart in the continuing fight for freedom.”
Jo Anne Freed Chavré emphasizes that her husband cared about all people. “It wasn’t just black; it was Asian, white... every single person has an equal right,” she says. “It was integral to his character. He cared mightily about every person.”
His own children went to public schools in the West High area in Salt Lake. At times his wife commented that they might receive more attention at private schools. But he would never consider it. “He believed that racial, social, and economic experience were critical to one’s education, and public schools were the best way to get it,” Chavré says. “And all of our boys still agree.”
Looking back one generation, consider Bob Freed’s parents, who taught their own sons to regard all people as equals—and how this one set of parents greatly contributed to changing attitudes in the state of Utah.
Yet Americans have not yet completely overcome attitudes of prejudice. Jo Anne Chavré wonders, “What would Bob think now of the exposure of the poor and disadvantaged people, as happened in New Orleans, and how they are still being ignored? I think it would be very hard on him.”
Agents for Change
A new acquisition at State History highlights activism from the 1960s to 1980s by Melissa Coy Ferguson
In 1964, Bob Dylan sang a message that resonated with young people throughout the United States:
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand.
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command;
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand—
For the times they are a-changin’.
Along with the nation, Dylan had watched major social movements that would change the face of modern America. Civil Rights had already been a moving force for a decade. In 1960 four young black college students entered a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, North Carolina, purchased some toiletries, sat at the lunch counter, and demanded equal service with white customers. In 1963, 250,000 people—white and black—marched on Washington and heard Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream for the nation. A Baptist church in Birmingham was bombed that year.
By the time Dylan sang “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” the country had already seen the Berlin Wall erected, Students for a Democratic Society form and issue its Port Huron Statement, Freedom Riders in the South protesting segregation in transportation, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and U.S. cooperation in removing Ngo Dingh Diem from power in South Vietnam.
Like many of his generation, Steve Holbrook saw these events and became an activist for change. Recently, the Utah Division of State History/Utah State Historical Society received Holbrook’s personal papers, a collection that covers the Utahn’s activism.
Born and raised in Bountiful, Utah, Holbrook was a Young Republican working for Utah Congressman Sherm Lloyd in Washington D.C. during the summer of 1963. When Holbrook joined a march for justice in the case of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, Lloyd’s office gave him a choice: he could either work in civil rights or in the Congressman’s office, but not in both. Holbrook chose civil rights.
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| Demonstrators ask the LDS church to contribute to the furtherance of Civil Rights in a rally held c.1964. |
Holbrook embarked on the voter registration campaign in Mississippi during the summers of 1964 and 1965 and was arrested there for his participation. What he saw in the South made him question his assumptions about American life and the government’s role in ensuring civil liberties. When he returned to Utah, Holbrook campaigned for the LDS Church to use its moral influence on behalf of civil rights. His experience in the Civil Rights Movement is chronicled in the collection he recently donated, including information about his arrest in Mississippi and how citizens campaigned for civil rights in Utah.
Like many of his generation, Holbrook used his experiences from the Civil Rights Movement to fight for an end to the war in Vietnam. As the war escalated, Holbrook helped facilitate a number of sit-ins and marches. After one of their events received absolutely no coverage from the media, protestors staged a sit-in at the Salt Lake Tribune office, demanding better coverage of the anti-war movement. The event made Holbrook realize that Utah needed a better media outlet for dissenting opinions, and the seed for radio station KRCL was planted. Information on the anti-war sit-ins, marches, and benefit events are all included in Holbrook’s collection.
Holbrook went on to become a legislator in Utah’s House of Representatives, where he worked in behalf of Utah’s homeless, juvenile delinquents, and consumers. After three terms in the legislature, Holbrook left politics to form KRCL. Most recently, Holbrook was the executive director of the Coalition for Utah’s Future, a bi- partisan group that tackles tough issues concerning Utah’s growth. Holbrook’s collection includes materials from all of these activities.
Like many other Baby Boomers, Holbrook influenced change in American society. They saw major social problems and sought to fix them. Bob Dylan sang:
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.
Holbrook’s collection is an important record of the tenor of the times spanning the 1960s through the 1990s: the battles, the “rattling” and, most important, the changes wrought within Utah as activists championed civil rights for all people and worked for other important causes. His collection at State History reflects the many important and controversial issues from the 1960s through the 1980s. It is the first of its kind in State History’s holdings.
The Holbrook collection, along with thousands of other research resources, may be accessed at the Utah History Research Center at the Rio Grande Depot, 300 S. Rio Grande St., Salt Lake City. The Research Center is open from 9:00–4:30 on weekdays and from 9:00– 1:00 on Saturdays.
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Pete Seeger sings at a meeting of Civil Rights activists in Mississippi. |
Steve Holbrook shows a poster for "Joe Hill Day." The poster and photos are part of the Holbrook collection. |
Ogden’s Central Bench Historic District by Chris Hansen
The National Register of Historic Places, one of the most popular programs of the Utah State Historic Preservation Office, is the nation’s official list of properties that are significant in American history, architecture, archaeology, and engineering. Primarily an honorific designation, the National Register is intended to recognize important buildings, structures, sites, and districts and to encourage their preservation. Buildings and sites on the list may receive recognition and an official plaque. But owners may also receive tax credits and/or low-interest loans for rehab work done on the structure, as long as it meets federal standards.
Contrary to some rumors, National Register listing does not restrict the owners in any way. Owners do not have to open their buildings to the public, and they do not need anyone’s approval for anything they do to their buildings. Listing does not affect property taxes or how a building may be used.
Historic districts are neighborhoods with a concentration of historic buildings (50 years or older). The historic properties within National Historic Districts gain the same advantages as individual properties listed on the Register. Overall, historic district designation has done good things for neighborhoods, both in Utah and throughout the country.
One of the latest additions to the National Register in Utah is the Ogden Central Bench Historic District, which was officially listed on July 22, 2005, and is the largest of Utah’s 50 historic districts—80 blocks large. It lies in east central Ogden, between Adams Avenue and Harrison Boulevard, and between 20th Street and 30th Street.
The district was nominated and listed on the National Register because, as Ogden’s largest historic residential area, it played a significant role in the development of the city. With buildings dating from the 1870s to the 1950s, the district reflects the transition of Ogden’s residential neighborhoods as the city emerged from its agricultural beginnings to become a major center for government, commerce, education, and industry. A range of neighborhoods comprise the district. Prominent families involved in local, state, and national affairs all made the Central Bench Historic District their home, and so did the large working class that inhabited the city. Although the district has been primarily residential in nature, it has also included an institution of higher learning (Weber Stake Academy/ Weber College, now Weber State University), numerous religious facilities (including several National Register-listed LDS church buildings, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, and Ogden’s First Methodist Church), historic public parks (Lester Park and Liberty Park), public buildings (Forest Service office building, post office, library, and grade schools) and various commercial buildings (mostly neighborhood markets). Because of the diversity of uses, the neighborhood was largely self-sustaining.
Historically, several drivers of development have shaped the district. Early LDS settlement, the railroad and related industry, and the defense industry that followed World War II all contributed to different eras of growth within the district. It is the diversity as well as integrity of the buildings that makes the district architecturally significant. The district contains the best concentration in the city of historic styles and types popular both in Ogden and throughout Utah. The houses range from early vernacular Classical styles and high-style Victorian architecture to more modest bungalow, period revival, early modern, and post-World War II styles.
Just as the district has been diverse historically, today the district is made up of a diversity of neighborhoods and residents. Though several longtime residents and original families moved out of the district in the second half of the 20th century, many chose to stay in the neighborhood and continue to make it their home. A large Latino population comprises a good portion of the district, as evidenced by the bustling Rodeo Meat Market/Carnicería located at the heart of the district in an old building on the corner of 25th Street and Monroe Boulevard. Many young families have also been lured into the district; some have purchased ancestral family homes, while others have been enticed by the character of the historic homes, which can’t be found in outlying areas.
Seeking to preserve the neighborhood’s character and promote rehabilitation, investment, and stability, Ogden City initiated the long process for creating a historic district in the late 1990s. Although it took several years to complete, the historic district designation, along with other projects/programs in the area, is an important step in reestablishing this old neighborhood as a vital part not only of Ogden but also of the larger Northern Utah community. Even though the Ogden Central Bench Historic District was only recently listed, the State Historic Preservation Office has already received several inquiries from people interested in the district’s history, financial incentives, and historic plaques. For more information, please contact the Utah State Historic Preservation Office at 801/533-3500.
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Early modern-style homes built by Earl S. Paul in the late 1930s/early 1940s; near 29th St. and Brinker Ave. |
English Tudor-style homes on the 1000 block of 25th Street, c.1928. Built by the Taylor Building Co. |
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Bungalows built c.1915, located on the 2500 block of Brinker Avenue. |
Homes designed by Julius A. Smith, c. 1905, located on the 2200 block of Jefferson Avenue. |
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| Bramwell Bungalow Court, designed and built by Wilford Bramwell in 1926. Located between Monroe Boulevard and Quincy Avenue and 26th and 27th Streets. |
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Chris Hansen is a Preservation Specialist for the Division of State History. He wrote the original Central Bench Historic District National Register nomination and also resides in the district.
Have Artifacts; Will Travel
Assistant State Archaeologist Ron Rood brings science to kids.
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| Fourth graders analyse an artifact, trying to deduce its purpose. |
“I’ll tell you right now, dirt is one of my favorite things,” says archaeologist Ron Rood. The fourth graders listening squint in disbelief. But by the end of the hour, they will like dirt too. They’ll understand that each seed, tiny bone, potsherd, fragment of basketry, or flint chip in dirt can be an important clue to reconstructing the story of people long dead.
Rood, Utah’s assistant state archaeologist, regularly talks to school classes and finds that children are fascinated by archaeology. He tries to use this enthusiasm to teach them what archaeology really is—and what it’s not. It’s not paleontology, for instance. (“We don’t do dinosaurs!”) And it’s not Indiana Jones-style artifact hunting.
But what is an artifact? After Rood explains that an artifact is anything made or used by humans, he holds up a pen. “Is this an artifact?” (“Yesses” and “Nos” bounce around the room.) The pen is indeed an artifact, he explains, and artifacts are the only way to learn about people who didn’t leave written records. He asks, “What if you were reading Harry Potter, and there was only one letter in the book—the letter E? Would you know the story?”
Only one letter? The kids are shocked by the very thought.
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| Ron Rood talks archaeology to fourth graders at Our Lady of Lourdes School. |
Ron explains that archaeology is the same way. Each artifact—even the finest pot or arrowhead—is only one letter in a large story, and if it is taken from its context, we’ll never know the story. This leads to a discussion of the painstaking science of archaeology: digging in a rectangular grid, recording and mapping the artifacts, analyzing them in the lab, and so on.
Near the end of the hour, Ron talks about looters and rock art vandals then asks the children, “Let’s say you are walking along a trail and you see a really cool arrowhead. What should you do?”
“Don’t touch it!” one boy responds.
“No, I want you to pick it up and look at it, and then ask yourself questions: ‘Who made this? How did it get here? What was it used for?’ But then put it back. Take a picture or sketch it, make a little map of where you found it, then notify the state archaeologist. That’s how we find out about important new sites.”
By the time Ron Rood walks out the door (to a big chorus of “Thank you!”), 20 to 30 children have learned a whole lot about Utah’s prehistory and about the science of archaeology. Even more, they have learned that protecting archaeology is everyone’s job.
Generally, I am not the biggest fan of committees and committee work, but I gladly make an exception for the one I’m on for the Utah State Historical Society. My task: I get to read books on Utah history published in one year and help decide which one is the best book for that year. Fortunately, my task forces me to read some books that I might not read otherwise. This year I read some fine books, one of which I’ll discuss here. By the way, the winner this year was Nancy J. Taniguchi’s wonderful book, Castle Valley: Hard Land, Hard-Won Home, a history of the state’s Castle Valley region.
Another very impressive book our committee considered was the award-winning Gathering in Harmony: A Saga of Southern Utah Families, Their Roots and Pioneering Heritage, and the Tale of Antone Prince, Sheriff of Washington County, by Stephen L. Prince. Many histories of the West focus on well-known, even famous (or infamous) characters. Prince’s book centers on “plain folks” who were crucial to the settling of southern Utah: the Taylors, Redds, Princes, Lees, Allreds (some of whom are my ancestors), Imlays, and others. The author skillfully takes us through some of the key events in early Mormon history and the settling of Utah’s Dixie, particularly New Harmony (southwest of Cedar City). He centers his attention on individuals from these families and their pioneering roles in that area.
The final chapters of the book tell the riveting and delightful story of the author’s uncle, Antone Prince, who was virtually drafted as sheriff of Washington County in 1936. He served in that position for more than 18 years, a county record. Sheriff Prince had an unorthodox style of keeping order in the county and, using his unusual techniques, he cracked some important cases in the area. He rarely carried a gun, but when he did he knew how to use it, being a fearless and skilled marksman.
Author Prince tells the story of Bill Shanley, a cattle rustler who had threatened to kill the sheriff if he ever saw him. One day the sheriff saw the wanted man in St. George and, unarmed as usual, quietly arrested and disarmed him. While Shanley was serving time in the county jail, the sheriff carried meals every day from Dick’s Café to the prisoner. Tiring of it, he told the convict to go get his own meals. Incredulous, Shanley asked, “Do you trust me?” “If I didn’t think I could, I wouldn’t do it,” was the response. Touched by the kind treatment and trust given, Shanley resisted leaving the jail when finally told he was a free man, saying that no one had ever treated him with such decency before.
Will Bagley aptly sums up the book: “Stephen Prince’s chronicle of his family’s wide-ranging adventures and their trials on the ragged edge of the American frontier often reads like a novel, but it is a very well-crafted history.”
Curt Bench, Benchmark Books, SLC
The Annual Meeting rocked
The Utah State Historical Society Annual Meeting in September drew throngs of people to workshops, lectures, presentations, panels, tours, and especially the Salt Lake Sixties event, which attracted more than 500 people.
We’re extremely grateful to more people than we can mention. Here are a few:
Floyd O’Neil, who gave an excellent keynote address.
Ken Sanders, who pulled together the posters, music, and stories that made up an unforgettable Salt Lake Sixties event.
All the presenters and panelists whose hard work and insights enriched attendees
Pete Henderson, owner of the Rio Grande Café, who provided delicious food for a huge crowd at the Sixties event.
Board chair Mike Homer, who not only came up with the Sixties idea but actually jumped into the fray to help make it happen
Artist Leia Bell, who created the flowers-in-her-hair poster we all instantly loved.
The sponsors without whom we could not have succeeded: University of Utah, Utah Heritage Foundation, Chevron, Kennecott Utah Copper, Utah Barricade and Sign.
The staff!
Thanks to everyone.
USHS honors History Heroes
The Utah State Historical Society announced its annual award winners at the 2005 annual meeting.
Outstanding Contribution Awards:
Ken Verdoia and KUED-TV, for their enduring contribution to the public’s understanding of Utah’s history in producing 13 outstanding history documentaries over the years.
Douglas McFadden, for his archaeological work advancing our understanding of the Virgin branch of the Anasazi.
Mike Johnson, the energetic and dedicated director of the Utah History Fair for the past 14 years.
Gaylon Hansen, whose donations to the Utah State Historical Society have formed the backbone of the state’s mining collection.
Margie Johnson Hall, who has conscientiously processed Division of State History photographs for 25 years.
Lisa Thompson, for her influential, creative work as an educator for the Utah Heritage Foundation.
Outstanding Achievement Awards:
Wasatch Property Management (Dell Loy Hansen, president), for its excellent rehabilitation of the 1950s-era First Security Bank Building on Main Street, SLC.
Big-D Construction (Jack Livingood, CEO; Kerry Arnold, senior project manager), for its excellent and “green” rehabilitation of the W. P. Fuller building on 400 South, SLC.
Rocco C. Siciliano, former assistant to President Dwight Eisenhower, for his book Walking on Sand: The Story of an Immigrant Son and the Forgotten Art of Public Service.
Utah Historical Quarterly publication awards:
Michael Lansing, “Race, Space, and Chinese Life in Late-Nineteenth-Century Salt Lake City” (Dale L. Morgan Award, funded by the Helen Papanikolas family).
Michael Johnson, “Rendezvous at Promontory: A New Look at the Golden Spike Ceremony” (Morris S. Rosenblatt Award, funded by the Goodman and Rosenblatt families).
John Sillito, “’Our Tone’: Tony Lazzeri’s Baseball Career in Salt Lake City, 1922-1925” (Nick Yengich Award, funded by a gift from the Yengich family).
Best Book Award: Nancy J. Taniguchi, Castle Valley, America: Hard Land, Hard-Won Home (funded in honor of Francis Armstrong Madsen by the Madsen family).
Best Article Award (not in UHQ): Mary Jane Woodger, “David O. McKay’s Progressive Educational Ideas and Practices, 1899-1922,” in Journal of Mormon History (funded by Suitter Axland).
William P. MacKinnon Award, for professional development of a Division of State History employee: Alycia Aldrich (funded by William P. MacKinnon).
Jane Beckwith wins AASLH award
Jane Beckwith, who has devoted so much time, energy, and skill into preserving and documenting the history of the Topaz Relocation Center, has received a prestigious award from the American Association for State and Local History. Beckwith received a Certificate of Commendation, recognizing excellence in the collection, preservation, and interpretation of local history.
The Topaz Relocation Center housed thousands of interned Japanese Americans during World War II. In one of its most shameful acts, the U.S. forced families out of their homes on the West Coast and confined them to internment camps for the duration of the war. Topaz is located near Delta, Utah. For more information see topazmuseum.org or call the Great Basin Museum at 435-864-5013.
Preserve America communities
First Lady Laura Bush has awarded Preserve America status to eight heritage-minded Utah communities. They are Centerville, Farmington, Kanab, Manti, Mt. Pleasant, Murray, Payson, and Pleasant Grove. The Preserve America program recognizes communities that protect their heritage, using their historic assets to further economic development and community revitalization. Preserve America communities also create education and heritage tourism initiatives to help people experience history. These communities gain special status and recognition and also have access to federal grants.
Utah’s Preserve America towns have earned this status by creating walking tours, Historic Districts, museums, markers, festivals (like the Western Legends Roundup in Kanab or Vintage Days in Murray), town preservation projects (like Payson’s Peteetneet Academy, which now houses a cultural arts center and history museum), historic main street revitalization, and more.
Through their efforts, these towns have experienced increased economic development and revitalized business districts. Perhaps most important, heritage brings citizens together and gives them pride in their community and a stronger sense of belonging. For more information on becoming a Preserve America community, see preserveamerica.gov.
Women’s History lecture series
In celebration of Women’s History Month, The Utah Division of State History/Utah State Historical Society will present a series of lectures at 12:00 noon on Tuesdays during March at the Rio Grande Depot, SLC (300 S. Rio Grande St.). The lectures are based on the book Women in Utah History. The schedule:
March 1: Susan Whetstone, “Images from Women in Utah History: Paradigm or Paradox?” (Logan: USU Press, 2005)
March 8: Patricia Lyn Scott: “From Schoolmarm to State Superintendent: The Changing Role of Women in Utah Education, 1847-2004”
March 15: John Sillito, “Conflict and Contributions: Women in Utah Churches, 1847-1920”
March 22: Kathryn L. MacKay, “Women in Politics: Power in the Public Sphere”
March 29: Miriam B. Murphy, “Gainfully Employed Women in Utah”
OCTA news
The Oregon-California Trails Association has named Salt Laker Vern Gorzitze as its national president. This organization is dedicated to educating about, preserving, and enjoying the western emigrant trails.
The group has mapped, marked, and studied the trails and worked for their preservation. It has also compiled a database of information from diaries and other firsthand accounts, and it publishes scholarly and popular information.
Gorzitze plans to focus on educating children and young adults with activities and school programs that will help them become interested in the trails and the people who traveled them. He also has plans to help local chapters grow and develop. For more information on OCTA, see www.octa-trails.org/ or contact Vern Gorzitze at vergor@wasatchnet.net.
Search for maps online
More than 33,000 historical maps of Utah and the western United States can now be searched online at history.utah. gov. According to Utah Division of State History director Philip F. Notarianni, “Our online map database will be an important tool for researchers in many fields, because old maps show historical trails, roads, railroads, land planning, buildings, boundaries, and much more. This database quickly and easily shows what maps we have available in our collections.” Researchers can search for maps by location, date, type, title, or cartographer.
The maps can be viewed at the Utah History Research Center at the Rio Grande Depot (300 S. Rio Grande St., SLC). Some of the map types available include topographical, plat, highway, water usage, forest, mining, grazing, trail, railroad, and local maps. One popular map, an early plat map of Salt Lake City, shows what properties the earliest pioneers in the valley owned.
For more information on State History’s map collection, contact Doug Misner at (801) 533-3535. For information on donating maps to the collection, contact Susan Whetstone at (801) 533-3543.
Critical Lands toolkit now online
The Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget has created an online toolkit for communities to help them assess and protect critical lands. The toolkit includes “Cultural and Historic Resources” in its list of critical lands, saying, “Preservation of historic and cultural resources can increase our knowledge of history, provide scientific data, and stimulate economies through tourism…. Protecting these resources preserves the character and quality of a community and its values.” The toolkit is available at planning. utah.gov.
Ukrainians visit State History
Officials from the Ministry of Justice for Ukraine visited the Division of State History in October. They came to Utah as participants in the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, with a mission to learn about the relationship between Church and State in the United States.
Tamara Andriieva, Sherhii Chekhovych, and Mykola Klyzhka spoke through a translator with State Archaeologist Kevin Jones, asking him several questions about Utah. They wanted to know about the history of religion in Utah, the “level of civilization” of early cultures, the kind of artifacts found here, the attitudes of American Indians toward excavation, and whether Cro-Magnon people lived here. (They did not. Dr. Jones explained that Utah’s prehistoric people were modern humans.)
During their U.S. tour, the group also visited Washington D.C.; Louisville, Kentucky; and Miami, Florida.
| Where’s That At?* | *CAREFUL, KIDS!! Don't try this sentence at home! It's bad grammar. |
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Winter Puzzler
Identify the historic building in this photo and win a copy of Utah’s Historic Architecture 1847-1940: A Guide, by Thomas Carter and Peter Goss. Send your response (one guess per contestant) to Where’s That At, 300 S. Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. Responses must be postmarked by January 16, 2006. A drawing will be held of the winners to determine who receives the book.
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Answer to Fall Puzzler
The historic structure shown in the Fall 2005 Where's That At? is the Richmond City Grandstand. The Richmond City Grandstand, along with the associated baseball field, was built circa 1935–36 as a Works Progress Administration project to provide seating for baseball games and other special events in Richmond City and Cache County.
The following contestants correctly identified the building: Craig Buttars, Lewiston; Dan Miller, Richmond City; and E.D. Newman, Salt Lake City. Mr. Miller was selected in the drawing to receive a copy of Utah's Historic Architecture 1847-1940: A Guide, by Thomas Carter and Peter Goss.
Utah Tourism: 1920s-style a photo essay
Doc Inglesby & his Tour Companies
Dr. Arthur Leroy Inglesby was a colorful, salty man who made a name for himself as a dentist, “rock-hound,” explorer, and pioneer tour operator. Doc Inglesby came to Utah in 1900 and worked as a dentist in Mercur and Bingham. He became an avid collector of minerals, petrified wood, and gems. He also became known for his knowledge of rugged, little-known parts of Utah.
In his travels, Inglesby recognized the tourism potential in the beauty of the Utah landscape. In the 1920s he established a stage line from Bingham to Salt Lake City, and later he expanded his tour business to to include all of Utah. When the Great Depression caused his business, Intelligence Tours, to go bankrupt, Inglesby moved to Fruita, Utah. He remained there until his death in November 1960 at the age of 87.
Inglesby had many interests, but his love of rugged southern Utah and his entrepreneurial spirit made him a pioneer of early tourism in Utah.
Photo essay by Susan Whetstone, photo curator for the Utah Division of State History/State Historical Society. All photos are from State History’s collections.
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The Bingham Stage Lines bus tour at Kennecott Copper's Bingham Mine, late 1920s. |
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This long white limo bus was typical of the types of vehicles Dr. Inglesby used for his tours. |
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Bingham Stage Lines Passenger Depot in downtown Bingham, Utah, 1927. |
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Well-known "tourist" photograph of Zion National Park with a tour bus in front of the Great White Throne. From the late 1920s. |
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Another "tourist" photograph of a tour bus in the Wasatch Mountains. From the late 1920s. |
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Doc Inglesby at his home in Fruita, Utah, c. 1930. |
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The Hotel Semloh at the corner of Second South and State Street, Salt Lake City, May 27, 1927. The Bingham Stage Lines office was located in the hotel. |
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A group of tourists by the Intelligence Tours bus at the Bryce Canyon Lodge, late 1920s. |
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Intelligence Tours bus at Cove Fort, late 1920s. |