Today, one of Park City’s biggest events – especially post-Miners’ Day – is Halloween on Main and the Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade. While it’s a staple for current-day Park City, the origins of organized fun go further back.

I wrote an article on Halloween pranks a few years ago, and followed it up with an article about Halloween more broadly, in which I discussed that the backlash to pranking is where the first intentional and widespread organized Halloween activities stem from. In the 1910s, we began to see parties organized for children to keep them occupied (a.k.a. not outside committing mischief).

Of course, this often did little to slow All Hallows’ Eve pranksters. But parents and community members continued to try and find ways to keep kids distracted on the spooky holiday. Trick-or-treating by itself did not dissuade pumpkin smashers and window soapers. Perhaps it was too spread out, and it would perhaps be easier to control and/or keep an eye on kids if they are all in one place.

In 1965, then, the local PTA came up with the Halloween Carnival, which took place at the War Memorial Building on Main Street. Activities included a “Spook Alley” (a mini haunted walk-through experience), carnival games, and a movie. The advertisement in the Park Record noted the event was a success in its “double purpose of showing the children a good time and keeping them off the streets.” The event didn’t stick, however.

Not until 1970 did the PTA – chaired by Mary Eley – bring the event back for a stretch run, starting at the Marsac School. Many of the activities returned, with the “Spook Alley” praised as a highlight of the event each year. A few more Halloween-specific activities, like apple bobbing and a costume parade, were also added. In some years, the costume parade went down part of Main Street – almost a precursor to Halloween on Main!

The event grew each year and turned into a big fundraiser for the schools, and sometimes for other causes. By 1977, the event was popular enough that they had to move it to the larger Carl Winters Middle School (now the Park City Library). By 1981, the PTA turned a profit of over $2,700 on the event (over $9,000 today)! 

In 1985, during the height of panic about razor blades in candy and apples, Randy Fields hosted the event at the recently constructed mall on Main Street (where Lululemon and other stores are today). Fields noted that the Halloween Carnival was one of the reasons he and his wife moved to Park City, stating, “It’s a very safe way for kids to play games and be together in a way that doesn’t put them at risk.” So kids were off the streets, both for pranks they might commit and for perceived dangers they might be exposed to. The 1985 carnival is also notable for raising over $50,000 for a local boy’s experimental cancer treatment.

By the 1990s, the Halloween Carnival began to decline in popularity after several location switches to schools away from Old Town, along with Park City continuously expanding beyond Old Town. It lasted until at least 2000, from what I can find (though perhaps someone who has lived here longer can provide a more accurate timeline). 

Not uncoincidentally, the decline of the carnival gave way to the rise of Halloween on Main, which was a way to draw locals to the downtown core during our fall offseason (and, again, to have a place where most kids could be seen and watched). From mentions I can find in the Park Record, the first official Halloween on Main took place in 1996, with the Howl-O-Ween Dog Parade joining in 2001. Next year will be the 30^th annual Halloween on Main.

Happy Halloween from the Park City Museum! The Museum will close early for the Main Street trick-or-treating and dog parade.

The post Way We Were: Halloween fun gets organized appeared first on Park Record.

Editor’s note: This is the first of two parts.

Often, we attribute the title of Park City’s first skier to Emmett “Bud” Wright, who used skis for his job repairing telephone lines ranging from the mountains around Park City to the Wasatch Front. He also taught others to ski in the small mining town.

But was he truly the first in town to ski? The evidence suggests otherwise.

Early skiing was sometimes referred to as snowshoeing. In context, it is different than using snowshoes to stay on top of the snow.

The earliest reference to skiing or snowshoeing found in The Park Record is from Nov. 5, 1881. The paper reported that men living up near mines and claims were using snowshoes (for “actual necessity”) due to winter’s arrival and that “one prospector told us it was utterly impossible for him and his men to get from one claim to another without snow shoes.”

That report was for men using snowshoes for work. But it wasn’t much later that The Park Record gave a report of their use for fun. On Dec. 24, 1881, they wrote: “Fennemore is turning out a fine lot of snowshoes and is offering them at moderate rates. Those who need them and those who want them for sport should give him a call.”

One family believes their descendant was Park City’s first skier. In 1955, several children sent a photo of their father to the Marriott Library at the University of Utah, along with a letter explaining his story. They wrote that he, Ole Gunderson, arrived in Park City in 1875 to help his brother Lars in a sawmill. Lars moved away, but Ole stayed and made a home high up the mountain and needed to use skis to get into town for groceries in the winter each Sunday.

They continued that “after that first Sunday when he skied into Park City to the store, an Irishman walked up to [his] cabin the next day and wanted to know what it was that our father had on his feet. He said that when he saw him, he thought it was the Devil coming down the canyon. He wanted some things just like them, so our father made him a pair of skis. Soon many of the miners and others about the town had him making skis for them also. She said that he was kept busy all winter making skis, as everyone took to the sport. As near as we know, our father was the first man on skis in Park City District.”

There are no reports in The Park Record to support the story, and no records of Ole Gunderson, either. The letter also contains known inaccuracies, such as that when Ole arrived in 1875, “there was only mine in Park City, called the Ontario,” which is not true.

The first mention of any Gunderson in The Park Record is of an “L Gunderson” in that same Dec.24, 1881 edition, where he is mentioned as “doing assessment work on the Lizzie claim.”

The next mention of the same L. Gunderson comes a couple of months later, wherein Gunderson issued a challenge on Feb. 25, 1882, to anyone in Park City to a snowshoe race from Park City to Alta. A “J Pape,” most likely saloon-owner Jack Pape, responded in the March 11, 1882, issue “to call my place of business and complete arrangements” for the race. The result of the race, if it happened, is unknown.

While L. Gunderson is probably not Ole, someone with the Gunderson family name was indeed one of the earliest recorded skiers in Park City.

The Park City Museum will reopen to the public on Jan. 27.

Dalton Gackle is the Park City Museum’s research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: When did skiing arrive in Park City? appeared first on Park Record.

Editor’s note: This is the third Way We Were article covering the 60^th anniversary of Park City Mountain Resort.

Treasure Mountains officially opened to the public at 9 a.m. on Dec. 21, 1963, with much fanfare. Mayor William P. Sullivan cut the ribbon, declaring the resort open and ushering in “a new economic era for historic Park City.”

Utah Gov. George D. Clyde, and Utah state and national legislators sent letters of congratulations that were read to the opening ceremony’s guests.

United Park City Mines President John M. Wallace and Vice President Seth “Red” K. Droubay gave a few words, with Droubay paying “glowing tribute” to the people who worked to get the resort open.

The Utah National Guard and the Park City High School band played to the audience filled with local commissioners and politicians from Park City, Summit County, Salt Lake County and Wasatch County, among other locals ready to see change in Park City.

Excited guests to the new resort had a dozen runs available to them via several lifts. The Treasure Mountains gondola gave full access to the resort, while the Prospector double chairlift served the upper half of the terrain and two J-bars served the base area — the Silver King for intermediate skiers, and the Tenderfoot for beginners.

Upon their opening, Treasure Mountains boasted both the longest gondola and the longest double chairlift in North America with those first two lifts.

Regarding the gondola, Reah Hurley of The Park Record noted the guests of the opening ceremony rode it to the Summit House for breakfast, remarking “one realizes they are not on a plane … and are tempted to feel their shoulder blades to see if wings have sprouted while they are still here on Mother Earth.”

She continued: “The views as one travels ever upward to 9,300 feet grow larger and more breathtaking, and the scene that spreads out before you from the summit, on Pioneer Ridge, is simply marvelous and beyond description.”

The runs available that opening day were Miner’s Mile, Claim Jumper, Treasure Hollow and part of Lost Prospector for novice skiers; Bonanza, Silver King, Pay Day and the other part of Lost Prospector for intermediate skiers; Silver Queen, Hidden Splendor, The Shaft and Silver Skis (a race course) for expert skiers; and The Slide, a toboggan run.

The ski school was open from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., with lessons given by Jim McConkey and Norm McKinnon. A two-hour lesson cost just $3, while a full-day lesson (four hours) cost $5.

The Deseret News ran comments from early visitors that cited the ease of access to get to the resort, the ample parking (a relic of the past!), the array of terrain, and the novelty of the gondola keeping skiers warm all the way to the top of the resort.

One commenter noted, “Boy, this sure is some area for the recreation skier!”

That last quote sounds more like something a PR person thinks would be a good quote for a visitor to say rather than something someone actually said, but it was presented in the paper as the latter.

Summing up the successful opening for Park City’s first full-scale resort, Reah Hurley wrote for The Park Record that “the full impact of the years of planning this great project, and the brains and ability and manpower of skilled workmen of many trades, have all come to a most wonderful completion in the west’s newest and finest playland.”

The Park City Museum will be closed to the public during Sundance Film Festival from Monday, Jan. 15 through Friday, Jan. 26. Happy film-watching!

Dalton Gackle is Park City Museum’s research coordinator.

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On Dec. 27, 1950, happy faces of Park City High School band members emerged from bus windows, hands following to wave farewell. The band was off to perform at a prestigious event: the East-West Shrine Bowl, a nationally broadcast college football postseason all-star game.

The road to the bowl actually started with another all-star game put on by the Shriners. Each year, the Utah Shriners held the Utah Shrine All-Star Game for high school football standouts from around the state. For the August 19, 1950 game, the high school band was chosen for a pregame pageant performance to be the halftime entertainment. They would be the first ever high school-level group to perform at the game.

In recapping the performance, The Park Record wrote: “Cheered to an echo by more than 12,000 fans, the boys and girls, dressed in their red uniforms, performed brilliantly, both in their music and in their marching maneuvers.” The performances by the band apparently caught the attention of the national (or at least the California) Shriners. In late November, 1950, the Shrine Bowl committee, based in San Francisco, invited the Park City High School band to perform at halftime of their collegiate all-star game.

But it came as no surprise. The “famed” band was referred to as “one of the top attractions in the state for many years” in The Salt Lake Tribune and had recently been “acknowledged [as] one of the greatest prep musical organizations in the nation” according to The Park Record, with much credit to the tutelage of band director Byron D. Jones.

The Shrine Bowl game, unlike the Utah one, would be broadcast nationally, including the “prominent” eight-minute halftime performance. There would also be around 60,000 fans in the stands compared to the 12,000 for the Utah game. Park City High School was the first band from outside of California to be invited to perform.

The Utah Board of Education met to sanction the trip on Nov. 26, and band members and their parents unanimously voted to accept the invite. The only problem: Park City High School had no budget to make the trip.

Several community organizations came to the rescue to raise funds in addition to the band putting on a fundraiser show. The Park City chapter of the United Steel Workers of America set up a citizens’ fund that raised $2,500 of the $4,000 estimated cost. According to The Park Record, “Representatives of every fraternal, religious, and civic organization in the city … formed a finance committee” to raise funds for the band’s trip.

Utah Gov. Joseph Bracken Lee himself made a sizeable personal donation to the band. After all, the band’s exposure at the game would “be wonderful for the kids, as well as for the town and state.” They were over halfway to full funding on Dec. 7 and reached their goal by Dec. 26.

The band and chaperones set off from the high school in four buses at 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 27. According to The Park Record, “With the weatherman cooperating by presenting a beautiful day for the occasion …” the group set off. But, they continued, “as bright as Old Sol shone, he could not equal the glow on the faces of the boys and girls as they found their assigned places on the buses and settled down for the long ride.”

The 100-member band arrived without incident and spent two days touring San Francisco. Then came the big day: Dec. 30. The band was invited to march and play in the pregame pageant. As the band walked in, the stadium announcer called, “Here come that high-stepping band from Utah, Park City High School, the feature band of the pageant.”

According to one band member, “the magnitude of it all can only be realized by one’s attendance.”

And with the nerves brushed away by the first performance of the day:

“After many thrills during the first half of the game, the great moment arrived: the halftime demonstration. Our band played for the assembling of the other units and then we began our drill. At the beginning of our demonstration, we received a good hand, but when the band went into the dance of the ‘Brass Band Boogie,’ there was tremendous ovation with most of the 67,000 people standing and giving the kids from Utah one of the greatest tributes that any group has ever received. The climax of it all was when Martin L. Woodard, the director of the pageant, came to the stands where our band was seated and with a movie camera grinding away, congratulated the band and its director on presenting the most outstanding band demonstration that had ever been presented in the history of the pageant. Thrills, chills, etc.. were intermingled. It was a fitting climax to days of hard work, sacrifices, etc., that made the trip possible.”

Attendees of the game later wrote to The Park Record with their impressed thoughts. The Salt Lake Tribune reporter in attendance sang the Park City High School band’s praises. One former Utah baseball player even phoned the owner of the Salt Lake Bees to tell him the game was all right, but that the band “stole the show.” With their successful show behind them, the band returned to Park City on New Year’s Day.

Happy new year from the Park City Museum!

Dalton Gackle is the Park City Museum research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: Stealing the show appeared first on Park Record.

Editor’s note: This is the second Way We Were article covering the 60^th anniversary of Park City Mountain Resort.

“On December 21, 1963, Park City, Utah … lays claim to its second bonanza of the century,” read The Park Record in the days leading up to Treasure Mountains resort’s grand opening to the public. “And with this Grand Opening will come a new, rich lode — one of recreation — to the storied mining community ….”

The grand opening was just the beginning, too. The resort was still building toward becoming one of the West’s premiere resorts. By Dec. 21, only 60% of the cars on the gondola from the base to the angle station and then on up to the Summit House would be installed. The gondola itself was then the longest in the United States at 2.5 miles long, with 2,300 vertical feet in rise to the top of Pioneer Ridge. Riding all the way to the top took 20 minutes.

Over 18 miles of ski runs had been cut and at least 10 inches of snow covered them, making them skiable. Seth “Red” Droubay, VP and GM of United Park City Mines (UPCM) — Treasure Mountains’ owner — told The Park Record: “Since all skiing facilities are 98% ready, we wanted to be open to the public in time for the holiday season.”

For its first season, the resort mostly just needed the rest of the gondola cars to arrive and to add finishing touches to some of the buildings. All in all, the resort planned $5 million more in development over the next five years, so that Treasure Mountains and Park City could truly be a resort destination.

Parkites also had a chance to see the new resort before it opened to the public. Approximately 500 residents, over one-third of Park City’s population at the time, rode the gondola all the way to the top and dined at the Summit House over the course of the day on Dec. 17, 1963.

To even get to this point, the whole community had to invest. UPCM, which by then owned almost every old and currently operating mine in the Park City mining district, had to make the decision to reinvent themselves into recreation center managers.

The community, too, had to buy in. Then, the project needed funding – approximately $2 million to get the project up and running. Luckily, through an unlikely friendship between Parkite and Salt Lake Tribune editor Jack Gallivan and President of the U.S. John F. Kennedy, an Area Redevelopment Administration loan that UPCM applied for bore fruit in the way of $1,232,000 — two-thirds of what was needed.

The timing, too, was just right. Skiing had become popular in the West, and in Utah, which had seen a couple of other resorts appear in the Salt Lake corridor. The Deseret News remarked that Treasure Mountains “will be a great boon to skiers in the region, as it will provide an additional place to ski and will absorb some of the blow from the skiing population explosion which has been ignited.”

Optimism reigned for the resort’s opening. It was already being hailed as “America’s most accessible ski resort,” since Park City sits just off a major highway. Another spot in the Deseret News exclaimed the new resort would become “truly a tourist and vacation bonanza for Utah and all America!”

The resort was projected to provide 1,700 direct and indirect jobs and bring in 1 million guests each year (little did they know!), both of which were desperately needed after years of a declining mining industry.

In its closing words for their Dec. 19, 1963, story on Treasure Mountains opening, The Park Record wrote: “Remember Dec. 21, 1963. It’ll be an historic event for Park City, Utah and the intermountain area.”

After 60 years, it’s safe to say that statement is true.

Stay tuned for an article on the reception of Treasure Mountains’ opening days.

Happy holidays from the Park City Museum! This year’s annual historic ornament, depicting the Silver King Mine headframe building, is still available — online or in-store.

Dalton Gackle is the Park City Museum research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: Remember this date appeared first on Park Record.

“What tragic, criminal, treacherous, appalling changes have come to this great country of ours since we went to press last week,” read a front-page story in The Park Record on Dec. 11, 1941.

The Park Record did not publish on Dec. 7 or 8, so the story was less reactionary than others published sooner. Rather than a headline reading “Pearl Harbor Attacked!” on Dec. 7 or “U.S. Enters World War Two” on Dec. 8, The Park Record was more reflective, with “World War No. Two Declared Sunday Last.” Since the paper was not going to press during the greatest commotion, the story gave updates on the news of the four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

They reported on President Roosevelt addressing the nation, reactions from other Western communities, the Congress of Industrial Organizations and United Mine Workers of America vocalizing their support in a war effort, and Congress meeting in a special session to declare war.

It was this last point that particularly interested The Park Record. The rest of the story was focused on factual updates. But the declaration of war was one vote shy of unanimous — a fact which perturbed the editor, leading to several sentences devoted to a lowly opinion of Senator from Montana Jeannette Rankin. Sen. Rankin, a pacifist, was the sole member of Congress to vote no for going to war against Japan. The Park Record was so offended, it told readers that Rankin should be given a “swift kick” out of office by her constituents.

The Dec. 11 issue of the paper held other stories and updates for Parkites. One story outlined the likely conscription of men aged 28 or older. Men 21 to 27 were already on call. The local draft board clerk for Summit County was instructed to organize and reclassify all papers for men meeting the criteria.

Some Parkites had already been drafted into service. Harold Hurlburt, a Navy veteran, was recalled for duty by the time of publication. One recruiting officer for the Coast Guard posted an ad in The Park Record notifying married men that they were now allowed to enlist with permission from their wives.

Local groups were already gearing up for the home front effort as well. The American Legion advertised to help get Summit County’s portion of the Red Cross Relief Fund up and running. They also gave notice for a plan to collect addresses for all the Summit County men sent off to war in order to send them candy at Christmastime.

Parkite Douglas Firth was a survivor of the attack while serving in the Coast Guard, recounting to family later that “horrors of that terrible sneaking assault will remain a vivid memory and nightmare to him if he lives a thousand years.” Douglas’ story was featured in a Way We Were article last year.

Another Parkite, Steven Marinic, perished on the USS Arizona during the attack. His story was featured a couple of years ago.

One future Parkite was also at Pearl Harbor that day. Town photographer Kendall Webb was leading a Boy Scout expedition when the attack started, later realizing Japanese planes likely shot at the bus of Scouts he was with. His troop and others were commended for acting in a helpful manner after the initial chaos of the attack.

Tomorrow is the 82^nd anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Park City Museum and Swaner Preserve & EcoCenter are co-hosting a lecture on the Preserve’s history and restoration work on Dec. 6 from 5-6 p.m., given by Hunter Klingensmith, Swaner’s director of exhibits and visitor experience, and Rhea Cone, Swaner’s director of conservation. It will take place at the Swaner EcoCenter at 1258 Center Drive in Kimball Junction.

Dalton Gackle is the Park City Museum research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: Park City reacts to the attack on Pearl Harbor appeared first on Park Record.

Over the years, Park City has had many people of Spanish descent make their home here — perhaps most notably the Zabarte/Martinez family. Vincent Zabarte, a Spanish immigrant, for example, was hailed by The Park Record as “a well-known and highly-respected citizen” and “a well-known miner.”

Similar accolades have been placed on many in the Martinez family. The late Richard Martinez, for example, self-named the “Ol’ Miner,” received a substantive obituary after his death in 2017. He even has a statue welcoming hikers and bikers to the Treasure Hill trailhead.

Keep in mind that people of direct Spanish descent are generally considered to be white and European. Spanish immigrants and descendants have received regular coverage in The Park Record throughout its lifespan. But Spain isn’t the only country where Spanish is the main language (thanks to Spain’s colonization and genocidal efforts from 1492 to 1898). That’s what Hispanic means — Spanish speaking. But peoples from those other places did not receive the same coverage from The Park Record, if any.

The most prominent group of people from Park City’s current Hispanic population are Mexicans. Nearly one-fifth (15%, according to the U.S. Census) of Parkites are Hispanic, with the majority of that group hailing from Mexico or being of Mexican descent.

And Mexicans are not new to Park City in the last 30 years, though that is when their population has grown the most. The earliest article referencing Mexican miners in Park City is from 1882 and discusses one of their superstitions when underground. But despite being in town for well over 140 years, Mexican Parkites rarely saw a mention in The Park Record through the 1960s.

Like other non-white ethnic or racial groups, such as Chinese and black Parkites, Mexicans received little coverage. The coverage they did get usually involved crime or fetishization.

One major continuing story was that of Park City mining man Joe T. Kescel. He had moved from Park City to Mexico to continue his mining exploits and was shot and injured by one of his employees, a Mexican citizen, in 1912. Each time Kescel’s story was brought up over the years in The Park Record, the Mexican “assailant” was described in a new way. First, it was treacherous. Then drunken. Then cowardly. And so on and so forth.

The first substantive article covering a Mexican Parkite was in 1926. Two articles covered a murder that a Mexican boy or young man (likely approximately 18-21) committed at the Daly Judge Mine. The Park Record apparently could not bother to get the boy’s name correct. He was named as both “A. Pamtoja” and “Jose Abran Pantja.” There was a Jose Abraham Pantoja in Salt Lake in 1942 who was drafted into World War II and fits the approximate age, but the Jose in Park City would likely have been jailed for life.

Aside from the name confusion, the story also focused on the violence of Jose despite the other man, Herbert Krouse, having started an argument and then a fight with Jose. The Park Record admitted they didn’t know much about the deceased and spoke little else of him, not fully acknowledging his role in the fatal fight. The paper at least refrained from name-calling Jose in their articles, but did note that Herbert Krouse and others had called him “vile names” during the fight.

Not much positive coverage of anything or anyone Mexican really appeared until Mexican restaurants started appearing in town. Apparently, Mexican food became a big hit in the ski resort town, as quite a few popped up in the ’70s and ’80s. The first ones — Utah Coal & Lumber, Durdy Annie’s, Padre’s, and Baja Cantina — all popped up from 1971 to 1983. And all shared two extra similarities outside of the cuisine: they were all owned by white Americans but claimed to be either “traditional” or “authentic.” Durdy Annie’s at least advertised a Mexican chef making the food, but was only open for a few years.

Coverage of Mexicans and other Hispanic people expanded and was finally sympathetic in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. Yet as the Hispanic population has risen, there has not been even coverage for them in any of the town’s media. While mostly positive, articles are often limited to the Latino Arts Festival and scholarship programs for first-generation college students. One-fifth of Parkites are doing far more than those two things.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month! The Park City Museum’s Hal Compton Research Library has oral histories, photographs, and other collections materials related to Park City’s Hispanic and Latino/a populations. Make an appointment to view them by emailing Dalton at research@parkcityhistory.org. To make a donation of images, letters, records, etc. for Hispanic or Latino/a Parkites, reach out to Courtney Titus at ctitus@parkcityhistory.org.

Dalton Gackle is Park City Museum’s research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: Hispanic history in town appeared first on Park Record.

A frequent question we get or myth we hear at the museum is about whether the Town Lift at Park City Mountain Resort used old infrastructure from the Silver King Coalition Mines aerial tramway system.

The answer is no: The two systems are separate. They do, however, share roughly the same path.

Work on the Silver King Aerial Tramway began in August 1900, and the construction was scheduled to be done in 90 days and employ 50 men. The A. Leschen and Sons Rope Company of St. Louis was contracted for the work, which ultimately cost around $25,000.

The 7,000-foot line of the tramway across the hills was lined with men laying foundations and erecting towers for the cable. On Dec. 21, due to a shortage of lumber and bad weather, work on the aerial tramway was suspended until spring.

Eventually, 20 men stretched the traction rope for the tram in just three hours on April 25, 1901.  The work of stringing the two standing cables was completed on April 30, and the ropes were tensioned on May 1. 

On May 25 the last bucket was strung, and June 6 saw the first bucket loaded with ore go over the system. Thousands of tons of ore passed by overhead until the mine closed in the 1950s.

After the mine closed, ore buckets were removed from the line, and the traction rope (a cord of metal cables) was released and dropped to the ground below. In 1981, the terminal for the tramway, the Silver King Coalition Building, burned to the ground in a massive blaze that peeled paint from houses across the street.

But the tramway towers remained standing — and still do. The bases of the towers have been stabilized to maintain their upright status, but the towers have otherwise not been renovated or reused in any way.

Luckily for Park City Ski Area, as it was then called, the line of tramway towers had a built-in path from the bottom of Main Street up to near the center of the resort’s terrain.

In 1980, they proposed — and were approved — to build a new lift from a new plaza where the Coalition Building had been up to just above the top of Payday Lift. The original proposed name for the lift was “Coalition West” to pay tribute to the lost mining era icon.

Some Parkites were concerned about a lift passing over the top of homes, as a couple of the tramway towers do, but Nick Badami laid out a route to be narrower than the tramway towers, keeping the lift from going over rooftops. One historic home at 713 Woodside Ave. ultimately had to be moved (and now sits at 508 Marsac Ave.) to accommodate the path of the Town Lift.

The new towers for holding the ski lift were installed on Aug. 2, 1985, by a helicopter operation carrying and placing each tower from above and crew bolting them into place on the ground. The new lift officially opened on Nov. 29, 1985, the day after Thanksgiving.

In a victory for the resort and skiers, the new lift gave access to the mountain directly from Main Street. And in a victory for historic preservation, the aerial tramway towers were left in place and a historic home given a new space. Since 1985, skiers have been able to ride alongside pieces of Park City’s past as they head up the mountain.

The Park City Museum is offering a members-only guided historical hike past all the aerial tramway towers and up to the Silver King Mine on Sept. 27. To sign up, join as a member at parkcityhistory.org.

Dalton Gackle is Park City Museum’s research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: Ski lift traces tramway appeared first on Park Record.

Starting out as a boom town meant that Parkites had to create and build many of the necessary community staples and amenities for themselves as the need raised. This included schools.

The first schools to open in Park City were one sponsored by John Street and George Gideon Snyder and the one-room Ontario School — both around 1875. Most students were in the elementary range.

In 1879, the New West Education Commission funded the Free School in Park City (also called the District School #12). Their goal was to establish schools throughout Utah, which was largely rural at the time.

This school served students from first grade all the way through high school. That first year, there were 79 secondary school students, though it is unclear which grade defined the split from elementary school, so it is unknown how many were truly high school-aged students.

By 1887, high schoolers were being taught in the basement of the Congregational (Community) Church. By the end of the decade, the community was clamoring for a dedicated high school.

In 1891, The Park Record prophesied: “We feel safe in saying that in the near future Park City will be able to boast one of the neatest high school buildings in the territory.”

Unfortunately, no such building materialized for the high schoolers, although the Jefferson School was built that same year to house more of the ever-growing elementary-aged student population. The Central School (renamed the Washington School once the Jefferson was built) had also opened back in 1885 to replace the Ontario School.

The need for a high school continued to be a pressing issue. In 1892, The Park Record put out an editorial saying, “One of the most pressing needs of this camp … is a well-conducted and thoroughly graded high school, wherein young ladies and men may be fitted for college.” They continued, “The Record has spoken of this need several times but did not realize the extreme necessity for such an institution until the beginning of the present school year when so many of the pupils who had mastered the various branches taught in our public and private schools announced their intention of going to the high schools of Salt Lake, Ogden, Provo, and Logan.”

Finally, in 1895, Park City built a school that could provide an adequate education for older students, keeping them in town. The Lincoln School, starting in 1898, hosted younger students on the first two floors and high schoolers on the third floor. An addition was added in 1914 to accommodate the growing high school population, but the addition was built on a cesspool that ultimately had to be demolished.

It was not until 1926 that a building dedicated solely to high school students was constructed on lower Park Avenue. The first graduating class subsequently started school in the fall of 1927 and graduated in 1928. There, the high schoolers remained in their own dedicated space, complete with classrooms, mechanical arts building, gymnasium, and football field until 1977.

Ground broke on a new, expanded high school in September 1975 after the town’s fortunes had fully turned following the transition to and growth from the skiing industry. The first graduating class for the new building on Kearns Boulevard started school in August 1977 and graduated in 1978. The high school remains in that building today, though there are plans for expansion once again.

Happy new school year from the Park City Museum!

The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History are offering a free guided hike to and tour of the Alliance Watchman’s Cabin for anyone interested on Sept. 9 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Register here.

Dalton Gackle is Park City Museum’s research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: A high school for Park City appeared first on Park Record.

The following is an excerpt from an oral history the author conducted with Howard Berry Jr., who grew up in Park City in the 1930s and 1940s.

Howard: The high school experience was really fun. There’s not too much to talk about in the freshman year. The only thing as a freshman you were best to avoid the seniors because they would take you and sit you on the fountain.

Dalton: Oh, to get you all wet?

Howard: To get you all wet. That was their hazing. The sophomore year I played basketball on the junior varsity team. It wasn’t called junior varsity at that time; it was called sophomore team. I played football also. The junior year I started to get more involved in school plays, stage management, football and basketball. The senior year was the same. I was involved in a number of different plays, choruses, football, basketball, and music contests. I also served as a student body officer. 

Dalton: What position?

Howard: I was elected as a vice president, but the president choose to leave school early and join the Navy, so I moved on up to president of the student body. 

Dalton: Do you have any specific policies that you helped the school implement while you were president?

Howard: No. We had a very stern principal and he set down the principles.

Dalton: Who was the principal?

Howard: Eugene McCusker. 

Dalton: What kind of memories do you have of any of the productions you were in? What are some of the plays you did if you could remember?

Howard: One of the plays … was built around a radio studio. My role in it was the announcer. Another year I served as the stage manager for the play that was on.

Dalton: What kind of things did you do as the stage manager?

Howard: Help get set up and make any changes needed during the play.

Dalton: What about the sports? Do have any good memories of playing any games?

Howard: I have real good memories of our football and basketball. We had a good basketball team in the junior year and had a fairly good record in the senior year. We won the division championship and went to the state tournament. For football, we were the division champions and went to the state semifinals, but we lost to Bingham by six points. I was privileged to be chosen on all-state football team at that time. 

Dalton: What position did you play in both basketball and football.

Howard: I played guard in basketball. In the junior year I played halfback and the senior year, I played right end. 

Dalton: Offensive or defensive?

Howard: Both ways. We only had a small group and at that time you played both ways.

Dalton: What years were you in high school?

Howard: I was in high school from 1942 to 46. I graduated in June of 1946. 

What I took away from this portion of the interview with Howard was that his high school experience was great because of the variety of activities he got involved in. He played sports, joined theater productions, played in the band, and joined student council.

To the Park City high schoolers just starting classes, we hope you follow in that experience — not the same exact things, but trying out a variety of activities, classes, and experiences to learn more about yourself and the world.

Happy new school year from the Park City Museum!

Dalton Gackle is Park City Museum’s research coordinator.

The post Way We Were: Park City High School in the ’40s appeared first on Park Record.