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Ghost Towns: Dewey
There are only three roads in Utah that bridge the Colorado River, and only a handful of crossings. The ghost town of Dewey is one of those places and early settlers of the region made good use of this crossing.
Getting across the Colorado River is…
Ghost Towns: Sego, a Coal Town with a Colorful Past
Down a bumpy canyon road in the Book Cliffs of southeastern Utah, curious travelers can find the ghost town of Sego. Named for Utah’s state flower, it’s a dusty coal town with a colorful past.
The canyon where the ghost town of Sego sits has been…
Ghost Towns: Cisco
A former railroad and ranching hub, the tiny settlement of Cisco became a ghost town after highway travel through the remote area was rerouted. But is Cisco still a ghost town today?
On the eastern edge of Grand County, a few miles south of…
Radio: Bridging the Distance Across Rural Utah
Today, we have 24 hour news channels and TikTok to share breaking news and current trends. But for Utahns isolated by distance in the early 20th century, the radio did a tremendous job of connecting residents in rural communities to each other and to…
Cedar City's Sheep Tunnel
Running underneath Cedar City is a concrete tunnel that is now a hang-out for adventurous kids and graffiti artists. But, what was this secret pathway originally intended to do?
Did you know there is a mile-long passage running underneath the…
Liberty Park: Salt Lake City’s “Central Park”
Today, Salt Lake City’s urban sprawl and poor air quality are noteworthy, but the problem isn’t exactly new. Public parks were once seen as an antidote to the bad effects of increasing urbanization -- kind of like a little bit of the "country" in…
The Magical Van’s Dance Hall
Every weekend across Utah, dancers fill nightclubs twisting to the latest tunes. But did you know that one of the most extravagant and celebrated dance halls in the Beehive State was found in the remote town of Delta? Learn what all the fuss was…
Copper Mine Swallows Company Towns
Demand for copper in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries reshaped Utah’s once-rural Bingham Canyon into an enormous open-pit mine supported by thriving company towns. But that same demand for copper went on to consume those same company…
Brigham City Peach Days
Every autumn, large crowds descend on the small rural town of Brigham City for "Peach Days." It's the oldest harvest festival in Utah. And it all started with a one dollar investment in peach pits back in 1855.
Each September, in northern Utah, the…
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,…
Utah’s Green Book
In the 1940s, new roads, affordable cars, and an interest in national parks meant that more Americans were packing up their vehicles and hitting the open road. For Black travelers driving through rural areas of Utah, the Green Book was a vital…
In This Little Town of Ours, We Have a Literary Club
In 1928, a women’s club in Moab adopted an official song that crowed: “In this little town of ours, we have a literary club, and we derive from it everything good, it helps the town and public in numerous ways.” Learn more about these women and…
Ogden Union Stockyards
Do you know where your food comes from? Utahns once depended on local butchers for fresh meat. But, in the early 1900s business boomed for the Ogden Union Stockyards, signaling a shift in how and where Utahns purchased their food.
Today, most…
Utah’s Potato Growing Clubs
Potato growing clubs became all the rage in the early 20th century as interest in a formal agricultural education grew.
Agricultural work is critical to rural Utah’s history. But, it wasn’t until Utah State Agricultural College -- known as USAC…
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…
Community Cookbooks
Before food blogs and Pinterest, Utah women shared their best recipes in community cookbooks. More than just recipes, these books kept rural foodways and food culture alive.
Today, home cooks can simply search the internet to find thousands of…
The Christmas Bird Count
Throughout the holiday season, Utahns celebrate by trimming trees, drinking hot chocolate, skiing, and... bird watching? Yep, they do! Learn more about this longstanding Christmas tradition.In Utah, winter means preparing for the holiday season. But,…
Dancing for Good: Community Aid in Rural Utah
In rural Utah, social dances were important events that brought townsfolk together, not only for fun, but to support each other and their community.Life in rural Utah in the late nineteenth century was tough! Utahns worked hard to support their…
Driven to Read: Bookmobiles Bring Libraries to Rural Utah
Most city dwellers live close enough to a public library to visit regularly. But for many readers in rural Utah, the library must visit them! Learn more about Utah’s history of libraries on wheels.Utah libraries grew rapidly in the early 1900s,…
The Death Hollow Trail: Delivering Mail by Mule to Boulder
Today, our mail is delivered in large trucks and often takes just a day or two to reach its final destination. But for one Utah town, mail was delivered by mule well into the twentieth century.Rain, sleet, snow, or hail, we expect mail to be…