Ann W. Engar Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Theater in Utah has its beginnings in the Mormon church and its support of innocent amusement for its people. From this support came the building of the Salt Lake Theatre, one of the best theaters of its time in the West, and the growth of amateur dramatic companies in almost every town and …
Socialist Women and Joe Hill
John R. Sillito Utah Historical Quarterly, Summer 1981 Olivia McHugh was born and raised in Kentucky. After graduating from Kentucky State University and the Sargeant School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, McHugh worked as a teacher at Randolph Macon Women’s College and the Kentucky Institute for the Blind. She also served as director of the Louisville municipal gymnasium. McHugh moved …
Joe Hill and the I. W. W.
Linda Sillito The History of Salt Lake County Joel Hagglund, better known as Joe Hill, organized for the Industrial Workers of the World and penned radical songs to aid the labor movement. One evening in January 1914, Hill asked a Socialist doctor in Murray to treat a bullet wound in his chest that he said he received while defending a …
Jobs in 1900
Miriam B. Murphy History Blazer, February 1996 Census data for 1900 tell us that in Utah 73,840 men and 10,764 women were gainfully employed. For men the most important job categories were agriculture, manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, and trade and transportation. For women the top three were domestic and personal service, manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, and professional services. But what …
Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist
Linda Thatcher History Blazer, October 1995 In Utah’s history there have been many important women of whom little has been written; one such person is Ruth May Fox. Besides raising 12 children, she was active in the Utah Woman’s Press Club (president), the Reaper’s Club, the Utah Woman Suffrage Association (treasurer), the Salt Lake County Republican Committee, the Second Precinct …
Woman Suffrage Dominated Politics in Utah
Yvette D. Ison History Blazer January 1995 The debate over woman suffrage dominated politics in Utah throughout the 1890s. Though the issue was raging throughout the United States, Utah’s historic background created unique concerns and attitudes towards the debate. Unlike other states and territories, Utah had legalized woman suffrage with territorial legislation in 1870. When Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act …
Women’s Suffrage in Utah
Jean Bickmore White Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Women’s Suffrage—the right of women to vote—was won twice in Utah. It was granted first in 1870 by the territorial legislature but revoked by Congress in 1887 as part of a national effort to rid the territory of polygamy. It was restored in 1895, when the right to vote and hold office was …
Hospitals and Health Crazes in the Late 1800s
Yvette D. Ison History Blazer, February 1995 In the last quarter of the 19th century Utah faced rapid economic and social change. Many areas of life were affected. By the 1870s improved medical service was needed in the territory. Those physicians who had immigrated to Utah in the early settlement period were growing old. Moreover, the large number of new …
Governors of the State of Utah
Heber Manning Wells First Governor of the State of Utah from 1896–1905 Republican Party When Utah achieved statehood in 1896, 36-year-old Wells, a Salt Lake City native, became the first Governor of the State of Utah and the youngest governor to date. A former tax collector, city recorder, and secretary of the 1895 Utah Constitutional Convention, Wells was later involved in banking. He set …
Territorial Governors of Utah
Brigham Young First Governor of the Territory of Utah from 1850–1858 Brigham Young, first Governor of the Territory of Utah, from 1850–1858 Named governor in 1850 by Millard Fillmore, he was reappointed in 1854 by Franklin Pierce when Lt. Col. Edward J. Steptoe refused the post. Young as territorial executive was concerned with organizing the territorial government, selecting the location of the …