Ronald W. Walker Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Public buildings often speak beyond themselves, suggesting the aspirations and activities of the people who occupied them, and few nineteenth-century Utah structures tell as important a story as the Salt Lake Theatre. Built in 1861 on the northwest corner of State Street and First South Street in Salt Lake City, it survived two-thirds …
Utah’s New Commonwealth Economy
Thomas G. Alexander Utah, The Right Place Utah suffered the stagflation (inflation and economic stagnation) and succeeding recession that began in 1979 during the Carter administration, which left the state with a rising unemployment rate that reached 9.2 percent in 1983. The Reagan reelection campaign undoubtedly benefited from the decline in unemployment to 6.5 percent in 1984. Thereafter, Utah’s unemployment …
Religious Diversity in Utah’s Dixie
Douglas D. Alder and Karl F. Brooks History of Washington County The preponderance of Mormons in Dixie does not mean that other Christian denominations do not exist in Washington County. Roman Catholicism was important in the life of people in Silver Reef when Reverend Lawrence Scanlan built a chapel, hospital, and school there in 1878. Within a decade, however, Silver …
The Rise of Utah’s Latino Population
Thomas G. Alexander From Utah, the Right Place While Utahns struggled with malapportionment and racial discrimination, Utah’s ethnic composition began to change significantly. During World War II, large numbers of Latino people migrated to Utah in search of employment and better lives. Although only about 1,400 Latinos lived in Utah in 1940, more than 7,700 called the Beehive State home …
Utah Jazz
Dave Blackwell Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Although the story of Jazz basketball is a tale of two cities—Salt Lake City and New Orleans—Charles Dickens did not have the Jazz in mind when he wrote of the best of times, the worst of times. But more than a century later he could have. After the move from New Orleans in 1979, …
Colorful and Controversial Joseph Bracken Lee
Linda Thatcher Beehive History 18 Joseph Bracken Lee was born on January 7, 1899, in Price, Utah, the son of Arthur James and Ida May Leiter Lee. He was the second of six children that included Flora Lee Nicholson, Arthur Lewis, Robert E., Alice Lee Rich, and Ruth Lee Fraser. Their father served as Price town president during 1904–5. In …
Utah School Children Won Recognition for Philo T. Farnsworth
History Blazer, November 1995 One can little imagine the world without television. Its impact can be felt everywhere. Yet few people today know who the “Father of Television” is or that he came from Utah. In 1971 when Philo T. Farnsworth died he had still received little recognition for his contribution, the first modern electronic television. Farnsworth was born in …
Brutal Murders and Executions
Linda Sillitoe History of Salt Lake County When Theodore Robert Bundy found an apartment in Salt Lake City’s Avenues in September 1974, he was just another University of Utah law student. He settled in, attended classes, and socialized over liquor or marijuana despite joining the LDS church. Meanwhile, in Washington state, detectives investigated the disappearances of seven young women; their …
Some Meanings of Utah History
Thomas G. Alexander Utah Historical Quarterly 64 Number 2 Since 1847 Utah’s economy seems to have passed through four phases. The first phase was the Mormon Kingdom, which lasted until the 1880s. The Mormons tried to promote a relatively high degree of economic self-sufficiency, and they were relatively successful for about twenty years. Some vestiges of that Kingdom remain in …
Theater in Utah
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 …