Betty G. Spencer Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 American Fork, in northern Utah County, is located fifteen miles northwest of Provo and thirty miles southwest of Salt Lake City. It is bordered by Utah Lake on the south and by the Wasatch Mountains to the east. Adjacent to it lie the recently organized communities of Highland and Cedar Hills, the unincorporated …
Salt Lake Theatre
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 …
The Civilian Conservation Corps
Kenneth W. Baldridge Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 When Franklin D. Roosevelt took over as president in March 1933 the country was in the midst of the worst depression ever experienced in the United States. Among the organizations established to help relieve the situation was the Civilian Conservation Corps, not only one of the first to begin operations across the country …
The Civilian Conservation Corps Was a Boon to Utah
W. Paul Reeve History Blazer, February 1995 Compared to the rest of the nation Utah was hit particularly hard by the Great Depression of the 1930s. In 1933 Utah’s annual per capita income of $300 was a mere 80 percent of the national average, and 35.8 percent of Utah’s work force was unemployed. The New Deal legislation of Franklin D. …
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 …
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 …