History of Park City *

Continued from History

Smith and Brim Grocery

This 1913 scene at the Smith and Brim Grocery on Main Street has been recreated at the Park City Museum. The original Smith Grocery dates back to the early 1890's but hard times eventually forced Smith to take on a partner and the store became known as Smith and Brim. It was located on Main Street across the street from the museum where many of the original fixtures including the meat rack, display counter, coffee grinder and can grabbers have been reassembled in an exhibit.

Jerome Paxton (left) managed Park City's First National Bank throughout the Roaring Twenties. The horse shoes hanging from the light fixtures were said to bring good luck to both depositors and bank personnel. In 1934 First National merged with First Security Bank.

It wasn't the World Series, but this Park City Baseball team did win the Utah State Championship at the Pioneer Jubilee Games in Salt Lake City in 1897.

Judging from the expressions on these faces, Park City residents were serious about their baseball back in 1914. For many years Park City had a traveling team which would tangle with opponents from the Wasatch Front and outlying communities like Evanston, Wyoming. At various times the games were played in the old city park (now the Holiday Village Mall) and in the field next to the old high school (most recently used as the Carl Winters Middle School). There were also ball diamonds in Deer Valley.

Park City and World War I

The thought of war has been on the minds of Parkites before. This gathering of World War I soldiers marched down Main Street to honor one of their fallen comrades. The shabby store fronts reflect the decline in the price of metals and Park Citys faltering economy at the end of the war.

This Restaurant at 440 Main Street was built around 1900 by James Farrell as an office building, and later was used by the Park City Variety Store. Today it is again a restaurant, Texas Red's Pit Barbecue & Chili Parlor.

These fire trucks didn't just happen to be parked in front of the old City Hall building. Until around 1960 the fire department was located right here-trucks came and went through the double doors on the right. The building also housed the police department, city offices and several jails, including the famous dungeon in the basement. Today it is the Park City Museum. This famous facade is the first in a series of brass Christmas ornaments which will feature historic buildings of Park City.

Mid-Mountain Lodge

For nearly a century the Mid-Mountain Lodge (seen here in its original location near the angle station of the gondola) was the mine office and boarding house for the Silver King Mine. A thousand or more miners a day were fed here and many slept here as well. When skiing replaced mining, the lodge again housed travelers to the mountain. And in 1970 it was home to the U.S. Ski Team. In 1987 the building was moved 400 vertical feet to its present location to avoid demolition. It was carefully renovated and now is operated as a restaurant.

The Silver King Coalition Building, which had come to be Park City's unofficial symbol, went up in flames. The 80-foot high building was the terminus for the Silver King aerial tramway whose 39 steel towers supported a double cable and 75 buckets to carry ore down the mountain and coal (and sometimes miners) back up. The system revolutionized mining, cutting the cost of transporting ore from $1.50 to 22 cents a ton. Today the Town Lifts base terminal stands on the site of the Coalition Building and its standards parallel the old tramway.

In 1921 Mawhinney Motors at 1220 Park Ave. was on the northern outskirts of town. It expanded over the years to include automobile sales

Park City Disasters: The Blyth-Fargo Co. Department Store Fire

Park City Roads: Work Quality

This 1929 road crew posing near Kimball Junction worked to pave the Lincoln Highway, now Interstate 80. Maybe some things have improved over the years, but at least these equipment operators worked in the shade -- some even under umbrellas.

Hibernating Cars

There was once a time when snow travel was less dependent on traction. Before the 1920's, most Park City cars were put on blocks for the winter. This particular photo is taken approximately 1915. In the background the distinct roofline of the Dewey Theatre is visible. The Dewey collapsed under the weight of snow in the winter of 1915-1916.

For those who can't remember the last decent snowfall, here's a reminder that things haven't always looked so bare. Many old-timers swear that Park City used to get more snow than it does now, and this photograph from about 1930 seems to lend credence to that claim. Of course, a lack of snow removal equipment could have made a difference. The building in the background is the old Society Hall on Main Street, now the Anderson Apartments.

Specialty Snow Plow for Park City's Main Street

When the snowbanks got too deep on Main Street, this mechanical marvel was used to clear them away. This photograph was taken in front of the Memorial Building apparently in the 1940's; several of the buildings shown in the top left corner of the photo, including the old Oak Saloon and the Rexall Drug Store, were destroyed by fire in 1973.

Past and Present

Today this area just east of Main Street is a parking lot. In the late 1920's it was a children's playground. This photo is one of over 30 compiled in a soft-bound book entitled Portraits of Park City by Pop Jenks produced by the Park City Historical Society.

* Historical information provided by http://www.parkcitymountain.com