Thrive125’s Got Some Words For You

Score a piece of the state’s literary history — for just a quarter — at the Utah Arts Festival. As part of Thrive125, Utah’s statehood celebration, 125 writers considered the idea of our state in writing 125-word essays and poems. That collection, Utah@125, is being published as a digital literary chapbook. But this weekend, arts lovers can buy original literary …

Redlining, Housing Segregation and Environmental Pollution in the Pioneer Park Neighborhood (and beyond)

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-fiveBy Dr. Mariya Shcheglovitova, Emma Jones, Catherine Aviles, and Brad Westwood Unlike other areas that received a grade (A to D) from the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (a federal corporation created during the Great Depression), the Pioneer Park neighborhood was designated “Industrial,” implying it was nonresidential. However, woven between the railroad yards and spurs, …

Salt Lake City’s LGBTQ+ Communities and the Pioneer Park Neighborhood

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Twoby Brad Westwood Although the LGBTQ+ community had many prior informal political and social gathering spots elsewhere in Salt Lake City, a number of bars and taverns located in the Pioneer Park neighborhood served as a place to gather for Salt Lake City’s emerging LGBTQ+ communities. In 1970, just one year after New York …

Introducing Salt Lake West Side Stories

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post OneBy Brad Westwood Welcome to this serialized and illustrated history of Salt Lake City’s old west side. This blog consists of over thirty posts and scores of images, all presented online to tell the story of a very unique area of downtown Salt Lake City. This series consists of short, quick-to-read segments. Expect to …

Utah’s Story: 150 Years of Photography from the Salt Lake Tribune

April 12, 2021 (Season 2, Episode 18: 53:46 minutes). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Image above is the cover of Utah’s Story. Courtesy of the Salt Lake Tribune.  Podcast Content: In celebration of the Salt Lake Tribune’s 150th anniversary (1870-2020) as continuous newspaper published in Salt Lake City the “Trib” published in 2020, …

Irish, Cornish, Welsh and Jewish immigrants and Salt Lake City’s West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Twenty-TwoBy Brad Westwood Many of the west side’s earliest immigrants found employment in mining, transportation and smelter industries. Others bought and sold goods essential to frontier life. This segment speaks to the Cornish, Irish and Jewish American Communities who lived and worshiped on the west side. Many immigrants left their homelands because of famine …

Mormon Laborers, Working on the Transcontinental Railroad (1868-1869)

June 28, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 6: 59 minutes). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above image is of a Mormon grader camp in Echo Canyon, Summit County, circa 1869, captured by photographer Charles R. Savage. The Union Pacific Railway contracted with Brigham Young, who then established contractor companies, who then hired thousands …

Utah’s Expanding Railroads and Salt Lake’s West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Nineby Brad Westwood The completion of the world’s first transcontinental railroad in 1869 dramatically affected the social, political, economic, and cultural life of Salt Lake City (SLC), the Territory of Utah, and the American West. Transportation was one aspect that contributed to changes in the West. The railroad cut travel time from the Pacific …

“Are We There Yet?” – Mid-20th Century Vacations, Highways, Motels, Neon Signs…

June 14, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 4; 72 minutes long – 1 hour and 12 minutes). The above image is of the Sands Motel’s neon sign, on the St. George (Utah) Boulevard. Image courtesy of Arbyreed (Flickr). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The main title for this episode is based on historian Susan …

Circles of Life

How Patrick Willie rediscovered his heritage, one hoop step at a time. By Ellen Fagg Weist | Photography by Samuel JakeAdditional photography by Natalie Behring “What does one hoop represent?” Patrick Willie asks at the end of every weekly hoop dancing class. “The world,” one grade-schooler answers, loudly, so he can be heard over the Native American drum class in …

History of Water in Utah: “The Most Complicated Plumbing System…”

April 19, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 1: 1 hour and 32 minutes) BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. Caption for the above graphic/logo: Think Water Utah, a statewide collaboration and conversation on the critical topic of water presented by Utah Humanities and its many Utah partners. Utah Humanities‘ Megan van Frank and The American West Center‘s Gregory E. Smoak speak about a …