Utah & 1900 US Census with Cartographer Brandon Plewe

Date: March 7, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 7: 59 min. & 28 sec. long). Click Here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photo is of two Chinese American men standing in SLC’s Plum Alley, circa 1907. Plum Alley (between 1st & 2nd So. and Main & State Streets) is one of the immigrant neighborhoods …

Women Inventors in Utah Territory from the UHQ

Date: February 27, 2022 (Season 4, Episode 6: 50 min. & 56 sec. long). Click Here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above photograph is not of Utah women; but a group of students in a Washington, D.C., normal school, circa 1890-1900, performing atmospheric pressure experiments. There are some late 19th c. images of Utah …

Chinese Americans on Plum Alley and on the West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Twenty-ThreeBy Brad Westwood Above photo caption: Based on information provided on a Salt Lake Tribune folder, the above image was described simply as the “Yee Family, Plum Alley.” What we know for certain is that the image was taken on January 9, 1946, by Chinese American Tribune photographer Ray King. The photo backdrop is …

SLC’s Latinx Population, Environmental Racism: A West Side Story, Past & Present

Date: September 20, 2021 (Season 3, Episode 11; 49:26 minutes long). Click here for the BuzzSprout version of this Speak Your Piece episode. The above image is a screenshot of USU’s spatially layered interactive map of Salt Lake City which demonstrates the overlap between pollution hotspots, Latinx Populations and mid-century mortgage redlining boundaries. Are you interested in other episodes of …

Brokers of Human Capital

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Nineteenby Brad Westwood Many early American immigrants first heard about Utah and the American West from steamship and labor agents whose work was similar to modern-day employment recruiters. The steamship and labor agents attracted laborers by offering to pay for their transportation costs. In return, laborers signed a contract that required that they pay …

Continued Transformations: Industrialization and Salt Lake City’s West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirteenby Brad Westwood Salt Lake’s west side underwent massive and constant changes during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.  What began as a fort where Mormon pioneers sought shelter, transformed into a transportation, industrial and manufacturing hub, and by the late nineteenth century experienced dramatic social and environmental consequences as a result. For …

Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Developments

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Twelveby Brad Westwood Salt Lake’s west side was the location of businesses, homes, tenement houses, hotels, transportation hubs, government buildings, schools, and early non-Mormon (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereafter LDS Church) religious communities. The Salt Lake County Courthouse was built a block north of the park on 156 …

The Pioneer Park Neighborhood’s Warehouse District and a Visit From the Liberty Bell

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Elevenby Brad Westwood The Pioneer Park neighborhood underwent several changes related to post-Civil War industrialization. In the late nineteenth century, the Pioneer Park neighborhood became Salt Lake City’s first warehouse district. Today there are several warehouses that date back to the 1890s. For example, the W.S. Henderson Block spans from 379 West and 200 …

Pioneer Park Neighborhood: The Wellspring of Modern Salt Lake City

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Eighteenby Brad Westwood In the decades following the Civil War, the United States emerged as one of the world’s largest economic engines. It was railroading, mining and industry that attracted thousands of economic emigrants to Utah, that allowed Utah to be part of this larger economic story. The United States’ emergence as an industry …