Current Challenges and Developments in a Post-Industrial Neighborhood: Part Two

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Fourby Brad Westwood The Pioneer Park neighborhood has always been a contested space. Initially, the area was owned by Native Americans until Mormon (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) Pioneers colonized the land. Since 1847, the region has been in constant transition as new and old residents and business interests …

Twentieth Century Changes to Salt Lake City’s Original West Side

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Oneby Brad Westwood The above cropped photo is of The Crossroads Coffee Shop, which was located on North Temple adjacent to the Hotel Utah Motor Lodge, circa 1960s. Photograph courtesy of the Special Collections Department, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah. Over the years, the Pioneer Park neighborhood has undergone significant changes as …

The Progressive Era, the Making of a Proper Park, and the “Stockades”

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Fifteenby Brad Westwood and Cassandra Clark The Progressive Era spanned from 1890 to roughly 1920 and was a time of reform and social activism. Progressives were mainly white, Protestant, and members of a growing “new” middle class, who earned their wealth as a result of America’s rapid post-Civil War industrialization. By the end of the …

Proposed Uses of the Park and Urban Renewal

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Sixteenby Brad Westwood Throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century, businesses and government entities targeted Pioneer Park for what they labeled as “public good” purposes. The park, of course, had many identities. It was the site of several public work projects, and it stood as a memorial to Utah’s Mormon (members of The …

Current Challenges and Developments in a Post-Industrial Neighborhood: Part One

Salt Lake West Side Stories: Post Thirty-Threeby Brad Westwood Since the mid-1990s, the Pioneer Park neighborhood has gradually redefined its identity from that of an industrial, transient, and impoverished area, to a more permanent and economically stable area. Like all change, the neighborhood has both gained and lost much in this process. Change is a constant in the Pioneer Park …