The Original "W" from the Walker Sign is now at West High School

The "W" from the original Walker Sign is now at West High School

The neon "W" from the original Walker Sign is now part of West High's history. It is mounted on the roof adjacent to the football field! It is best viewed from the bleachers during a football game. 🏈

The football field and bleachers on the west side of West High School, 2022

In 2008, the original sign letters from the Walker Building's weather tower in downtown Salt Lake City were removed and replaced. Only the "W" from the 24 letters survived and was placed in the backlot of Rainbow Neon Signs, who then volunteered to put the letter on top of West High.

Source: Fox13Now 2014/08/20

Marble Tournaments

Clipping from SL Trib 1929-04-21

Marble tournaments for kids used to be a big thing in SLC.

The Salt Lake Telegram sponsored the first formalized SLC citywide marble tournament in April 1923.

Tournaments were held in city parks and schoolyards during school’s Spring Break with trophies offered to the winners.

The official rules did not indicate the game was to only be played by boys, but that was generally who entered. I saw a few instances of girls playing in national tournaments but none in the local SLC games (girls may have played in SLC and it just was not reported in the newspapers).

By the early 1930s SLC had taken over sponsorship of the marble tournaments and thousands of children entered the contest each year. Semi-finalists who won at each regional city park or schoolyard advanced to the finals, which were generally played at Liberty Park.

By 1935 the marble tournament (for boys) was combined with the hopscotch tournament (for girls) and competitions were jointly held.

After WWII the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) became a co-sponsor and helped with judging the competition.

The marble tournaments continued through the late 1960s by which time Salt Lake County Recreation had taken over sponsorship.

Marble tournaments declined in SLC during the 1970s.

Although marble tournaments still occur, they are no longer a SLC sponsored event.

SL Telegram 1931-04-01

SL Trib 1932-03-26

SL Trib 1933-04-09

SL Trib 1938-04-08

SL Trib 1942-04-12

SL Trib 1946-03-30

SL Trib 1948-06-04

SL Trib 1951-04-11

SL Trib 1963-05-05

The Columbus School, 2531 S 400 East

The Columbus School building today, 2021.

The city of South Salt Lake has decided to close the County Library in the Columbus Community Center at 2531 S 400 East and is now looking for a new occupant to fill the space of the old library. A perfect time to dive into the history of this fantastic building!

In 1916 the Forest Dale area was growing and a new elementary school was needed. The area chosen was located just outside the city limits so SLC annexed the 5-acre parcel and proceeded with plans to build a new school.

Architect Charles S McDonald designed the school. In a break from previous school design in SLC, this was a single-story building which was emphasized as being safer during a fire and preferable in areas with lower cost of land. McDonald also designed Irving Jr High, Auerbach’s, Walker Bank Building, and the Alta Club.

The Columbus School opened on Jan 22 1917 and served as an electuary until 1968 when it became a technical school for disabled individuals.

Two large additions were made in the rear including a gymnasium in 1954 and a shop area and commercial kitchen in in the early 1970s.

By 1992 the building was vacant and still owned by the Salt Lake School District. The City of South Salt Lake had set its eyes on the property and considered it a neighborhood asset. Two problems with this: the building was still in the city limits of SLC and not SSL, and the SL School District was looking to sell the property to a real estate developer.

In 1995 SSL offered a bid of $800K (lower than the developer’s bid) but the District sold to SSL because the Developer’s bid was contingent upon approvals for a zoning change.

SSL began the process to convert the old school to a community center and SSL and SLC adjusted their boundary so that the building was now in SSL.

SSL was pleased with the $5M price tag the feasibility study for rehab produced because it was less than the cost of a new building. SSL worked with local architects CRSA on a phased approach to renovation.

During the renovation CRSA found that “structurally, the building was extradentary fragile.” But SSL persevered and worked to stabilize the building and improve the landscaping. The new community center officially opened in 2002.

Currently, the County Library has vacated the south wing of the building and SSL is looking to fill the 8,700 sq ft space. Most of the building is still in use by the Promise SSL program, Recreation Department, and Senior Center.

SSL is solicitating public input and request emails be sent to connect@sslc.com.

Sources: SL Trib 1916-05-23; SL Trib 1916-07-30; UT Preservation V6

Bell tower 1939, From UDSH

School and grounds 1939, from UDSH.

School in 1917, from UDSH.

Darrell Kinder and Renee Sessions, 1956, From UDSH.

Floorplan, from SL Trib 1916-07-30.

Thelma Steward Beridon and Education Inequality

Continuing to explore the life of Thelma Steward Beridon (1898-1980) of SLC…

Typing class at LDS Business College ca 1905. From UDSH.
Note only White people in the photograph.

Shortly after Thelma died, her husband, Clarence Beridon, told an interesting story about Thelma during an oral history interview:

Clarence said that Thelma had a good head on her, she was very intelligent.

Thelma tried to enroll at LDS Business College, then located across from the SLC LDS Temple at 70 N Main St (where the current LDS Church Office Building is located).

The College had a program where men and women could go to school to learn business skills and when they finished, they could pay back the cost of school. At the time, the school guaranteed finding students’ jobs after they graduated.

The LDS Business College told Thelma that they would not accept her to the school because no one would hire her “because she was a colored woman,” as told by Clarence.

“She had a very good brain on her. It just wasn’t developed like it should have been. Like if she had been white it would have been different, see. She could have went on, see. They would have accepted her.” Clarence said in his oral history interview.

So instead of being able to learn typing and stenographer skills, Thelma was stuck doing domestic housework for others. She primarily worked for prominent SLC attorney Calvin A Behle (in addition to her NAACP volunteer work- see previous post).

Source: Oral History Interview with Clarence Beridon, interview 4-5, pages 11-13. From Marriot Library University of Utah.

LDS Business College 1961 before it was demolished. From UDSH.

Advertisement for LDS Business College,
From Salt Lake Tribune 1934-09-02

Advertisement for LDS Business College,
Deseret News 1932-09-21