SLC’s redlining map from the 1930s

A redline map of Salt Lake City from the 1930s. Another interesting and important map.

Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Home Owners' Loan Corporation. 1933-7/1/1939.
From the National Archives.

Clip of the map legend. From the National Archives.

During the Great Depression, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board created residential security maps to indicate the risk of default on federally-backed mortgages.

Demographic information, such as race, was used to create these maps.

Green and blue neighborhoods were considered less risky areas to issue a mortgage and usually had majority-White populations. They were described as “best” and “still desirable” neighborhoods.

Often these neighborhoods had restrictive covenants that prohibited people of color from living in the neighborhood. The Westmoreland neighborhood of SLC is an example of this.

Yellow neighborhoods were designated as “definitely declining” and seen as places where “undesirable populations” may increase.

Red neighborhoods were “hazardous” and were associated with higher populations of people of color. Red neighborhoods were ineligible for federally backed mortgages making it difficult for residents in the neighborhood to become homeowners.

Thus, the term “redlining” refers to those red or “hazardous” neighborhoods that tended to have a higher percentage of residents that were people of color.

These maps recorded the existing conditions of the 1930s and then they were used to reinforce and perpetuate segregated neighborhoods.

This map is from the National Archives, direct link: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/85713738

I geo-referenced the redlining map and overlayed modern neighborhood boundaries using GIS. Even today, much of today's neighborhood boundaries align with the redlining map.

The 1930s SLC Redlining Map, with modern Community Council districts, overlayed. 

Detail clip of SLC's Redlining Map, showing Avenues, Downtown, Central City, East Central, University, and Liberty Wells neighborhoods.

Detail clip of SLC's Redlining Map, showing Rose Park, Fairpark, and Capitol Hill neighborhoods.

Detail clip of SLC's Redlining Map, showing Poplar Grove and Glendale neighborhoods.

Detail clip of SLC's Redlining Map, showing East Central, Wasatch Hollow, and Sugar House neighborhoods.  Note that the old State Prison (Sugar House Park site) is identified as "Yellow."

Detail clip of SLC's Redlining Map, showing Yalecrest, Foothill/Sunyside, and Wasatch Hollow neighborhoods.

WWI 1918 Military Draft Map of Salt Lake City

More map fun! This is a World War I (WWI) 1918 military draft map of Salt Lake City. This map shows men where they needed to go to register for military service, both citizens and non-citizens.

Clip of map from SL Trib 1918/06/04 Page 11

Detail of the same (above) clip of map from SL Trib 1918/06/04 Page 11

Of interest, the Japanese Association Headquarters building at 168 S West Temple is specifically noted and marked. The Japanese Association was the precursor to the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL).

The building at 168 West Temple was part of Salt Lake’s old Japantown which was mostly demolished for the construction of the Salt Palace in the 1960s.

Image 3 shows what the building looked like in 1918. The “Lodge Pool Hall” is the location of the Japanese Association. As it was mostly a fraternal association of men, it is sometimes identified as a Lodge.

I’ve denoted the approximate location of this building on the other images by using a torii gate icon in red.

Image of the building at 168 S West Temple in 1918. From USHS Shipler 18591.

Clip from a postcard of the Salt Palace in the 1960s

 Modern Google Maps showing the Convention Center in downtown Salt Lake City.

Maps by W.D. Rishel

Maps are fun! This 1917 map from the Salt Lake Tribune shows SLC as the Crossroads of the West, although the specific verbiage used in the description was “automobile touring center of the west.” Where the tourist must top for supplies and information… whether traveling east, west, north, or south.

This 1917 map was made by W. D. Rishel, manager of the Utah Automobile Association, and shows several travel routes. You will note that many of these routes eventually evolved into our Interstate Highway system while others (notably the Lincoln Highway through Fish Springs) were abandoned.

• Lincoln Highway

• Midland Trail

• Pike’s Peak Route

• Arrowhead Trail

• Evergreen Highway

• Yellowstone Highway

Source: Salt Lake Tribune 1917-12-30 Page 46

Mountainville Academy's Failure to Incorporate STEM Principals into Actual Practice: The Demolition of the Historic Carlisle House

Architectural salvage of the brick from the Fanny and Thomas Carlisle House, May 17 2024. Mountainville Academy will demolish the house for a parking lot and STEM building.

Demolition of the Carlisle House in Alpine has begun. Mountainville Academy (@mountainvilleacademy) refused the offer by Alpine City and the Friends of the Alpine City Library to purchase the property and turn it into a children’s library. As such, Mountainville has decided to demolish the house rather than let someone else buy it to be preserved or to utilize it themselves.

I visited the Thomas and Fanny Carlisle House on Friday, May 17 2024 and took these photographs. The workers in the images were hired by Alpine City (not Mountainville Academy) to conduct architectural salvage; their focus is on recovering the ca1910 brick, which I was told will be repurposed for the Alpine Library.

FOX13's Shanti Lerner reported that Mountainville plans to use the space for a parking lot and a STEM building… both purposes I find enraging. The parking lot is clearly a shortsighted decision and something that could have been designed to easily avoid the Carlisle House.

The lack of integrating the Carlisle House into a STEM building (an addition could have been added) is yet another shortsighted decision and illustrates Mountainville’s lack of creativity and willingness to incorporate the principles of STEM/STEAM into actual practice.

The entire drive back from Alpine all I could do was think of various science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics classroom exercises that utilized or focused on the Carlisle House. Incorporating historic preservation into STEM/STEAM would have been a true example of “Excellence.”

I helped build Utah’s first standalone STEM program of K-6 grades, at M. Lynn Bennion Elementary (soon to close) a Title 1 School that serves downtown SLC families. We did amazing things with very little funding.

It is so insulting to see a fairly privileged school like Mountainville Academy squander a unique opportunity. One quick example of a potential STEM exercise: make adobe bricks (sun-dried mud) with various compositions and then test their engineering strength.

This potential STEM lesson was on my mind because the adobe brick is now exposed while the exterior fired brick is being salvaged.

DEMOLITION PENDING on Carlisle House in Alpine, Utah

UPDATE - DEMOLITION PENDING on Carlisle House in Alpine, Utah. Mountainville Academy plans to start demolition (interior first) tomorrow (Tues May 7 2024).



So many people have stories about how this property is important to them (here and here).

Mountainville has rejected an offer by the City of Alpine and the Friends of Alpine City Library to purchase the historic home. The offer met all of Mountainville's requirements but it seems Mountainville really had no intention of considering selling the historic home so it could be preserved.

See parts of their official statement on the second slide (posted below), as well as my snarky interpretation.

You can call/email Mountainville at 801-756-9805 or info@malions.org.  Their contact page is also here.

Mi Casita Ghose Sign

Ghost sign, old Southeast Market building. April 30 2024.

A ghost sign on the old Southeast Market building at 422 E 900 South, SLC. This sign is for the Mi Casita Mexican Restaurant and dates to about 1992.

The building is undergoing a reconstruction but it seems like the original facade will be preserved.

The building was constructed in 1941 as the O.P. Skaggs Market (last slide, showing neon sign from 1947).

O.P. Skaggs building and sign, 1947. From Utah State Historical Society.

The building was sold by Skaggs in 1945 but kept the name for several more years, eventually becoming known as Sudbury's Foodtown, after long-time manager, turned owner, Ray F. Sudbury.

Sudbury sold the building in 1966 to William and Mae Tang, who operated it as Super Save Discount Market in the late 1960s.

Many businesses have used the space over the decades. The last ones to occupy the space were Southeast Market, Melewa Bakery, and Pho 28 (Photo 3, from Google Street View 2022).

Ghost sign, old Southeast Market building. April 30 2024.

Google Street View 2022

Old Utah Tomato Varieties

Utah tomato varieties are my current historic interest!

Image from Stokes Seeds 112 Superb Varieties 1926

 
In prehistoric times, the tomato originated in South America and made its way north to the area that is now Mexico. Thus far, there is no evidence that the tomato made its way to North America until after the arrival of Euro-American settlers. Despite its once-feared reputation by Euro-Americans, by 1850 the tomato had made its way into most urban markets in North America.

The early Mormon pioneers also cultivated tomatoes in the Salt Lake Valley. In 1857, horticulturalist Edward Sayers was selling tomato seeds from varieties that he grew. And in 1859 he announced the creation of an experimental garden to determine what fruits, vegetables, flowers, etc would grow best in the Salt Lake Valley (I’ll need to investigate this further, fascinating!).

However, it is unclear what specific varieties were cultivated in these early days (as far as I can find, to date), beyond just a description of red and orange varieties. Tomatoes were primarily grown for home use.

A 1927 report titled Tomato Culture in Utah by A.L. Wilson, recounts a brief history of the tomato in Utah. The report emphasizes the Utah tomato canning industry, which started in Ogden in 1888 and continued to grow, primarily in northern Utah.

The 1927 report also mentions popular varieties being grown at that time, with notes about each variety:

1. Stone: best for canning. Dark red in color with firm flesh. Long to mature.
2. Norton: wilt-resistant. Good for shipping and canning. Not as productive as other varieties.
3. Greater Baltimore: Most popular variety in Utah for canning. Ripens earlier and larger yields. Not so well colored as the Stone.
4. Landreth: Increased in popularity, especially among Japanese growers. Larger yields with more frequent pickings. Inferior in color and firmness.
5. Other varieties: Ignotum, Red Head, Red Rock. New “potato-leaf” varieties are noted. A hybrid named “Utah Valley”

Image from Stokes Seeds 112 Superb Varieties 1926

Image from The Canning Trade 1917

Other varieties were developed after 1927, especially by Utah State University, such as the Hamson DX -52-12 which was developed by Dr. Alvin Hamson (1924-2009) for the Campbell Soup Company.

I've also seen reference to Utah tomato varieties such as Pink Pioneer, Big Hill, and Moscow.

More to come.