county archives

Celebrating History (2016)

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K.E.E.P.’s History Committee continues to learn and have fun.  I thought I’d share on our more recent activities.

Auditorium4AwardsIn April we helped judge student-produced documentaries for the Utah History Day State Competition.  The top winners in various categories will be competing this month in Washington D.C. at the National History Day Contest.  It was a great pleasure to meet youth so enthusiastic about history and so darn INCREDIBLY SMART and TALENTED!  Go, Utah!

In May we dropped in at the Salt Lake County Archives during their 30 Year Anniversary Celebration… where we chatted with more history-loving folks and received a nice tour.  We greatly appreciate the help they have given us.  And it was nice meeting others that also enjoy utilizing the SLCo Archives.  (Have you ever seen chattel mortgage records?  They have them.)
archives-30         Archives Event

We know not everyone can attend K.E.E.P.’s one-day Walking Tour events.  So… we decided to put the tour into a new format and try taking it on the road to share with more people.  Our “Tour on Tour” participants have hailed from Sarah Daft, Parklane, St. Joseph’s Villa, Chateau Brickyard and Brookdale.  It’s been fun!

Parklane  RidingWithV

StJoesVillaEvery time we do a presentation or a ride-along, we hear questions and comments that either make us chuckle, teach us something, or have us doing more research to find the answers to improve our tour.   Speaking of which– for those that missed it last October (and those curious about how the tour has changed)…

Please Join Us!
Thursday – June 16th
6:30pm – Foothill Library
for a slideshow presentation that will take you on
our Yalecrest Oldest Homes Tour.
–Kelly Marinan

Where Have All the Drive Strips Gone?

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Drive strips are historic site features that have largely been lost in Yalecrest.  It’s often one of the first things people change when they buy into the neighborhood.

At one time, Yalecrest was filled with driveways that looked like this:

Collage of Yalecrest Original Drive Strips

But now surviving drive strips are very difficult to find.

On my block there are 28 homes. Only two have drive strips. And only one of these still has both its original garage and hasn’t changed its roofline or front facade. I don’t think the owner realized he had a one-of-a-kind, still standing strong, unique piece of block history, until I pointed it out. I’m hoping the next owner will see the same historic value and be able to survive the ongoing mansionization trend in Yalecrest.

Can you imagine a whole block of drive strips?  With the added greenery and the smaller garages, I’m thinking it must’ve given residents a feeling of spaciousness and peace. Like, your neighbors definitely aren’t right on top of you. It was probably a subtle feeling… residing in their subconscious.

Note #1:  Photos courtesy of Salt Lake County Archives.

Note #2:  I apologize for the quality.  I was taking pictures of pictures.

—Kelly Marinan