the hub 1950

HONORS THINK TANK

The Twilight Years: End of the Railroad Era

Two World Wars and the Great Depression took their toll on the area, but even they do not compare to what was to come next: suburbanization and the coming of the freeway.
A Slice of Life: The city directories tell us the names and occupations of the residents of this block, providing a glimpse of the fabric of community woven by their lives. They were diverse and workingclass, with many employed in nearby industries. Several would remain in the same houses for over thirty years. 566: Mr. Martinez 564: Bruno Chavez, Laborer 560: Mr. Garcia 558: Mr. Rocha, Bartender 552: Rev. Jennings Mt. Zion Church of God in Christ (nondenominational) 550: Mrs. Chumley, widow 546: Mr. Romo, a laborer for the railroad
During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the bottom fell out of the minerals market, devastating the mining industry and the railroads which shipped their freight. The bedrock of the areas economy was thus eliminated. The floods of immigrants formerly attracted to plentiful jobs on the railways or in the mains stopped, hindered as well by the federal legislation restricting the amount and type of newcomers allowed. However, after the initial drop of the early 1930s, the areas industrial and commercial economies stabilized for the next twenty years. The increased federal spending brought by World War II propped up the manufacturing in the neighboring factories and a decreasing but significant base of residents and railway passengers maintained the hotels, bars, and cafs along 200 South. Meanwhile, the Greeks and other EasternEuropeans who were formerly the dominant ethnic groups of the area were replaced by the growing Hispanic population. Still, the area maintained its working-class and rough-and-tumble character, supporting numerous bars and somewhat of a redlight district. After the war, the areas industrial core survived and even expanded, but the postwar flight to the suburbs started the steady decline of the residential and commercial population.

Railroad Club Place, a bar City directories show a Mr. Kattar living here from the early 1930s to the late 1960s, perhaps a relation to George Katter, the Lebanese labor agent who helped create Little Syria on 300 South 500 West.

529: Dominic Putrey, helper at the Holy Cross Hospital 527: Silvio Mayo, spreader for the Porter Macaroni company 523: Mrs. Hendrickson, widow. 519: John Mayo, employee of the Porter Macaroni Company Cheap housing sometimes meant notso-great living conditions. A Mr. Perry lived here for at least ten years, feet away from a poultry processing plant. These car and bus facilities are evidence of the transition away from public rail transportation. UTA, seen at left, was formed in the early 1970s to try to revive public transit, in decline since the end of the trolleys. By an large, however, automobiles were the way people got around, fueled by service stations like the one below.

Building Uses

180

160

140

120

Institutional 100 Mixed uses Hotel/Dense Residential Dense Industrial Commercial Industrial 60 Residential

80

40

20

0 1924 1934 Year 1944 1955

After the freefall of the great depression, the Polk City Directories show a steady number of listings for the area, with residential decline made up for by industrial expansion.

Number of Buildings

A car involved in a collision with a fire truck on 300 South and 200 West.
T I M E L I N E

Last streetcar to run in Salt Lake City, June 1, 1941.

1912 The American Theater opens on Main Street to play silent movies

1916 Dedication of State Capitol building in Salt lake City.

1919 18th Amendment starts nationwide Prohibition. However, in 1923 Utahs attorney general announced that drinking was just as prevalent as before.

1927 Philo T. Farnsworth, Utah native, demonstrates the first working television system

1933 Over one-third of Utahs workers are unemployed, the fourth highest rate in the nation.

1941 US enters World War II 1942 Opening of Japanese-American Relocation Center in Topaz, Utah.

1944 The Utah Light and Traction, former operators of Salt Lakes now-defunct trolley system, sells their buses to Salt Lake City Lines, another privately-held company

1911

1914-18 World War I. US enters in 1918.

1915 Joe Hill executed on allegations of murder in Sugarhouse Prison, becoming a martyr of the radical labor movement.

1919-22 Mining and agriculture depression hits Utahs two key industries

1922 First radio broadcast in Utah on KZN

1946 Winston Churchill declares 1935-42 The Works Progress that an Iron Curtain has fallen Administration (WPA) provides 12,000 1929 Stock market crash over central Europe people annually with jobs. 1950 14,800 Utahns work at defense signals start of Great 1930s-40s Democrat party installations. By 1951 the number Depression 1930 Hawley-Smoot Tariff passes, named after dominates Utahs politics would double to reach 28,800 Utah Senator Reed Smoot, worsening the worldwide economic depression

1930

1950