Today I had to drive into a section of my city that is called Sugar House to pick up my new sunglasses. As I drove down this street that I have driven on for many, many, many years, I again noticed this monument. This is an iconic symbol in this part of town but I realized that I had no idea what this monument honors. So today I decided to park my car, walk across the street and see what it was all about.
So I thought I'd share what I learned with you. Salt Lake City has a proud pioneer heritage beginning with the first pioneers that entered the valley on July 24, 1847. The story goes that Brigham Young, the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at that time, was sick and struggling with the hardships of the covered wagon expedition he and the other pioneers had been experiencing as they searched for "zion" and where they felt the Lord was leading them. When Brigham Young raised up from his sickbed and saw the Salt Lake valley, he declared "This is the place!".
As the pioneers began to settle into their new location, they began to homestead and create ways to provide for their daily necessities. I learned from reading the placques on this monument that the early saints tried to produce sugar in this area.
This placque depicts the original Sugar House; hence, the name given to this area and commemorated by this monument!
I have lots of pleasant memories from my various experiences in Sugar House. Paul & I bought our first home in 1974 in Sugar House where we lived for about 4 years. Every year at Christmas time there is a Santa Claus "house" set up near this monument and children can come and visit Santa Claus here to tell him what they want for Christmas. We have a picture of Paul at that spot back when he was about 6. There are lots of unique, quirky, one-of-a-kind shops in this Sugar House area including one of my favorite Quilt stores. My orthodontist and my pediatrician were both located within a few blocks of this center spot. It was fun to take a couple of minutes and reconnect with some history today -- both mine and the early settlers!
2 comments:
Good history lesson!
Pete and Anna just bought a darling little house just a block away from your Sugarhouse house. It's been totally re-done, with a nice big basement family room and bathroom. They moved in today, and I was telling them they should use the downstairs as their master bedroom like you guys did! I then told them about your black and white floor (am I remembering this right?) It was a bit of your Sugarhouse history.
Looking back is a mixed bag of emotions isn't it?
Doesn't seem as though we have lived that long until we look back at everything we have done and all the places we have done them!!!
Fondly, B.
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