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Time Line
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Before Park City 1862 Brigham Young's "City by the Salt" is booming. Federal troops, led by Colonel Patrick Conner, are sent to guard the stage coach lines and watch over the Mormons, who were feared might join the Confederacy during the Civil War. Conner sends his soldiers out prospecting, hoping that mining will bring more non-Mormons to the area.
Silver is Discovered
1868 Soldiers discover silver near Park City. The spot is marked with a bandanna and later becomes the Flagstaff Mine.
1869 The transcontinental railroad is completed at Promontory, Utah. Laid-off workers, including many Chinese, settle in Parley's Park.
1870 Parley's Park City has a total population of 164.
1872 Park City gets its name. Parley's Park City is shortened to Park City.
George Hearst and his partners buy the Ontario Mine for $27,000. It will produce over $50 million for them.
1875 First free public school is established.
1880 The first issue of The Park Record news paper is published. It has been available nearly every week since.
1883 A giant Cornish Pump is installed in the Ontario Mine, taking out over four million gallons of water a day.
A Town Grows
1884 Park City is incorporated. A city hall is built.
1889 Park City's population is 5,000. Main Street has electric lights
1892 The Silver King Mine is incorporated. It will prove to be one of the West's largest producers of silver.
1896 Utah becomes a state on January 4. Park City has a population of 7,000.
1898 Park City experiences the worst fire in its history. Homes and businesses burn. Three quartersof the town is gone, 500 are homeless. There is $1 million in property lost.
1899 The town is rebuilt in one and one half years. The new buildings are more substantial. Many are built of brick and stone to withstand fire.
1902 At the Daly West Mine on July 15, an underground explosion claims 34 men. It results in a new state law which forbids the underground storage of large amounts of explosives.
1904 The Miners Hospital is built for the sum of $5,000, money raised by the Western Federation of Miners union and Park City businesses. In the first year 6,000 miners are treated for miner's con, a deadly lung disease.
Skiing Becomes a Pastime
1920 Skiing becomes more popular. Some workers take the mine train under ground to the top of Thaynes Canyon and ski to the bottom of the mountain.
1929 The stock market crashes. Silver King stock plummets from $12.87 to $6.50 in one year; Par Con from $2 to $0.27.
A rope tow for skiers is installed at Snow Park.
1930 A ski jump is built on the Creole mine dump and is popular with children.
1931 Alf Engen sets a world record at Ecker Hill by jumping 247 feet. The next December he jumps a new record of 266 feet.
1936 A special ski train running from Salt Lake City to the slopes above Deer Valley is so popular that it is repeated the next year.
1946 The first lift goes in at Snow Park.
1949 On July 1 the mines shut down putting 1,200 miners out of work.
Hard Times
1951 Park City's population has dropped to 1,500.
1952 Some mines are opening up as mineral prices rise.
Skiing Revives Town
1963 The Park City Ski Area opens $2 million is raised locally and from a government loan.
1965 A mine train takes skiers into the Spiro Tunnel, then up a shaft to the top of the mountain. A gondola, a chairlift and a J-bar are installed. A lift pass costs $3.50.
1969 Snow Park closes; Park West Ski Area opens.
1970 The first Park City Art Festival debuts on Main Street.
1976 Kimball Art Center opens its doors with 2 galleries, a gift shop and class rooms.
1979 The Miner's Hospital is moved across town to City Park where it will become the public library. A human chain forms a 'book brigade' to move thousands of books from the old library on Main Street to its new home.
1980 A new ski area, Deer Valley Resort, opens at the site of the old Snow Park. KPCW, Summit County's noncommercial public radio goes on the air.
1981 The United States Film and Video Festival opens in January for its first season in Park City.
1982 The Ontario, the last working mine in this area, closes.
1986 TV45, Park City's television station, begins broadcasting.
1990 The population of Park City is 5,000.
1995 The Park City Silver Mine Adventure opens at the Ontario Mine.
