Stagecoach Exhibit

This type of coach was popularly called a mud wagon, designed for use in difficult conditions. The technical design is the same as the Abbot-Downing Company's larger, more elegant coaches. The body is mounted on leather thoroughbases which serve as springs for the coach and shock absorbers for the team. This Abbot-Downing innovation is still in use today.

William H. Kimball, eldest son of Heber C. Kimball, started his stagecoach business in 1854, vying with Brigham Young's X-Y express for the lucrative federal mail contracts. Kimball's endeavor was interrupted by his serving a mission in Enlgand for the Mormon Church. After his return in 1860, he built the Kimball Hotel and Stage Stop in Parley's Park and resumed business. The hotel, a massive eleven room structure of native stone, still stands today by I-80.

When silver was discovered in the area, the need for regular transportation service was recognized and in 1872 Kimball opened his Park City - Salt Lake City route. Kimball's ingenuity and reputation for delivering on time gained him and his sons (Kimball Bros.) many mail contracts. They established routes into western Utah and eastern Nevada. With the changing times, Kimball Bros. branched out into a livery stable and then a motor coach line and service station.

From Tents to Township Exhibit

Before the miners came to Park City, the area north of the present city was colonized by Mormon settlers. In 1848, Mormon leader Brigham Young sent Parley P. Pratt to see if this valley was suitable for colonizing. Pratt discovered a large open meadow that was park-like. The area was soon home to brothers Samuel and Chester Snyder and their families. Both men were polygamists and soon 150 people were living in the community of Snyderville. In 1872, their brother George Snyder brought hit his fifth wife, Rhoda, and their three children from Wanship and settled in this mountain valley five miles to the south. George and his family built a two-room home near what is now the corner of Park and Heber Avenues, with lumber from the sawmill in Snyderville. This high valley had been known by different names, including Upper Kimball's and Upper Parley's, until 1872 when the Snyders raised a flag and proclaimed that the new community should be know as Parley's Park City.