Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report - Staff ReportSALT LAKE CITY CORPORATION 349 South 200 East, Suite 100 WWW.SLC.GOV PO BOX 145506 SALT LAKE CITY, UT 84111 TEL 801-535-6157 DESIGN DIVISION DEPARTMENT of PUBLIC LANDS MEMORANDUM To: From: Date: Re: Salt Lake City Historic Landmark Commission Kathryn Sonntag, Associate Landscape Architect (Public Lands) (801-535-6140) - or kathryn.sonntag@slc.gov April 3, 2026 Findings of the Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report, Findings of the Memory Grove Park Cultural Landscape Report SUBJECT: Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report, Memory Grove Park Cultural Landscape Report ACTION: No action required. BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION: The Public Lands Department funded a Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Liberty Park and Memory Grove Park. The information in the CLRs, particularly the treatment recommendations will provide guidance for proposed improvements, maintenance, and operations of the parks. The Liberty Park CLR has been on-going over the last year and the Historic Landmarks Commission was briefed on the work in process at its March 3, 2025 and October 2, 2025 meetings. The Memory Grove Park CLR began this September. This is the first briefing on the Memory Grove Park CLR. This follow-up briefing focuses on Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report and Vision Plan Status Updates, Key Recommendations, Next Steps, and Q&A. It also focuses on the Memory Grove Park CLR and Maintenance Plan, Project Purpose, Initial Findings (Historical Context, Significance, Existing Condition and Analysis), Next Steps, and Q&A. Page 2 Findings of the Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report: SIGNIFICANCE: Liberty Park is significant as one of the first public parks in Salt Lake City and the State of Utah, and for its embodiment of the American Park, City Beautiful, and Modern Movements. Set within the urban setting of Salt Lake City, Liberty Park offers visitors a curated experience created by its walks, central promenade, tree-lined roads, meadows, groves of trees, buildings, and views. INTEGRITY: Liberty Park retains integrity through extant features and buildings, circulation, vegetation, and views and retains integrity in location, setting, feeling, materials, and workmanship. Liberty Park has diminished integrity in design. TREATMENT: The treatment approach for Liberty Park is rehabilitation. This treatment approach emphasizes preservation of the study area and allows for the repair and addition of compatible improvements. NEXT STEPS: The input gathered from public open houses, along with survey results and input from CAC and TAC members, guided the development of the Vision Plan that will be presented to the public on May 6th during an open house in Liberty Park. The Vision Plan will guide maintenance and design decisions at the park for the next 10 years. Findings of the Memory Grove Park Cultural Landscape Report: SIGNIFICANCE: Memory Grove Park is significant for its association with the early settlement of Salt Lake City and the evolution of parks and war memorials in the United States. Memory Grove Park is important as a place for the community to retreat, contemplate, commemorate, and recreate within the urban core of Salt Lake City. INTEGRITY: Memory Grove Park retains integrity through extant features and buildings, circulation, and views and retains integrity in location, setting, feeling, materials, and workmanship and has diminished integrity in design. TREATMENT: The treatment approach for Memory Grove Park is forthcoming. NEXT STEPS: Mundus Bishop and the project team will continue to draft the CLR as well as the Preservation Maintenance Plan, and is scheduled to present to City Council the first week of May. •Table of Contents • Chapter 1: Introduction • Chapter 2: Site History • Chapter 3: Existing Conditions and Analysis • Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance • Appendices ATTACHMENTS: Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 90% Draft, Memory Grove Park Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft: Salt Lake City Public Lands Department CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORTLIBERTY PARK March 2026 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Team Kathryn Sonntag Associate Landscape Architect II Project Manager Kim Shelley Department Director Tyler Murdock Deputy Director Tom Millar Planning & Design Division Director Nancy Monteith Senior Landscape Architect Technical Advisory Committee Jenna Benson Council District 5 Constituent Liason Sarah Bishop Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Urban Forestry Kelsey Lindquist Community and Neighborhoods Planning Manager Ryen Schlegel Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Special Events and Permitting Amy Stocks Salt Lake City Corporation Policy and Program Manager Joe Ramos Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Operations Joshua Rebollo Council Districts 1 and 5 Constituent Liason Justin Potter District Supervisor Community Advisory Committee Margaret Coppin Chair of Liberty Wells Community Council Cindy Cromer Resident Dustin Reed Liberty Park Amusement Owner & Manager Michael Mayo CIP Application and Greenhouse Restoration Team Brandy Strand Executive Director of Preservation Utah Kristina Robb Chair of East Community Park Organization, East Liberty Park CC Jan Striefel Resident Austin Taylor Community Council, Central City CC Angie Trumbo Director of Conservation, Tracy Aviary Consultant Team Mundus Bishop Landscape Architecture and Planning OV Consulting Community Outreach Table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................1-1 Introduction ........................................................................1-2 Report Methodology ........................................................1-3 Significance and Integrity ...............................................1-4 2. Site History ........................................................2-1 Introduction .......................................................................2-3 Historical Context and Overview ...............................2-4 Periods of Landscape Development .......................2-14 3. Existing Condition and Analysis ....................3-1 Introduction .......................................................................3-2 Park Composition ............................................................3-3 Circulation and Connectivity ........................................3-9 Vegetation ........................................................................3-14 Water Features ..............................................................3-20 Buildings ...........................................................................3-22 Structures, Objects, and Features ...........................3-24 Cultural Traditions .........................................................3-26 Park Uses and Experiences .......................................3-28 Tracy Aviary .....................................................................3-30 4. Treatment Guidance ........................................4-1 Introduction .......................................................................4-3 Park Composition ............................................................4-4 Views and Vistas .............................................................4-5 Circulation ..........................................................................4-6 Urban Forest .....................................................................4-8 Buildings ............................................................................4-10 Structures, Objects, and Features ............................4-14 New Elements .................................................................4-16 Tracy Aviary ......................................................................4-18 Appendices .......................................................A-1 Appendix A: Bibliography .............................................A-3 Appendix B: Treatment Terminology ........................A-5 Appendix C: Contributing and Non-Contributing Features ..........................................A-6 CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORTLIBERTY PARK Introduction 01 image: Mundus Bishop 1-2 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Introduction This document presents the Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Liberty Park (the park) within Salt Lake City (the city). This CLR is the primary treatment document for the cultural landscape. This CLR presents detailed documentation of historical development, existing condition, analysis of integrity, identification of contributing features, and establishes a treatment philosophy and recommendations to guide long-term care and stewardship of Liberty Park. Numerous projects are underway or are in the planning stages for Liberty Park. This CLR will assist in providing guidance for these projects and in ensuring long- term modifications and additions are consistent with the goals of rehabilitation. City-initiated construction projects during the development of this CLR included Rotary Play Park, which was initiated after the CLR field investigation and is not included in the existing condition documentation, and is not evaluated in the analysis of integrity. Citywide planning initiatives to enhance park facilities, the urban tree canopy, and connections and accessibility of the park highlight the importance of Liberty Park as a critical open space, parkland, and gathering space for the community. These initiatives include the 2022 Salt Lake City Public Lands Master Plan, 2022 Seven Greenways Vision Plan, 2023 Urban Forest Action Plan, 2018 9-Line Trail Extension Study, and Green Loop Concept presented in the 2015 Salt Lake City Downtown Plan. Constitution Drive, 1911 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 1: Introduction 1-3 This document was conducted at a thorough level of investigation and documentation for historical research, existing condition assessment, and analysis of integrity. This research methodology focused on the use of select documentation of known and presumed relevance, including readily available primary and secondary sources. This document was prepared in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes.1-1 Review of select documentation included readily available primary and secondary sources. Document review included planning documents, administrative reports, technical reports, natural resource studies, correspondence, drawings, and photographs. Drawings and illustrations were prepared using background data provided by the city. This data was supplemented by site reconnaissance in November 2024 to document existing conditions and evaluate integrity. These investigations were conducted according to best practices. Further Study Liberty Park’s 1980 National Register nomination should be amended to reflect historical research and findings included in the CLR. Future study should include research at additional archives for as-builts, design drawings, and master plans developed for Liberty Park. Report Methodology Civic institutions, including Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Arts, attract visitors from throughout the region (image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). 1-4 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Significance and Integrity Significance Liberty Park is significant as one of the first public parks in Salt Lake City and the State of Utah, and for its embodiment of the American Park, City Beautiful, and Modern Movements. Set within the urban setting of Salt Lake City, Liberty Park offers visitors a curated experience created by its walks, central promenade, tree-lined roads, meadows, groves of trees, buildings, and views. Liberty Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) at the state level with a period of significance of 1800 to 1899. This period captures the evolution of the park as a mill and farm and the establishment and improvement of Liberty Park as a public park. The 1980 NRHP nomination for Liberty Park states it “…is significant as one of the earliest and largest urban parks in Utah. Originally purchased by Salt Lake City in 1881 from the estate of Brigham Young, it is Utah’s best example of the ‘central park.’ The park exhibits the spirit of reform of the second half of the nineteenth century, when parks were seen as important factors in civilizing America’s increasingly industrialized cities and improving the moral character of their inhabitants. Many American cities followed the pattern of New York City’s Central Park, designed in the late 1850s. Liberty Park is laid out on the site of a mill and farm established by Isaac Chase (the Isaac Chase Mill is listed on the National Register).”1-2 The 1980 NRHP identifies a period of significance of 1800 to 1899 with buildings and features built before 1930 as contributing features, a date chosen because 1930 was 50 years earlier than the registration date of the nomination. The CLR recommends updating the period of significance to correspond with the opening of Liberty Park in 1882 and to include improvements that occurred after 1930. The recommended period of significance is 1882 to 1970 to capture significant movements, events, and resources that shaped Liberty Park. The end date of 1970 captures the date Liberty Park was considered completed, and distinguishes this from later changes that impacted the park’s character. Liberty Park is the most visited park in Salt Lake City (image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Chapter 1: Introduction 1-5 Integrity Integrity is the ability of a cultural landscape to convey its significance. Liberty Park was assessed to determine if the landscape characteristics that shaped the cultural landscape during the period of significance are present today. Integrity is evaluated according to seven aspects or qualities: location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. These aspects are defined as follows. Seven Aspects of Integrity Location is the place where the cultural landscape was constructed or a historic event occurred. Setting is the physical environment of the cultural landscape. Feeling is the cultural landscape’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. Materials and Workmanship. Materials are physical elements that were combined or deposited during period(s) of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form the cultural landscape. Workmanship includes the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Design is the combination of elements to create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of the cultural landscape. Association is the direct link between the important historic event or person and a cultural landscape. Liberty Park retains integrity through extant features and buildings, circulation, vegetation, and views and retains integrity in location, setting, feeling, materials, and workmanship. Liberty Park has diminished integrity in design. • Liberty Park retains integrity in location and setting. The physical environment associated with the development of Liberty Park remains in its original location with original relationships to downtown, surrounding neighborhoods, and the Wasatch Range. • Liberty Park retains integrity in feeling. It retains the original American Park Movement, City Beautiful Movement, and modern aesthetics of when it was designed and built. It conveys a strong feeling of what visitors would have experienced associated with bringing beauty, nature, and recreation into an urban setting during the period of significance. • Liberty Park retains integrity in materials and workmanship. Contributing features associated with the cultural landscape retain a material palette and workmanship associated with the American Parks Movement, City Beautiful Movement, and modern style. Examples include monumental entrance piers, stone arbors and fireplaces, stone entry monuments, and the granite Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) fountain. • Liberty Park has diminished integrity in design. The design of the Liberty Park is modified by the introduction of new patterns in the cultural landscape, including the removal of historic structures and buildings, and the loss of trees. These changes contribute to less defined and more open portions of the park. The addition of the topographic mound in the historically open landscape north of Liberty Lake diminishes visual and physical connections to Liberty Lake. 1-6 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 1-1 Page, Robert R., Cathy A. Gilbert, and Susan A. Dolan, A Guide to Cultural Landscape Reports: Contents, Processes and Techniques, (Washington D.C.: National Park Service, 1998).1-2 Haglund, Karl T. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Liberty Park. Utah State Historical Society: Salt Lake City, UT, 1980), 3. Endnotes Site History 02 image: Utah State Historical Society 2-2 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report This Page Intentionally Left Blank Chapter 2: Site History 2-3 Introduction Liberty Park opened to the public on June 17, 1882, and is significant as one of the first public parks in Salt Lake City and the State of Utah. Its initial development embodied the American Park and City Beautiful Movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and brought beauty, nature, and recreation to the residents of Salt Lake City. Post-war modifications and additions to Liberty Park responded to the evolving needs of park users and introduced a modern aesthetic to the design of the park that expressed clean lines, symmetry, minimal ornamentation, and functionality. Post-war modifications and additions to Liberty Park responded to the evolving needs of park users and introduced a modern aesthetic to the design of the park that expressed clean lines, symmetry, minimal ornamentation, and functionality. Liberty Park’s importance and legacy are recognized by its listing on the National Register of Historic Places and designation as a Local Landmark Site by Salt Lake City. This chapter presents the historical context and overview of the physical development of Liberty Park. This is followed by a chronology of the park’s physical development. Liberty Lake and view east to the Wasatch Range, c. 1910 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). 2-4 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Historical Context and Overview Liberty Park is representative of the evolution of public parks in the United States, from its improvement as one of Salt Lake City’s first public parks to the reactivation of the park through planning initiatives in the second half of the twentieth century, to its enduring and present-day value to the community as the most visited park in the city. Mormon pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and were the first Euro-Americans to establish permanent settlements in the region traditionally shared by the Shoshone and Ute peoples. From 1847 to 1857, sixteen cities and towns were established within territory claimed by at least one of Utah’s tribes. This included the establishment of Salt Lake City.2-1 Brigham Young, the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and founder of Salt Lake City, described his vision for the city when he announced the location of Salt Lake Temple in 1847. Young organized Salt Lake City, one square mile in size, on an orthogonal, east-west/north-south grid with a temple square at its center and a park in each quadrant. Ten-acre blocks were subdivided into eight lots with 132-foot-wide streets. Five- to ten-acre lots were designated south of the city in an area referred to as Big Field for farming.2-2 The head of each pioneer family was assigned a city lot and a tract of farmland in the Big Field. Isaac Chase arrived in Utah in September 1847 and received a city lot and a five-acre tract in the Big Field, where he established a mill and farm. Chase’s operations were successful, and he eventually acquired over 100 acres of land. The mill and large trees on Chase’s lands were notable, and his lands were locally known as Forest Park, Locust Patch, and Mill Farm.2-3 Chase exchanged his mill and farm with his business partner, Brigham Young, for a property in Centerville, Utah, in 1860. Chase’s mill and farm were incorporated into Brigham Young Farm, which included several thousand acres in the Big Field area. Young planted mulberry, cottonwood, and other species of trees and used the former Chase property as privately owned open space. Young intended for the open space to be purchased by Salt Lake City “for the lowest price” after his death.2-4 2-5 Young died in 1877, and the city purchased the open space from the Brigham Young estate for $27,500 on April 20, 1881. Local newspapers reported the open space’s “locust patch is the only grove within miles of the city and is located about three blocks from the First Ward street car tracks. This grove is large enough for all the purposes that can ever be required....The farm contains as much ground as will be needed for a park for Salt Lake in the next two generations at least, and there is so much that it will never be necessary to keep the grounds like a lawn, as would be the case were it but a ten-acre block. The whole can be made to appear rural and rustic, can be sufficiently developed and still give ample room for picnics, for ponds, for walks, for driving and for all other purposes for which parks are used.”2-6” “ Chapter 2: Site History 2-5 Map of the Salt Lake Valley with enlargement of the area known as the Big Field to the south of the Salt Lake City, surveyed in 1849 and 1850 (image: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division). Salt Lake City Big Field 2-6 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Liberty Park’s dedication was scheduled for July 4, 1881, but was postponed due to the assassination of President Garfield. The park was dedicated and opened to the public on June 17, 1882, the anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.2-7 A dedicatory procession formed at City Hall, located at its original location at 120 East 100 South, and included Mayor William Jennings, former Mayor Feramorz Little (who had presided over the purchase of the property), and numerous other city and Mormon Church officials. Speakers at the opening of the park reflected on the popularity and importance of Liberty Park. Ben Sheeks stated that the park “gives to the poor a feeling of interest in his country, and to the rich a satisfaction which ever follows the act of giving to those who needs. And who will say that the man, woman or child does not need the opportunity of enjoying a pleasant walk of beholding the beauties of art or nature even as they need bread. Let us ever remember that sometimes the beautiful is as useful as the useful perhaps more so.”2-8 Mayor Jennings’ administration was charged with improving the grounds as public parkland. The city’s Committee on Public Grounds hosted a design competition “for improving and beautifying” Liberty Park, Pioneer Square, Washington Square, and Tenth Ward Square in 1883. Joseph Don Carlos Young won the design competition for Liberty Park and was awarded a prize of $100.00 (the equivalent of 3,166.33 dollars in 2025). It was noted that the successful entries for the park designs “…possessed a high degree of merit, in point of taste, ingenuity and artistic design and execution.”2-9 Joseph Don Carlos Young had visited New York City’s Central Park and other parks inspired or designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the 1870s. Young’s entry for Liberty Park reflected the American Park Movement of the late nineteenth century that capitalized on natural features such as meadows, forested groves, and lakes to create picturesque landscapes, and designed park features to be subordinate and in keeping with the natural beauty of the park.2-10 Mayor Jennings’ administration appointed C. H. Wilcken as superintendent of Liberty Park and hired Swiss landscape gardener Arnold Schultess to design the park. Early improvements of the park included a formal rose garden with paths, areas of lawn, and new trees and shrubs throughout the park. The central north-south road, 600 E, was graded and paved with Unpaved road, likely what is now known as Constitution Drive in Liberty Park, 1896 (image:© 2008 Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-7 Map of Liberty Park, 1883 (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands Archives). 2-8 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report ” “ gravel. Portions of other roads were paved with gravel and improved with curbs and gutters.2-11 Improvement of Liberty Park expanded as part of Salt Lake City’s broader citywide initiative to beautify and enhance its parks in the early twentieth century. These improvements were inspired by the City Beautiful Movement that emerged in the 1890s and continued to the 1920s as a reaction to the rapid growth of urban areas and the negative impacts of urbanization. Advocates of the City Beautiful Movement believed careful planning of cities and parks could promote civic pride and improve the quality of life of its residents. Additions to Liberty Park reflected efforts to bring beauty, nature, and recreation to residents of Salt Lake City. This included a greenhouse (1903), bandstand (1911), playground (by 1912), zoo (1915), tennis courts (1915), and picnic structure (c. 1915). The original 1903 greenhouse building was expanded several times in subsequent decades and cultivated flowers and plants for parks and buildings throughout the city and county of Salt Lake. By 1924 park use expanded to include amusement features, including a merry-go-round and building.2-12 Ernest Victor Fohlin described Liberty Park in his 1908 book on Salt Lake City as “…a most fitting and attractive spot for public use and enjoyment. It contains 110 acres of ground and is a favorite place for outings during the summer season. Celebrations of holidays and various other gatherings are held in this spacious and attractive place. Held’s military band has for a number of years furnished instrumental musical concerts on Sundays and holidays for public entertainment. The park is situated in the southeastern part of the city. Its main entrance is on Ninth South and Fifth East streets and is reached by the street cars.”2-13 Rustic planting design, 1912 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Crowd at Liberty Park, 1909 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-9 Liberty Park Design — 1882 to 1913 Liberty Lake and swans, 1911 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Liberty Park rustic two-story shelter, 1911 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Rustic style bridge in Liberty Lake, 1911 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Rustic footbridges and stone walls, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). The design of Liberty Park emphasized the picturesque qualities of the site with open meadows, groves of trees, allées of trees framing long views through the park and to the Wasatch Range, a system of walks and carriage roads creating an orchestrated sequence of movement through the park, and distinct areas for passive and active recreation. Liberty Lake, a former mill pond, was doubled in size with bridges and plantings, further contributing to the picturesque qualities of the park. Nicholas Byhouwer, Salt Lake City Parks Superintendent, recommended removing all barns, stables, and other features “entirely out of place” with the picturesque character of Liberty Park. New buildings and features reflected the rustic style characteristic of the American Park Movement that advocated for the use of natural building materials—stone, wood, and trunks and branches in their natural and often twisted form. The use of native materials in naturalistic forms enabled early designers of Liberty Park to harmonize man-made structures with the natural setting.2-14 2-10 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report The design of Liberty Park and its buildings and features during the early 1900s also expressed the classical forms, symmetry, ornate decoration, and grand scale of the City Beautiful Movement. This includes piers at the northern entrance to the park, a monumental gateway to the park, the greenhouse, and a formal rose garden. Roads were improved with curbs and gutters and lined with lights, trees, and shrubs that further contributed to the formal landscape of Liberty Park. View from Liberty Park north to entrance monuments along 600 East, 1924 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). View south to Liberty Park entrance at 600 East with matching entrance monuments, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Formal gardens and tree plantings, undated (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). Liberty Park Design — 1882 to 1913 (continued) Chapter 2: Site History 2-11 ”“ Improvement of Liberty Park slowed during World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. Local newspapers reported that Liberty Park remained a popular destination for summer concert series, recreational leagues, family reunions, and civic events. The 1931 Department of Parks and Public Property described the park as a well- established and much-loved destination within the city. “Broad driveways bordered by colonnades of shade trees; lawns, flowers, lakes, playgrounds, tennis courts, concerts, and the municipal zoo have long been the outstanding attractions of this extensive park.” 2-15 Major changes in the 1930s included the closure and relocation of the zoo from Liberty Park to its current location in Emigration Canyon in 1931 and the establishment of Tracy Aviary at the location of the former zoo in 1938. The zoo’s shift from Liberty Park to Emigration Canyon was contested by citizens who argued that the park’s central location, streetcar service, and accessibility to the residents of Salt Lake City made it the ideal location for the city’s zoo.2-16 The zoo was removed from the park, and the city established Tracy Aviary in Liberty Park in return for a large collection of birds donated by Russell Tracy and supported by Dr. George A. Allen, who had led the community effort in the early 1930s to move the zoo from Liberty Park to Emigration Canyon, and others. Park use was further modified by the agreement between the city and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers allowing the organization to begin using Chase Mill as a relic hall in 1934.2-17 Liberty Park’s operational infrastructure and recreational amenities expanded in the post-war years. This included a bandstand shelter (1949), a swimming pool and bathhouse (1949), four additional tennis courts and a tennis clubhouse (1955), and a maintenance office, workshop, and vehicle storage building (c. 1950). The greenhouse was further expanded in 1945 with the purchase of an addition from Ickes Braun, a well-known Boats in Liberty Lake, 1937 (image: Salt Lake City Engineers Photograph Collection). Playground, 1937 (image: Utah State Historical Society). 2-12 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report glasshouse manufacturer. Design of new park buildings and features shifted to a modern style that expressed clean lines, symmetry, minimal ornamentation, and functionality. Historic aerials document a change in the design and use of 600 E between 1950 and 1970. The central route was redesigned as a pedestrian promenade— Central Promenade—and closed to vehicular travel. This change restricted vehicular access to the park’s loop road, Constitution Drive, and created a pedestrian core within Liberty Park. The perception of Liberty Park shifted in the 1960s as the park began to gain a reputation for being dangerous. Use of the park further diminished as thousands of Salt Lake City’s residents moved to the suburbs. The challenges Liberty Park faced in the 1960s were indicative of the larger city, as evidenced by the development of the “Second Century Plan” for Downtown Salt Lake City in 1962. The plan notes “as our Downtown enters its Second Century…problems common to most large cities have appeared—lack of general guidelines for growth, transportation and parking problems, a loss of much of its attractiveness, and an over-all decrease in its position as the heart of the rapidly growing metropolitan area.” The plan did not provide recommendations for the city’s parks but identified the need to preserve and rehabilitate historic features and restore the attractiveness of the downtown with areas of retreat, relaxation, and greenery.2-18 Amusement area at Liberty Park, August 10, 1950 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-13 Park use declined in the 1960s and 1970s, and Peter Goss, a local architecture commentator, noted “a threat of functional schizophrenia appears to run through today’s Liberty Park. Is it an amusement park or is it the more traditional, albeit romantic, park?” Goss suggested plans for the park should be developed to create a coherent atmosphere to improve the park experience. Additions to Liberty Park during this period continued to reflect the disparate uses lamented by Goss. These included the Merry-Go-Round Building (1960), Horseshoe Building (1960), and Rice Pavilion (c. 1970).2-19 Master plans were developed for Salt Lake City’s park system and Liberty Park in the 1970s. The city and neighborhood association initiated a master plan for Liberty Park to “remove the most incompatible uses and restore some elements of the original park design. These are expected to include the removal of the carnival, the regrading of the lake and the removal of most of its concrete edging, the renovation or reconstruction of a bandstand, and additional landscaping.”2-20 2-21 The city implemented recommendations for the system-wide and park-specific master plans in the 1980s. Several historic buildings and structures were also removed. Their removal is undocumented, but likely included a restroom facility, bandstand, picnic shelters, and pagoda.2-22 Improvements in the 1990s to present-day included the replacement of the swimming pool, swimming pool building, restrooms, playground and athletic court features, and other park features. Additions to the park included Seven Canyons Fountain (1993), the topographic mound north of Liberty Lake (1997), Liberty Lake Gazebo (2003), and Bridge (2010), and other buildings and features supporting operation and visitor use of the park. Planning for Liberty Park resumed in 1997 with the development of the Liberty Park Scoping Project. The city and community developed the plan to “restore Liberty Park to its previous beauty and grandeur, and to bring back many of the historic elements that have been lost over the years…Liberty Park should not be substantially changed. People like the activities and features of the Park; however, they recognize that the Park is shabby and worn, and they want to see it upgraded, repaired and renovated.” Subsequent modifications to Liberty Park included the removal of Boxing Building, North Public Restrooms (built c. 1915), Horseshoe Building (built c. 1960), and Restrooms/Ball Playroom (1985) and the addition of Rotary Play Park (2002), East Playground (2004), Liberty Lake Gazebo (2003), Concession Building and Restrooms (2008), and Liberty Lake pedestrian bridge (2010).2-23 2-14 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Periods of Landscape Development Six periods of landscape development describe the physical evolution of the cultural landscape from the earliest use of the area as a farm and mill through the present day. The beginning and end of each period corresponds to and documents major physical changes in the cultural landscape. 1850 1875 1900 1925 World Wars and the Great Depression (1914 to 1945) Liberty Park Period of Significance (1882 to 1970) 1847 | SLC established Isaac Chase received first lot in Big Field 1852 | Chase Mill 1854 | Chase House 1882 | Liberty Park opened 1882 to 1885 | Initial park improvement - central and loop park roads, walks, plantings 1883 | Joseph Don Carlos Young won Liberty Park Design Competition 1920 | Entrance Monuments 1938 | Tracy Aviary Opened, Flight Cage and Aquarium 1939 | Greenhouse Boiler Room early 1900s | Rose garden, lawn, park road paving 1903 | Greenhouse 1905 | DAR Fountain 1914 | Zoo opened, boys’ swimming pool and dressing room c. 1915 | North Shelter, tennis courts 1917 | Greenhouse expansion 1931 | Zoo Closed 1943 | North Greenhouse Addition 1945 | Loyal Order of the Moose Fireplace 1912 | Liberty Lake was enlarged and enhanced with islands and bridges, rustic shelter, bandstand, greenhouse expansion, drinking fountains, lighting, electric fountain, trees, benches comfort stations, flowerbeds, playground expansion, girls’ swimming pool and dressing room 1860 | Brigham Young acquires Chase Farm and Mill Farm and Mill Operations (1847 to 1881) Liberty Park Opened (1882 to 1913)World Wars and the Great Depression (1914 to 1945) Chapter 2: Site History 2-15 1850187519001925 1950 1975 2000 2025 World Wars and the Great Depression (1914 to 1945) 1955 | 4 tennis courts and clubhouse 1980s | Tennis Building, Train Depot 2000s | Rotary Park Play, East Playground, Liberty Lake Gazebo and Bridge, Concession Building, and Restroom 1949 | Bandstand, swimming pool and bathhouse 1950 | New greenhouse, maintenance office, workshop, vehicle storage after 1966 | Main Greenhouse c. 1960 | Merry-Go-Round Building, Horseshoe Building 1962 | 4 tennis courts 1990s | Swimming Pool and Building, Restrooms (playgrounds and tennis), Seven Canyons Fountain 1969 | Falcon Fountain by 1970 | 600 E redesigned as Pedestrian Promenade 1970 | Rice Pavilion, Wilson Pavilion Post War Era(1946 to 1970)Park Planning andReactivation (1971 to 1996)Use and Repair of LibertyPark (1995 to present day) 2-16 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Farm and Mill Operations (1847 to 1881) Isaac Chase arrived in Utah in September 1847 and received a city lot and a five-acre tract in the Big Field where he established a mill and farm. Chase’s operations were successful, and he eventually acquired over 100 acres of land, including present-day Liberty Park. Chase selected lands with natural springs for power, irrigation, and to feed his millpond, present-day Liberty Lake. Water flowed from the millpond to the mill and continued to a creek to the west.2-24 Chase exchanged his mill and farm with his business partner Brigham Young, for a property in Centerville, Utah, in 1860. Young planted mulberry, cottonwood, and other species of trees and used the property as privately owned open space, with plans for his lands to be purchased by Salt Lake City and opened as public parkland upon his death.2-25 1847 Isaac Chase was assigned a plot in the original “Big Field Survey” as an early settler of Salt Lake Valley. Chase built an upright sawmill in late 1847 to cut lumber for his home and mill. The farm became locally known as Forest Park, Locust Patch, and Mill Farm. 2-26 1848 Chase built a small crackling mill. 2-27 William Weeks designed a mill for Chase, Chase Mill. Chase supervised the building of the Mill and installed irons and millstones that his daughter had freighted to Utah when the family moved to Salt Lake Valley in 1847.2-28 1854 Isaac Chase built a house, Chase Home, from 1853 to 1854.2-29 1860 Chase traded his mill and farm to Brigham Young for a 100-acre property in Centerville, UT. Chase had purchased three additional tracts adjacent to his original plot by 1860. Chase Farm and Mill was more than 100 acres in size by the time of its acquisition by Young. Chase Farm and Mill was incorporated into Brigham Young Farm, which contained several thousand acres in the Big Field areas. Young planted trees on the former Chase Farm and Mill site, including mulberry and cottonwood trees, and the property was used as privately-owned open space.2-30 1881 Salt Lake City purchased the former Chase Farm and Mill from the Brigham Young estate for $27,500 on April 20, 1881.2-31 Chapter 2: Site History 2-17 Chase Farm and Mill 1875 Birds eye map of the Salt Lake City, looking southeast (image: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division). 2-18 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Salt Lake City purchased Liberty Park from the Brigham Young estate on April 20, 1881, and opened the park to the public on June 17, 1882. Mayor William Jennings’ administration held a design competition “for improving and beautifying” Liberty Park. Joseph Don Carlos Young won the competition with a submission inspired by the American Park Movement of the late nineteenth century. His winning design capitalized on natural features such as meadows, forested groves, and lakes to highlight the picturesque beauty of the park. Early improvements included a formal rose garden with paths, lawns, and new trees and shrubs. The central north-south road—600 E—was graded and paved with gravel. Portions of other roads were paved with gravel and improved with curbs and gutters. Use of Liberty Park expanded as part of Salt Lake City’s broader initiative to improve its parks in the early twentieth century. These improvements were inspired by the City Beautiful Movement and reflected efforts to bring beauty, nature, and recreation to residents of Salt Lake City. This included a greenhouse (1903), bandstand (1911), playground (by 1912), zoo (1915), tennis courts (1915), and picnic structure (c. 1915). The original 1903 greenhouse building was expanded several times in the subsequent decades, providing flowers and plants for parks and buildings throughout the city and county of Salt Lake City. New buildings and structures reflected the rustic style characteristic of the American Park Movement and the classical forms, symmetry, ornate decoration, and grand scale of the City Beautiful movement. Establishment of the Public Park (1882 to 1913) 1882 The park was dedicated and opened under the name “Liberty Park” on June 17, 1882, the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill. The dedication ceremony was initially planned for July 4, 1881, but was postponed due to the assassination of President Garfield.2-32 1883 The Salt Lake Herald-Republican printed public notifications in February 1883 announcing a design competition for several of Salt Lake City’s parks. Pursuant to authorization of the City Council, the Committee on Public Grounds will receive plans for improving and beautifying Liberty Park Pioneer Washington and Tenth Ward Squares at any time on or before the 15th day of March 1883: Plans reported by the Committee and approved by the City Council are entitled to the following premium. For Liberty Park $100 For Pioneer Square (partly designed) $10 For Washington Square $20 For Tenth Ward Square $20 2-33 “ ” Chapter 2: Site History 2-19 LibertyPark ChaseMill ChaseHouse Liberty Lake Swan Pond Bandstand Greenhouse Duck Pond Fish Ponds Children’s Playgrounds Girls SwimmingPool Bandstand 50 0 E 60 0 E 60 0 E 60 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e 900 S 900 SEntrance 1300 S Entrance 700 E Entrance 500 E Entrance 1300 S 70 0 E 1882 to 1913 Period Plan (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 0 400 feet200 N 2-20 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report The Salt Lake Herald-Republican printed an article on March 20, 1883, stating eight competitors were being evaluated by the Committee on Public Grounds for their plans for Liberty Park. The article noted …Some of the plans are beautiful specimens of work show careful study of the ground a nicety of arrangement and of detail in the improvement of the ground and are admirable specimens of draftsmanship…Two of the plans are especially notable, both for the excellence of the suggestions and ideas in regard to the improvement of the Park and because of the consummate skill displayed in the mechanical labor…The committee on public grounds to whom the inspection of the plans had been assigned, has spent fully two days in their examination and in reading the specifications. They again meet this morning to continue the labor It is their present desire to make a report to the City Council tonight but whether they will succeed is not yet certain In the event of decision they will report all the plans to the Council and recommend the adoption of that which they deem most practicable and worthy… No time is now being wasted for the reason that spring is evidently here and It will be necessary to commence work on the plan that may be adopted without delay if it is desired to accomplish any work this season.2-34 The Deseret News reported on April 4, 1883, that Joseph Don Carlos Young had won the design competition for Liberty Park and was awarded a prize of $100.00. The paper noted that the successful entries for the park designs “…possessed a high degree of merit, in point of taste, ingenuity and artistic design and execution.” 1882 Mayor Jennings’ administration was charged with improving the grounds as public parkland. The administration appointed C. H. Wilcken as superintendent of Liberty Park and hired Swiss landscape gardener Arnold Schultess to design the park. Chase Home became the residence of the park’s superintendent and continued to serve that function until 1964.2-35 The mill, dating to Chase’s ownership of the property, was initially used for its original purpose during the development of the park. The mill eventually became used as a storage building.2-36 The Deseret News reported that a “wagon load of spruce trees” were delivered from Pleasant Valley and was planted at Liberty Park.2-37 1900s Park improvement in the early 1900s included establishing a rose garden with paths, seeding areas of the park to create lawns, and removing, relocating, and planting new trees and shrubs throughout the park. The central north-south road—600 E—was graded and paved with gravel. Portions of other roads were paved with gravel and improved with curbs and gutters.2-38 “ ” to 1885 Chapter 2: Site History 2-21 Formal garden, 1896 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Uniform allée of trees planted along 600 E (present-day Central Promenade) with parallel walks, 1907 (image: © 2001 Utah State Historical Society). 2-22 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Greenhouse, 1912. The central portion of the greenhouse was built in 1903. Several additions followed in the subseqent decades (image: © Utah State Historical Society). 1903 The city built the greenhouse in Liberty Park for $7,986.2-39 1905 The Spirit of Liberty Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), dedicated the first Utah DAR monument, the DAR Drinking Fountain Monument, in Salt Lake City on November 11, 1905. The monument was first placed in front of the Packard Public Library at 15 South State Street. It was later moved to Washington Square and eventually relocated to the northeast quadrant of Liberty Park. The water fountain is no longer functioning and is set in the center of a flowerbed bordered by a rock wall.2-40 Chapter 2: Site History 2-23 Plans for Water Closets developed by the City Engineer’s Office, Salt Lake City, May 10, 1906 (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 1906 Louis C. Kelsey, an engineer in Salt Lake City’s Engineer’s Office, developed drawings for water closets at Liberty Park. 1908 Ernest Victor Fohlin described Liberty Park in his 1908 book on Salt Lake City as “…a most fitting and attractive spot for public use and enjoyment. It contains 110 acres of ground and is a favorite place for outings during the summer season. Celebrations of holidays and various other gatherings are held in this spacious and attractive place. Held’s military band has for a number of years furnished instrumental musical concerts on Sundays and holidays for public entertainment. The park is situated in the southeastern part of the city. Its main entrance is on Ninth South and Fifth East streets and is reached by the street cars.”2-41 1911 Fire destroyed stables, including five horses and two cows, storehouses, and playground apparatus stored during the winter months at Liberty Park. 2-24 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Evergreen tree allée along Constitution Drive with parallel walks, 1911 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). Parade at Liberty Park, July 5, 1909 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society).Liberty Park Gateway, c. 1910 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-25 Liberty Lake, c. 1910 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society).Liberty Lake, c. 1910 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). Liberty Park, Park Lake Looking Southeast 1910 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). Stone arbors, c. 1910 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). 2-26 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 1912 Nicholas Byhouwer, city superintendent of parks, submitted his semi-annual report to city commissioners. Recorded improvement of Liberty Park included the enlargement of Liberty Lake to double its former size, with concrete retaining walls surrounding the section of the enlarged lake. Two small islands were created in the center of the lake and were planted with bowers (arbors) and lawn. Two bridges provided access to the islands and were lit at night. Twenty aluminum boats were purchased for visitor use of the lake. Several structures were removed, and a semi-rustic shelter was built along with other buildings and structures for birds and animals. The conservancy (greenhouse) was expanded for plant propagation with a capacity for 10,000 plants. Superintendent Byhouwer recommended removing the remaining locust trees on the east side of the park and removing all barns, stables, and other features “entirely out of place…(and)…installing…amusement features such as a bowling alley, scenic railway, etc., at the west side near the middle of the park…” and building a bandstand near Liberty Lake. Other park improvements included cobble sanitary drinking fountains, 12 lights, 12 acres of parking (lawn), 1,200 shade and ornamental trees, flower beds and borders, 250 new benches, and two new comfort stations. Improvement of the northwest section of the park included 8,000’ of pipe for irrigation. A bronze 15-foot-tall fountain was set in the center of the northwest quadrant and was surrounded by clusters of incandescent lights to illuminate the fountain at night. One-third of roads were oiled to test the surface. The surfacing received positive reviews. The playground was improved, and amenities included a wading pool, swings, see-saws and other playground apparatuses, cobble stone drinking fountains, and a 85’ by 25’ concrete swimming pond and dressing rooms. The report also mentions that the zoo was established, and free concerts were held on Sundays and Wednesdays.2-42 1913 The Salt Lake Tribune reported that 7,000 to 10,000 tourists were taken through Liberty Park monthly in tourist cars.2-43 Liberty Park Playground adjacent to 600 E with Liberty Lake Bridge in background, 1912 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-27 Rustic design of site features in Liberty Park, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Rustic design of two-story Liberty Park Pavilion, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society).Rustic design of two-story Liberty Park Pavilion, 1912 (image: Mss C 275; Shipler Commercial Photographers Collection). 2-28 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Two-story pavilion with Liberty Lake in foreground, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Plantings, concrete edge, and fence along Swan Pond with Chase Mill in background, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Rustic structure and seating at island in Liberty Park with two-story structure in background, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-29 LZ L was formerly tho old "baco- -bnll diamoud in tho northwest- ern portion of Liberty park will be nextconvertedintooneotthobeaut;of Salt Lake City.In tho center of this piece of ground it is proposed toerectanelectricfountainotelaborate dThc 'fountain proper is expected to cost $000,and with the illuminationandbasinthetotalcostwillreachap-proximately $1200.'which amount isprovidedlorinthopark departmentbudectfor1918.Neither figure in- cludes tho cost of installation,which will be dono by the regulsr employeesoftheparkdepartment.The ground directly surrounding the fountain will bo improved in such amannerastoprovideamostcquisitcfloraldisplay.In the ornamental llowerbedswillbeplantedallthochoiceflowersofthepark,with changes atfrequentintervals,both iu tho charac-ter of the designs and also in the kindofflowers.Trees which hae boon gToming for Proposed.Electric Fountain in Liberty Park 'Jls,m v --'-... m t-.4 :si fe L SL-;.M, years snrrounding the plot of groundwillprovideamploshadeforthewalkswhich will iuclose the ground.Xearbywillnoabandstand.Rustic seats aretobebuiltwhichwillmakoitpoasibloforthovisitortobothhearexcellenteveningbandconcertsandalsotowit-ness the playing of vari-colored electriclightsinthofountain. Proposed Electric Fountain in Liberty Park, December 29, 1912 (image: Salt Lake Tribune). Liberty Lake bridge and duck house, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society).Flower bed, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). 2-30 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report The improvement of Liberty Park slowed during World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. Liberty Park remained a popular destination for summer concert series, recreational leagues, family reunions, and civic events. Major changes during this period included the closure of the zoo in 1931 and the establishment of Tracy Aviary at the former zoo’s location in 1938. Additionally, in 1934, Chase Mill was repurposed as a relic hall by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. In 1945, the greenhouse was expanded with the purchase of an addition from Ickes Braun, a renowned glasshouse manufacturer. 1914 Appropriations for a zoo were made in 1914, and the zoo remained open in Liberty Park until the establishment of Hogle Zoo in 1931. Other improvements at Liberty Park included a new swimming pool for boys and seven acres of parking (lawn).2-44 c. 1915 Tennis courts and bungalow-style North Public Restrooms and North Shelter (present-day YouthCity building) were built.2-45 1917 A 24’ by 58’ addition to the greenhouse was completed in January 1917.2-46 The Salt Lake Telegram reported that plants were transferred to the newly completed greenhouse at Liberty Park in February. The greenhouses supplied flowers and plants for the parks and buildings of the city and county of Salt Lake City.2-47 World Wars and The Great Depression (1914 to 1945) Liberty Park tennis courts, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Comfort station, 1917 (image: 2002 © Utah State Historical Society). Liberty Park greenhouse and formal gardens along 600 E, 1922 (image: 2002 © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-31 LibertyPark ChaseMill Liberty Lake Swan Pond Band Stand Greenhouse Dwelling Candy Stand North ShelterDuck Pond TennisCourts Fish Ponds Swimming Pool Pagoda 50 0 E 60 0 E 900 S 900 SEntrance 1300 S Entrance 700 E Entrance 500 E Entrance 1300 S 70 0 E Tracy Aviary Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e 0 400 feet200 N 1914 to 1945 Period Plan (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 2-32 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 600 E with allée, parallel walks, and open lawns to the east and west, 1915 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). 600 E looking North, 1915 (image: 2001 © Utah State Historical Society). 600 E after the addition monumental entrance piers, lights, curbs, and gutters, before 1918 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). President Harding Welcome Arch, 1923 (image: 2003 © Utah State Historical Society). 900 S park entrance with monumental entrance piers, 1915 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-33 1918 The city removed between 80 and 100 dead or dying trees from 600 E. Two inner rows of trees were taken out, and the road was expanded to approximately 90 feet in width. The gate at the park entrance was also removed. The newly expanded road included “parking down the center of the park to the south end, with a sixteen-foot driveway on each side of the center parking. On each side of the driveways will be parking eight feet wide and then walks fourteen feet wide on each side.” Parking is likely used in this context to describe landscape medians.2-48 Sylvester Q. Cannon, an engineer in Salt Lake City’s Engineering Department, developed drawings for a Field House at Liberty Park. 1920 Monumental entrance piers were built at 900 S and 1300 S.2-49 by The Salt Lake Herald-Republican reported that Liberty Park’s rose garden was a “city beauty spot” with 2,500 rose shrubs. The rose garden had been established less than three years earlier and occupied an area of 100’ by 300’.2-50 1931 Hogle Zoo opened in Emigration Canyon, and the zoo in Liberty Park was closed.2-51 Field House at Liberty Park Plans, 1918. (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands Archives). 1920 2-34 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 1933 Salt Lake City started leasing Chase Mill to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers for $1.00 per year. They utilized the building as a “relic hall.”2-52 1938 Russel Lord Tracy donated his collection of 200 birds to Salt Lake City. Tracy Aviary at Liberty Park opened on July 2, 1938. The four- acre facility featured several hundred birds, seals, monkeys, and kangaroos.2-53 A flight cage and aquarium were built in Tracy Aviary. The aquarium housed four fish tanks and white mice and was later used as a playhouse, caretaker’s house, housing for interns, and offices.2-54 Salt Lake City Commissioners authorized the construction of a brick refreshment stand at Liberty Park. The work was completed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project with the city allocating $3,367 in funds and the federal government providing $2,507 in funding. The city also approved a WPA project to trim and remove dead trees at Liberty Park.2-55 Chase Mill, 1930 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-35 Tracy Aviary, 1938 (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-36 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Aquarium in Tracy Aviary, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Bird flight cage in Tracy Aviary, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 2: Site History 2-37 1939 The engineering department of Salt Lake City developed drawings for a new boiler room at the greenhouse. 1943 The city accepted a bid of $723 for a 30’ by 60’ prefabricated addition to the greenhouse (north greenhouse addition).2-56 1945 The Loyal Order of the Moose, Salt Lake Lodge No. 259 sponsored the design and construction of a flagstone fireplace. The fireplace was one of three fireplaces designed by W.S. Edmonds, secretary of the Moose Lodge, and was one of three fireplaces placed in Liberty Park, Fairmont Park, and Jordan Park. The concrete plaques on the chimneys were created by schoolchildren at Mooseheart, Illinois. Salt Lake City Commissioners designated the area surrounding the fireplace as “Moose Grove.”2-57 Drawing for Greenhouse Boiler Room, 1939 (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-38 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Liberty Park’s operational infrastructure and recreational amenities expanded in the post-war years. Additions included a new bandstand (1949), swimming pool and bathhouse (1949), four additional tennis courts and a tennis clubhouse (1955), and maintenance office, workshop, vehicle storage building (c. 1950), Rice Pavilion (c. 1970), and Wilson Pavilion (1970). The design of new park buildings and features shifted to a modern style that expressed clean lines, symmetry, minimal ornamentation, and functionality. Historic aerials document a change in the design and use of 600 E between 1950 and 1970. The central vehicular route was redesigned as a pedestrian promenade—Central Promenade—and closed to vehicular travel. Post-War Era (1946 to 1970) 1949 Liberty Park bandstand shelter was built and the roof over the existing bandstand was replaced by Fullmer Bros for around $10,550, including materials. The same year Jacobsen Construction Co. was hired to build a swimming pool and bathhouse for $66,000.2-58 A bandstand shelter, swimming pool, and bathhouse were built. The roof of the existing bandstand was replaced.2-59 c. 1950 Salt Lake City park department’s building appropriation fund was drastically reduced. Funds were allocated for a new greenhouse at Liberty Park.2-60 Liberty Park Maintenance Office, workshop, and vehicle storage building were built.2-61 1953 A blue spruce, the official state tree of Utah from 1933 to 2014, was planted on the west side of the 900 South entrance on May 6, 1953.2-62 1955 Four additional tennis courts and a tennis clubhouse were built and the horseshoe courts were expanded.2-63 1960 Restrooms (Utah Historic Building Record # 123747) were built at Tracy Aviary.2-64 c. 1960 The Merry-Go-Round Building and Horseshoe Building with storage and restrooms were built.2-65 1962 Four new tennis courts were built in Liberty Park, bringing the total number of tennis courts to fourteen.2-66 1966 Lord & Burnham Greenhouse Designers & Manufacturers developed drawings for the main greenhouse. The date and reason for removing the original 1903 main greenhouse structure are undocumented. The main greenhouse was built after the development of the drawings dated December 1966. 1968 The aquarium at Tracy Aviary was converted to use as a caretaker’s cottage. It is unknown if the cottage was occupied by the caretaker of Tracy Aviary or the larger Liberty Park.2-67 1969 Falcon Fountain was built along the Central Promenade of Liberty Park.2-68 1970 Wilson Pavilion (Utah Historic Building Record # 123743), Birdhouse 1 (Utah Historic Building Record # 123754), and a Storage Building (Utah Historic Building Record # 123755) were built at Tracy Aviary.2-69 c. 1970 Rice Pavilion was built.2-70 Chapter 2: Site History 2-39 Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary LibertyPark KoiPond Playground ChaseMill ChaseHome RicePavilion BoxingBuilding Merry-Go- Round Building GreenhouseMaintenance O ce NorthShelter SwimmingPoolBuilding Restroom Tennis Building Restroom 50 0 E Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e 900 S 900 SEntrance 1300 S Entrance 1300 S 70 0 E Swan Pond 1946 to 1970 Period Plan (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 0 400 feet200 N 2-40 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Tracy Aviary, 1968 (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands). Chapter 2: Site History 2-41 Bird Exhibit Pavilion (Wilson Pavilion) site plan, 1969 (image: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-42 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Planning for the Reactivation of Liberty Park (1971 to 1996) The city and neighborhood association initiated a master plan for Liberty Park in the 1970s to “remove the most incompatible uses and restore some elements of the original park design.” The city implemented recommendations for the system-wide and park-specific master plans in the 1980s. This included the removal of several historic buildings and structures, likely including a restroom facility, bandstand, picnic shelters, and pagoda. Additions to the park included a tennis building (1980), train storage depot (1980), swimming pool building (1990), Seven Canyons Fountain (1993), swimming pool (1994), and several restrooms (dates vary). 1978 Dennis Smith created the bronze Doll and Dare Statue. The statue was placed northeast of Rice Pavilion.2-71 1979 Salt Lake City Parks Department and Utah State Historical Society restored Chase Mill to its 1850 to 1860 appearance.2-72 c. 1980 Tennis building and train storage depot were built.2-73 1983 The Utah Art Council worked with the city to remodel the interior of the Chase Home to exhibit work by Utah craft artists. The folk arts program operated tours, exhibits, and educational programs in the Chase Home through the 2000s.2-74 c. 1985 Restrooms/Ball Playroom was built.2-75 c. 1990 The swimming pool building was built.2-76 Tracy Aviary Maintenance Shed was built.2-77 1992 Restroom were built near the locations of present-day East Playground and Rotary Play Park.2-78 1993 Seven Canyons Fountain was donated to the residents of Salt Lake City as a legacy gift from O.C. Tanner. The fountain’s designers, Boyd Blackner, Elizabeth Blackner, Stephen Goldsmith, and John Swain, based their concept on the canyons, waterways, and mountains of Salt Lake City and the Wasatch Front.2-79 1994 The swimming pool was removed and replaced with a new pool.2-80 1995 Tennis restrooms were built.2-81 Chapter 2: Site History 2-43 Planning for the Continued Use and Repair of Liberty Park (1997 to present-day) The city and community of Salt Lake City developed a plan, Liberty Park Scoping Project, to “restore Liberty Park to its previous beauty and grandeur, and to bring back many of the historic elements that have been lost over the years.” The city implemented recommendations of the plan to upgrade and repair Liberty Park. This included the removal of Boxing Building, North Public Restrooms (built c. 1915), Horseshoe Building (built c. 1960), and Restrooms/Ball Playroom (1985). Additions included Rotary Play Park (2002), East Playground (2004), Liberty Lake Gazebo (2003), Concession Building and Restrooms (2008), and Liberty Lake pedestrian bridge (2010). 1997 1997 A topographic mound was created in 1997 in the southeast corner of Liberty Park using excess fill from the excavation of Rice-Eccles Stadium and the University of Utah. after Recommendations established in the Liberty Park Scoping & Cost Study were implemented. This included the removal of Boxing Building, North Public Restrooms (built c. 1915), Horseshoe Building (built c. 1960), and Restrooms/Ball Playroom (1985). 2002 Rotary Play Park was built in 2002 as an all- ages and abilities playground in honor of the 2002 Paralympic Winter Games, which were hosted in Utah.2-82 2003 Liberty Lake Gazebo, a replica of the historic Band Stand Gazebo, was built at Liberty Lake.2-83 2004 East Playground was built.2-84 2005 A 2003 Salt Lake City bond provided $1.2M to build Destination Argentina at Tracy Aviary. Construction began in 2004 and Destination Argentina opened in 2005.2-85 2007 Private funding was secured to rehabilitate the flight cage at Tracy Aviary into Kennecott Wetlands Experience, a walk-through exhibit featuring native Utah wetland birds and built a feeding aviary—Amazon Adventure.2-86 2008 Concession Building and Restrooms were built.2-87 2007 Tracy Aviary built the Southern Ground Hornbill exhibit and razed several structures.2-88 2010 MGB+A Studio designed a pedestrian bridge to the island in Liberty Lake.2-89 A Salt Lake County bond and private donations funded an approximate $3M renovation of the Calvin D. Wilson South American Pavilion.2-90 2011 Tracy Aviary rehabilitated a goose yard to Owl Forest and opened a new Visitors Center.2-91 2012 Tracy Aviary opened a new bird show theater and a new holding building for off-exhibit holding space.2-92 2014 The city established a secondary irrigation pump house in Liberty Park.2-93 Tracy Aviary built a turkey vulture/hawk exhibit near the Kennecott Wetlands Exhibit and King of the Andes.2-94 2-44 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 2015 Avian Health Center and the Macaw/King Vulture exhibit were opened at Tracy Aviary.2-95 2016 The Treasures of the Rainforest exhibit opened at Tracy Aviary.2-96 An engineer’s assessment of the aquarium building, built in 1938. The building was not designed to modern building standards, making it vulnerable to snow loads and weathering. The report estimated the cost of restoring the structure at $600,000. 2017 The Bird Feeder Cafe opened on the west side of Tracy Aviary, providing a second point of entry to the Aviary and concessions for Aviary and Liberty Park visitors.2-97 2018 The city redesigned the plaza at the Concession Building to improve accessibility and connectivity, support amusement area use, and provide new seating areas, lighting, and plantings. The project included new plantings and resetting the plaques at the WWI memorial. Liberty Park maintenance yard was improved with an upgraded fueling site that included a drain, oil/water separator, and bio-swale to mitigate potential fuel spills.2-98 Expedition Kea opened at Tracy Aviary.2-99 2021 Tracy Aviary repaired damage to Swan Pond after a large storm event. This included the removal of the large rock structure in the pond and addition of a deck, arbor, fence, and landscaping.2-100 2023 9 Line Trail was built along the northern boundary of Liberty Park, south of E 900 S. Chapter 2: Site History 2-45 2-1 Forrest Cuch, A History of Utah’s American Indians (Utah State University, University Libraries, 2003), 18, 212-2 Brad Westwood, “Salt Lake as an Early Industrial City and the Beginning of the Relief Society Halls,” CCE, November 15, 2023.2-3 Kate (Barnson) Carter and Emmeline B. (Woodward) Wells, The Chase Mill (Salt Lake City: Utah Print. Co., 1957), 10 to 12. 2-4 Meess, Sara and Sheri Ellis. Historic American Landscapes Survey Liberty Park. (Salt Lake City, Utah), 2. 2-5 Haglund, Karl T. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Liberty Park. Utah State Historical Society: Salt Lake City, UT, 1980), 3. 2-6 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 3. 2-7 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 3; Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 2.2-8 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 4. 2-9 “Plans for Improving Public Parks,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, February 3, 1883.2-10 McClelland, Linda. Presenting Nature: The Historic Landscape Design of the National Park Service 1916 to 1942. (Washington, D.C., 1993), 20.2-11 Fohlin, SLC Past and Present, 127; Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 4.2-12 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 3.2-13 Fohlin, SLC Past and Present, 127. 2-14 “Progress Shown in City Parks Report,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 24, 1912.2-15 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 4.2-16 “Primarily Amusement Place for Common People, So Writer Favors Liberty Park Location,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 23, 1923.2-17 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 4.2-18 Downtown Salt Lake City Second Century Plan (Salt Lake City, Utah: Downtown Planning Association, Inc., 1962).2-19 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 6.2-20 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 9.2-21 At the time of this CLR, a copy of the 1970s Master Plan for Liberty Park was not available, and the full extent of recommendations and their implementation is undocumented. 2-22 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 6.2-23 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping Project (Salt Lake City, Utah: Park Planning & Development, 1997).2-24 Carter, The Chase Mill, 122-25 Meess, Sara and Sheri Ellis. Historic American Landscapes Survey Liberty Park. (Salt Lake City, UT), 2; Haglund, Karl T. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Liberty Park. Utah State Historical Society: Salt Lake City, UT), 3.2-26 Smith, Melvin T. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Isaac Chase Mill. (Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, UT, 1970), 3; Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 3; 2011 Liberty Park HALS Report, 2. 2-27 Smith, NRHP Chase Mill, 3. 2-28 Smith, NRHP Chase Mill, 3. 2-29 Smith, NRHP Chase Mill, 7. 2-30 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 2. 2-31 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 3. 2-32 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 3; 2011 Liberty Park HALS Report, 2.2-33 “Plans for Improving Public Parks.” Salt Lake Herald-Republican. February 3, 1883. 2-34 “The Liberty Park Plans,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, March 20, 1883.2-35 Fohlin, SLC Past and Present, 127; SHPO Public Record, 179.2-36 1980 Liberty Park NRHP Nomination, 9. 2-37 “Car-Load of Spruce,” Deseret News, October 15, 1884.2-38 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 4.2-39 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 4; The Daily Utah Chronicle. “Historic Liberty Park: An Inner-city Retreat,” September 28, 1977.2-40 “Dar Drinking Fountain Monument,” Daughters of the American Revolution, May 8, 2024, https://www.dar.org/national-society/historic-sites-and-properties/dar-drinking-fountain-monument.2-41 E.V. Fohlin, Salt Lake City Past and Present (Salt Lake City, Utah: E.V. Fohlin, 1908), 127. 2-42 “Progress Shown in City Parks Report,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 24, 1912.; “Rushing Work on Many Improvements at Liberty Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 15, 1912; “Handsome Fountain for Liberty Park,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 14, 1912.2-43 “A Birdseye View of an Electric Fountain in Liberty Park,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 13, 1913.2-44 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 4; 1. “Boys’ Swimming Pool Work Is under Way,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 8, 1914.2-45 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 41. 2-46 “New Hothouse at Liberty Park Opened,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 26, 1917.2-47 “Transfer Plants to New Greenhouse,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 1, 1917.2-48 “Liberty Park Drive Widened and Beautified,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, February 10, 1918.2-49 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 4. 2-50 “Rose Garden at Liberty Park Is City Beauty Spot,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, July 14, 1920; 2-51 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 4. 2-52 Haglund, Liberty Park NRHP, 9; Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 4.“Historic Utah Buildings,” ArcGIS web application, accessed June 2, 2025, https://shpo.utah.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=8e218e18c2b74477b5f520e5617bebaf.2-53 “Aviary History - Tracy Aviary,” Tracy Aviary - Where Curiosity Takes Flight, October 10, 2024, https://tracyaviary.org/aviary-history/#:~:text=Tracy%20donated%20his%20collection%20to,natural%20oasis%20it%20is%20today.2-54 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 5.2-55 “Refreshment Stand to Be Built in Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 5, 1938.; “$101,024 Walks Repair Plan Okehed,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 17, 1938.2-56 “City Accepts $723 Greenhouse Bid,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 3, 1943.2-57 Moose Children to Enjoy Outing. Deseret News, August 3, 1945, p16. 2-58 The Daily Utah Chronicle. “Historic Liberty Park: An Inner-city Retreat,” September 28, 1977.2-59 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 5. Endnotes 2-46 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 2-60 “S. L. Parks Plans,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 3, 1950.2-61 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 43. 2-62 The Daily Utah Chronicle. “Historic Liberty Park: An Inner-city Retreat,” September 28, 1977.2-63 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 5; The Daily Utah Chronicle. “Historic Liberty Park: An Inner-city Retreat,” September 28, 1977.2-64 2-65 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 42, 46. 2-66 “City to Build 10 Courts for Tennis,” Salt Lake Tribune, February 11, 1962.2-67 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 5.2-68 “Liberty_ParkAmenities Shapefile” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-69 2-70 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 40. 2-71 Katherine Nix, “The Doll and Dare,” NowPlayingUtah.com, September 23, 2020, https://www.nowplayingutah.com/public-art/the-doll-and-dare/.2-72 Bruce Hawkins, rep., Archeological Investigations at Chase Mill (Salt Lake City, Utah: Salt Lake City Corporation, 1979), 5.2-73 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 40, 47. 2-74 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 6.2-75 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 45. 2-76 Landmark Design, Liberty Park Landscape Scoping, 43. 2-77 2-78 “Liberty_ParkStructures”2-79 “Slc.Gov,” Public Lands Department, accessed March 4, 2025, https://www.slc.gov/parks/projects/scf/#:~:text=History%20of%20the%20Fountain&text=Seven%20Canyons%20Fountain%20was%20a,people%20could%20walk%20through%20them.2-80 Meess, Liberty Park HALS, 5.2-81 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-82 “Slc.Gov,” Public Lands Department, accessed March 4, 2025, https://www.slc.gov/parks/projects/reimagine-liberty-park-playground/.2-83 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-84 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-85 2-86 “Tracy Aviary Strategic Plan” (Salt Lake City: Tracy Aviary, 2024).2-87 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-88 2-89 “Liberty Park Improvements,” MGB+A Studio, October 19, 2022, https://mgba-studio.com/project/liberty-park-bridge-and-gazebo/.2-90 2-91 2-92 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).“Tracy Aviary Master Plan” (Salt Lake City: Tracy Aviary, 2016). 2-93 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-94 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-95 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-96 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-97 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-98 Parks & Public Lands 2018 Annual Report (Salt Lake City, Utah: Salt Lake City, 2018).2-99 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.).2-100 “Liberty_ParkStructures” (Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d.). Existing Condition and Analysis 03 image: Mundus Bishop 3-2 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Introduction This chapter evaluates Liberty Park’s existing condition and presents an analysis of integrity. The evaluation and analysis of Liberty Park were undertaken to understand the park as a whole; to identify and document qualities that contribute to its historic character; and to identify individual features that contribute to its significance. Site investigations completed in the fall of 2024 documented the existing condition of the cultural landscape. Appendix C presents existing condition information for individual features that include tangible and intangible aspects. These include park composition; circulation and connectivity; vegetation; water features; buildings; structures, objects, and features; and park uses and experiences. Liberty Park is the most visited park in Salt Lake City (image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-3 Liberty Park Period of Significance (1800 to 1970) Park Composition Liberty Park is characterized by American Park Movement principles of order, harmony, and structure—ideals reflected in its broad central axis, symmetrical loop road, and balance of formal and informal spaces. The park is arranged as a series of nine spaces. Tree allées, tree groves, open lawn, the central axis, and broad views and vistas create its spatial organization. Liberty Park is significant for its composition as a series of nine spaces, central axis, loop road, tree allées, open lawns, tree groves, and structures and buildings. 1883 Period Plan BuildingTreesGroveBridge 0 300150 N Mill PondChaseMill ChaseHome 60 0 E a s t 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary Playground Playground ChaseMill ChaseHome Greenhouse Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary Playground ChaseMill ChaseHome Greenhouse 60 0 E a s t Swan Pond Liberty Park Establishment (1881)Post War Era (1970)Present-day (2025) Park Composition Analysis. Liberty Park’s composition includes its organization as nine spaces, a central axis, tree allées, tree groves, and meadows established during the period of significance. These remain and contribute to the cultural landscape (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-4 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Axis, Park Spaces, and Loop Road Liberty Park is a distinct rectangular park defined by 900 S, 700 E, 1300 S, and 500 E with a central axis extending from the park entrance at 900 S to the park entrance at 1300 S and buildings and spaces oriented to the central axis—Central Promenade. Liberty Park is arranged as nine distinct spaces— northwest meadow, northeast meadow, sport court and maintenance core, central meadow, Liberty Lake, Tracy Aviary, Central Promenade, Constitution Drive, and Liberty Park Edge—defined by roads, trails, open lawn, tree groves, and tree allées. Liberty Park is bisected by Central Promenade—the north-south axis established with the original design of Liberty Park. Central Promenade follows the historic alignment of 600 E, extending from the park entrances at 900 S to the park entrance of 1300 S. This axis establishes the symmetry and cohesion of the park design and reflects the broader orthogonal street grid of Salt Lake City. The size and design of the built park landscape was modified throughout the period of significance, but retains its original organization of nine distinct spaces reflecting the early design of Liberty Park. The organization was maintained and strengthened as the park was modified through the design of circulation features, open meadow, and vegetation that defined those spaces. Central Promenade retains its historic alignment along this axis. Central Promenade was converted from a vehicular road to a pedestrian route during the period of significance. It retains its original alignment and remains as a central space of the park defined by a tree allée. The promenade was altered by the addition of Seven Canyons Refuge, War Memorial, and Falcon Fountain after the period of significance. Axis, Park Spaces, and Loop Road Analysis. Liberty Park is arranged on a six-square grid with six distinct spaces—northwest meadow, northeast meadow, sport court and maintenance core, central meadow, Liberty Lake, and Tracy Aviary—defined by Constitution Drive and Central Promenade (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). NortheastMeadowNorthwestMeadow Sport CourtsandMaintenanceCore Park Edge Liberty Park Park Edge CentralMeadow LibertyLakeTracyAviary Gateway 1300 SGateway Axis Building Tracy Aviary Boundary 0 300150 N1300 S 70 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Lo o p R o a d 900 S Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e Ax i s Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-5 Liberty Park Period of Significance (1800 to 1970) Park Composition. Liberty Park was modified throughout the period of significance but retains its organization of six distinct spaces. Historic aerials document how established spaces were maintained when new uses were introduced—e.g., the northeast meadow was modified from a garden to playgrounds. New uses and designs maintained a focused area of visitor use surrounded by open space (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Early to mid 1900s view south 1970 view south 2023 view south Playground Zoo Tennis Garden Central Promenade Central Promenade Central Promenade 900 S Gateway 900 S Gateway 900 S Gateway NW Meadow NE Meadow NE Meadow NE Meadow Central Meadow Central Meadow Central Meadow Tennis Tennis Play Play NW Meadow NW Meadow Liberty Lake Liberty Lake Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary Tracy Aviary 3-6 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Views and Vistas Analysis. Contributing views include views to the Wasatch Range from Liberty Park, views to Liberty Lake, views along tree allées, and views from adjacent streets to Liberty Park (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Axis Building Tracy Aviary Boundary 0 300150 N1300 S 70 0 E 900 S Views to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range Views to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range ViewstoDowntown Views to Liberty Park along CentralPromenade Views to Liberty Park along CentralPromenade Views toChase Homeand Greenhouse Views and Vistas Views orient visitors to the meadows, tree allées, and water features of Liberty Park and its surrounding natural setting. Prominent views include views to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range from Liberty Park, views to Liberty Lake, views along tree allées, and views from adjacent streets to Liberty Park. Historic views included pastoral views of meadows, tree groves, and lakes, views to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range, and an orchestrated sequence of views to park spaces framed by uniform tree allées along walks and roads. Trees planted along the borders of Liberty Park buffered views to adjacent development from within the spaces of the park. Mature trees along the perimeter continue to provide this function. Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-7 Views and Vistas Analysis. Views across Liberty Lake to the Wasatch Range remain from the period of significance. Mature trees along the perimeter of Liberty Park continue to buffer views from within the distinct spaces of the park to adjacent development (image: top image (1910) © 2001 Utah State Historical Society; bottom image (2024)). Views and Vistas Analysis. Views along the Central Promenade remain and contribute to the character of Liberty Park (image: top image (undated) © 2001 Utah State Historical Society; bottom image (2024)). 3-8 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Topography The topography of the park is relatively level with a man-made hill overlooking the southeast corner of Liberty Park (Liberty Lake) and the central meadow area. The hillside steeply rises 20’ from adjacent lands, providing a backdrop to the meadow to the north and Liberty Lake to the south. The historic topography of Liberty Park was modified by the establishment of a topographic mound north of Liberty Lake. Topography Analysis. The topography of Liberty Park is modified by the creation of Mount Gust in 1997. The landform form alters the relationship and views from Liberty Lake to the Central Meadow to the north (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-9 Liberty Park circulation is characterized by two primary gateways that provide multi-modal access to the park, four non-vehicular gateways, and a hierarchy of vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle routes that provide access to park destinations. They create a curated experience of moving through the park and assist in defining the park’s distinct spaces. Circulation was modified throughout the period of significance to accommodate changing park use. The overall arrangement and circulation pattern remain from the period of significance. Liberty Park is significant for its arrangement of circulation patterns. This includes Constitution Drive and Central Promenade, which date to the initial development of Liberty Park in the 1880s, and pedestrian routes throughout the park that connect to prominent spaces and park destinations. Circulation and Connectivity Liberty Park Period of Significance (1800 to 1970) 1883 Period Plan BuildingTrees GroveBridge 0 300150 N Mill Pond 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E Liberty Lake Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e Tracy Aviary 0 300150 N1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E 60 0 E Liberty LakeTracy Aviary Liberty Park Establishment (1881)Post War Era (1970)Present-day (2025) Circulation and Connectivity Analysis. Liberty Park’s overall arrangement of circulation patterns remains from the period of significance contribute to the cultural landscape (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-10 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 1300 S 900 S Williams Ave S Herbert Ave S Harvard Ave Edith Ave S 60 0 E Ty l e r S t 50 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e 70 0 E 70 0 E 50 0 E 50 0 E Pa r k S t 60 0 E 70 0 E Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary LibertyLake BridgeDock Central Promenade 900 S Gateway 1300 S Gateway Circulation and Connectivity Existing Condition Multi-ModalPark Gateway PedestrianPark Gateway Pedestrian Crossing Central Promenade Concrete Walk Multi-use Trail Mulch Trail Liberty LakeSocial Trail 9 Line Trail Park Roadand Parking Trac Signal On-Street Bike Route Bus Route Bus Stop 0 400 feet200 N Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-11 Gateways at 900 S and 1300 S define primary entries to Liberty Park. These monumental gateways are characteristic of formal City Beautiful design and provide multi-modal access to the park. Gateways remain similar to the period of significance with contemporary additions to facilitate contemporary use, including gates and infrastructure to restrict vehicular access and delineate patterns of one-way circulation; regulatory signage; and bicycle and pedestrian intersection improvements. The 1300 S gateway is further modified by the removal of monumental entrance piers. 900 S monumental entrance piers remain. Two non-extant secondary entrances for vehicles included an entrance at the eastern boundary of the park that aligns with the present-day access drive to North Shelter parking and an entrance at the western boundary of the park that aligns with the present-day access drive to Tracy Aviary parking. The non-extant eastern entrance was located west of 700 E between Yale Avenue and E Belmont Avenue. The non-extant western entrance is marked by four piers on the east side of 500 E, between Harvard Avenue and Edith Avenue. Vehicular routes contributing to Liberty Park include Constitution Drive. Constitution Drive was established with the initial improvement of Liberty Park and retains its original alignment. The route was initially developed as a two-way route and was converted to a one- way, counter-clockwise loop road after the period of significance. Constitution Drive was modified during the period of significance as use of the route shifted from a broad unpaved carriage route to a paved road with curb and gutter to a pedestrian promenade close to vehicular travel. Contemporary modifications to the route include the addition of pull-in parking and attached sidewalks on the interior of the road, an attached multi-use trail on the exterior of the road, and raised sidewalks and traffic control devices for pedestrian safety and to regulate vehicular access and circulation patterns. Park Gateway Analysis. Gateways at 900 S and 1300 S were established during the period of significance as primary entries to Liberty Park (top image). Gateways are modified by contemporary additions to facilitate park use and enhance safety for all modes. Historic monumental entrance piers remain at the 900 S entrance (middle image). Four piers mark the non-extant western entrance along 500 E (image: top image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1915; middle image: Mundus Bishop, 2024; bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). 3-12 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Central Promenade Analysis. Central Promenade was modified from a wide vehicular route (600 E) with parallel sidewalks (top image) to a paved vehicular route (600 E) with curb and gutter with parallel concrete walks (middle image) to its present-day configuration as a pedestrian route (bottom image) (sources: top image: Shipler Commercial Photographers Collection, 1915, middle image: Shipler Commercial Photographers Collection, 1922, bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-13 Pedestrian routes include a walk paralleling the interior of Constitution Drive, a multi-use trail paralleling the exterior of Constitution Drive, a mulch loop trail, walks connecting to buildings and destinations throughout the park, 9 Line Trail, and Central Promenade. Central Promenade is a feature of the original design of Liberty Park and likely predates the park, as it aligns with the surrounding street grid and provides to Chase Home and Chase Mill. The design and use of the Central Promenade was modified during the period of significance from a broad unpaved carriage route to a paved road with curb and gutter to its present configuration as a pedestrian route. Walks connecting to buildings and destinations throughout the park, including the four walks from each corner of the park to Constitution Drive, remain similar to the period of significance. The walk along the interior of Constitution Drive, 9 Line Trail, and the mulch loop trail were added after the period of significance. Circulation Analysis. Contributing roads and walks remain from the period of significance (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 0 300150 N Circulation Analysis Contributing Circulation Feature Non-Contributing Circulation Feature Non-Extant Circulation 3-14 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report The vegetation of Liberty Park is characterized by its mature tree allées, tree groves, meadows, and gardens. The overall arrangement of vegetation is similar to the period of significance, with modifications related to the loss of formal gardens and mature trees and urban tree canopy throughout the park. Liberty Park is significant for its patterns of tree allées, tree groves, and open lawns. Vegetation Liberty Park’s urban forest includes 1,990 trees comprised of 119 species, with trees extant from the period of significance. 62% of Liberty Parks trees are classified by the city as specimen trees. Trees vary in condition and are impacted by inadequate irrigation, invasive pests, and natural disasters. The city lost a significant number of trees during a hurricane-force windstorm in 2020, including 26 trees at Liberty Park. 3-1 Liberty Park’s trees are arranged as formal tree allées and tree groves. Isaac Chase and Brigham Young planted trees on the lands that would become Liberty Park. The significance of Liberty Park’s trees predates the establishment of the public park, as indicated in early local names for the property, including “Forest Park” and “Locust Patch.” Early descriptions of Liberty Park indicate its “locust patch is the only grove within miles of the city.” The 2019 Salt Lake City Parks and Public Lands Needs Assessment highlights the enduring significance of Liberty Park’s trees to city residents and park visitors, with one-third of survey respondents indicating trees are their primary reason for visiting Liberty Park. 3-2 Liberty Park Trees 1,990 trees in Liberty Park 1,225 specimen trees 119 tree species in Liberty Park. Liberty Park’s most common trees species include: Austrian Pine 430 trees (22%) Siberian Elm 209 trees (11%) London Plane Tree 110 trees (6%) Freemont Poplar 103 trees (5%) Littleleaf Linden 84 trees (4%) Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-15 1300 S 70 0 E 70 0 E 50 0 E 50 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n E a s t D r Co n s t i t u t i o n W e s t D r Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary 900 S !!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!! !!!! !!!! ! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!! !! ! ! ! !!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !! !! !! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! !!!! ! ! !! ! !!! !!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!! !!! !!!!!!! ! ! !!! !!!!!!! ! !!! !!! !! ! !! !!! !!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!! !! !!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! !! ! !!! ! !!!! !!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!! ! !!! ! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! ! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! !!!! ! !!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! !! !!!! ! !!!!!!! !!! ! !!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! !!! ! !! ! !!!!! !!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! ! !! ! !!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! ! !!! !!! ! !!!!! ! !! ! !!!!!!!!! !! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !!! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! ! !! ! !!!! !!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! ! ! !!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!! !!! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!! !!!!!! !!!! !!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!! ! !! ! ! !!! ! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !! !!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! ! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! ! ! !!! ! !!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!! !! !!! !!! ! !!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! ! !! ! ! ! ! !!! !! !! ! ! !!!!!! !! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !! !! ! !! ! ! ! !!! !! ! !! !!!! !!!! ! ! Lawn/Meadow Ornamental Plantings Deciduous Tree Evergreen Tree Tree Allée and Rows Japanese Zelkova Siberian Elm Freemont Poplar London Plane Tree Vegetation Existing Condition 0 400 feet200 N 3-16 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Axis Tree Size < 8” DBH 9” to 23” DBH >24” DBH 0 300150 N !!!! !!!!! !!!! !! !!!!!!!! !!! !! !!!!!!! !! !!!!! !!!! !!! !!!! !!!! ! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !! ! !! ! !! ! ! ! !!!! ! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! ! !!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!! ! !! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! ! ! !! ! !!! !!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!! !!! !! !! !!! ! ! !!! ! !! !!!! ! !! ! !!! ! ! ! !!!! ! !!!!!!!! !! !!! !!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !! !!! !!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!! !! !!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! !! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!! !! !!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!! ! !! ! ! !!!! !!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!! !!!!!!!! ! !!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!! ! !! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!! !!! ! ! !!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!! !!!!!! ! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! ! ! ! ! !!!! ! !!! !! ! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!! !!!! !!!!!! !! !! !! !!!! ! ! !! !!!! !!! ! !!!!! !!!!!!! ! !!! !!!! !!!!! !!!! !!!! !! !!!!! !!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!! !!! !!! ! !!!! ! !!! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! ! !! !!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!! !!!!!!!! !! ! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! ! !! ! !!! ! !!!!! ! !! ! !!! !!!!!! !! !!!!! !!! !! !!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !! !!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!! !! ! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! ! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! !!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! ! ! !!!!! !!! ! !!!!!!!!!!! ! !!!! !!! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!! ! !!!!! !!!! !!!!! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !! ! ! !!!!!!!! !!!!!! ! !! ! ! !!! ! !!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!! ! !! !!!!! !!!!! ! ! !!! !!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !! ! !!! !!!!! !!!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!! !!! !!!!!!! !!! !!!!! ! ! !!! ! !!!!!!!! !! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!! !!!!!!!!!! ! ! !!! !!! ! !!!! !!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!! !!!!!!!!!!!! ! !!! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !! !! ! ! !!!!!! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!! !! ! !! !!!! !!!! ! ! ! 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e 900 S Liberty LakeTracy Aviary Successional Tree Planning Salt Lake City Trees The overall age distribution of public trees in Salt Lake City is optimal from a resource management perspective, with 41% of trees measuring less than 8” diameter at breast height (DBH) and 12% of trees measuring larger than 24” DBH. This range in DBH reflects the diversity in the age of the city’s trees. This diversity enables the city to plan for urban forest succession to ensure new trees are planted with sufficient time to establish and replace trees with mature canopies. Liberty Park Trees The current age distribution of trees in Liberty Park is less diverse than citywide averages. Its trees are larger and older than citywide averages, with 36% of trees measuring less than 8” DBH and 41% of trees measuring larger than 36” DBH. Increasing the age distribution and diversity of species within Liberty Park is critical to maintaining the iconic tree allées and shaded tree groves that contribute to the historic character of the park.3-3 “Liberty Park is Salt Lake City’s most visited park, and over one-third of visitors describe the trees as their paramount reason for visiting.” 2023 Salt Lake City Urban Forest Action Plan 3-4 Tree Size < 8” DBH Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-17 Formal tree-lined walks and roads are characteristic of City Beautiful parks and contribute to the historic character of Liberty Park. Tree allée species include Austrian Pine (Pinus nigra), Freemont Poplar (Populus fremontii), Japanese Zelkova (Zelkova serrata), London plane tree (Platanus x acerifolia), and Siberian Elm (Ulmus pumila). Tree allées date to the period of significance and are modified by the loss of trees and gaps in the long rows of evenly spaced tree plantings. The significance of maintaining the historic tree allée along the Central Promenade as an iconic feature of the park is reflected in the successional approach to establishing a parallel tree allée of London plane trees. London plane trees planted below mature Freemont poplar trees do not receive adequate sunlight and easily lose lower branches, produce thin or weak growth, and grow slowly in shade. Tree groves were historically established to define space and provide shade. The design of tree groves with irregular boundaries defining open meadows made the spaces of the urban park appear larger and more naturalistic than the formal tree allées. Liberty Park Period of Significance (1800 to 1970) 1883 Period Plan BuildingTrees GroveBridge 0 300150 N Mill Pond 50 0 E Liberty LakeLiberty Lake Liberty Park Establishment (1881)Post War Era (1970)Present-day (2025) Vegetation Analysis. Liberty Park’s patterns of tree allées, open lawn, and tree groves established during the period of significance remain and contribute to the cultural landscape (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-18 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Tree Allée Analysis. Mixed deciduous and evergreen tree allée plantings were established during the period of significance (top image). These patterns remain and contribute to the historic character of Liberty Park (bottom image) (sources: top image: Shipler Commercial Photographers Collection, 1912, bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Central Promenade Tree Allée Analysis. Uniform tree allées were planted and maintained along the Central Promenade throughout the period of significance (top). The tree allée remains and contributes to the historic character of the park (bottom image) (sources: top image: Shipler Commercial Photographers Collection, 1915, bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-19 Gardens include planting beds at 900 S and 1300 S Gateways, at Liberty Park Greenhouse, and at buildings and monuments throughout the park. Early park improvement included a rose garden with paths. Historic photographs indicate formal gardens were planted during the period of significance, varying from small planting beds to large, expansive gardens featuring paths, sculptures, and arbors. The historic design of Liberty Park is modified by a reduction in the number, size, and formality of these gardens. Vegetation Analysis. Vegetation is modified by the removal of large formal gardens in Liberty Park. Smaller areas of formal gardens remain (top image). Formal plantings were established at buildings (middle image) and throughout the park (bottom image) during the period of significance (sources: top image: Mundus Bishop, 2024, middle and bottom images: © Utah State Historical Society). 3-20 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Liberty Park is significant for its extant water features, including Liberty Lake and Koi Pond, that reflect American Park and City Beautiful Movement public park design that provided for necessary stormwater functions in urban areas while contributing to the picturesque qualities of the park. Water Features Liberty Lake, set in the southeast corner of Liberty Park, functions as a retention/detention pond for water received from the 1300 S Storm Drain and Red Butte Canyon drainage system and includes a concrete culvert in the southeast corner that serves as the inlet for Red Butte Creek and Emigration Creek. Water levels fluctuate during high water runoff months and can rise several feet to temporarily store water during storm events or release stormwater into the 1300 S Storm Drain. Water levels remain relatively static for the remainder of the year, with water from Emigration Creek largely remaining within the 1300 S Storm Drain. Water from Liberty Lake supplies water to ponds in Tracy Aviary and the secondary water-supplied irrigation system throughout Liberty Park. The 2010 Red Butte Creek oil spill cleanup of Liberty Lake included deepening the lake by several feet, replacing the concrete rim around the lake, placing perimeter rock, and planting sections of the lake edge with native plants. 3-5 Liberty Lake’s water features were excavated and fed by naturally occurring springs. Isaac Chase historically took water from springs for power, irrigation, and to feed the millpond, present-day Liberty Lake, that he excavated east of Chase Mill. Water flowed from the millpond to the mill, and continued to a creek to the west.3-6 An 1883 map of Liberty Park illustrates Chase’s “Mill Pond,” springs, and ponds at the location of present- day Koi Pond and another to the west. The number and locations of water features were modified throughout the period of significance, with Liberty Lake and Koi Pond remaining in their original locations with modifications to their size and configuration. Historic springs remain and supply the Koi Pond and water features within Tracy Aviary with water. Early maps of Salt Lake City illustrate Red Butte Creek east and Emigration Creek south of present-day Liberty Park. Creeks throughout the region were largely diverted into stormwater pipes through urban areas in the early 20th century. Red Butte and Emigration Creeks are diverted to stormwater pipes that converge at Liberty Lake and continue west to Jordan River via the 1300 S Storm Drain. The 2022 Seven Greenways Vision Plan presents a 100-year vision to create greenway corridors along the seven major creeks flowing from the Wasatch Range. Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-21 Spring Pond Spring Spring Spring Creek Mill Pond (Liberty Lake) 1883 Liberty Park map illustrating springs and Mill Pond (image: Salt Lake City Archives). Jordan & Salt Lake City Canal WashingtonSquare CityCemetery HermanFranksPark LibertyPark Red Butte Creekflow toLiberty Lake flow toJordan River flow toLiberty Lake 800 S Drain Emigration Creek Liberty Lake Koi Pond Parleys Creek Water BodyProposed Seven Canyons GreenwayTributariesOpen ChannelCulvertPipe 0 .5 miles.25 N 0 Jordan & Salt Lake City Canal WashingtonSquare CityCemetery HermanFranksPark FairmontPark AllenPark MemoryGrove LibertyPark Red Butte Creekflow toLiberty Lake flow toJordan Riverflow toLiberty Lake 800 S Drain 1300 S Storm Drain 4th Avenue Drain City Creek Emigration Creek Liberty Lake Koi Pond Parleys Creek Water Existing Condition Water Body Proposed Seven Canyons Greenway Tributaries Open Channel Culvert Pipe 0 .5 miles.25 N 0 Hydrological context of Liberty Park, 2025 (image: Mundus Bishop). Liberty Lake Duck Pond Koi Pond Liberty Lake’s 1912 expansion doubled the size of the original mill pond (image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1937). Liberty Lake Koi Pond Liberty Lake remains similar to the period of significance with modifications to its size (image: GoogleEarth, 2023). 3-22 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Buildings throughout Liberty Park share a similar scale, massing, and material type and are designed to be subordinate to the landscape. Six buildings remain from the period of significance—Chase Mill, Chase Home, North Shelter, Greenhouse, Rice Pavilion, Maintenance Office, and Merry-Go-Round Building. Liberty Park is significant for the historic arrangement, orientation, and location of its contributing buildings, including Chase Mill, Chase Home, North Shelter, Maintenance Office, Merry-Go-Round Building, and Rice Pavilion, and the Office Building, Flight Cage, and Wilson Pavilion in Tracy Aviary. Buildings Buildings established during the period of significance reflect distinct aesthetics associated with the American Park Movement, City Beautiful Movement, and modern architecture movement. Contributing buildings include the North Shelter, Maintenance Office, Merry-Go-Round Building, Rice Pavilion, Office Building, Flight Cage, and Wilson Pavilion. Chase Mill (1852) and Chase Home (1854) predate the establishment of Liberty Park and are significant for their association with the early settlement of Salt Lake City. Chase Mill is listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places and is the only grist mill that remains in its original location, as established by early pioneers in Salt Lake City. Chase Home is significant as one of only a few homes remaining from the early settlement of Salt Lake City.3-7 Portions of the Greenhouse and site retain characteristics from the period of significance, but alterations and changes in use impact the integrity of the building. Significant portions of the Greenhouse associated with the City Beautiful movement were removed and replaced with later additions that are not significant in the history of the park and no longer convey its association or workmanship of the City Beautiful movement. Integrity is further impacted by changes in use. The building no longer functions as a greenhouse, and the feeling of an active greenhouse cultivating plant material for parks and public buildings throughout the city no longer remains. Contemporary additions reflect the scale, massing, and materials of contributing buildings and are compatible with the cultural landscape. These include Swimming Pool Building (1990), Restrooms (1992), Tennis Building (1995), Ranger Station (date of construction is undocumented), Gazebo (2003), Concession Building and Restroom (2008), and Pumphouse (2014). Merry-Go-Round Building build during the modern period (image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). North Shelter built during the City Beautiful Movement (image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Non-extant rustic style Liberty Park Pavilion built during the American Park Movement, 1912 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-23 1300 S 70 0 E 70 0 E 50 0 E 50 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n E a s t D r Co n s t i t u t i o n W e s t D r Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary RicePavilion EastRestroom Ranger Station Harvey Milk Blvd Merry-Go-Round Building North Shelter Greenhouse Chase Home Chase Mill WilsonPavilion Oce Building Concession Building andRestroom Pumphouse LibertyLakeGazebo Maintenance Oce SwimmingPoolBuilding Rotary Restroom FlightCage Buildings Contributing Building Non-Contributing Building 0 400 feet200 N 3-24 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Structures, objects, and features were established during the period of significance to facilitate visitor and operational use of the site. Liberty Park is significant for its structures, objects, and features dating to the period of significance, including benches, 900 S and 1300 S Gateway monuments, rustic stone fireplaces, several fountains, rustic stone arbors, and stone planters. Structures, Objects, and Features Structures, objects, and features are located throughout Liberty Park to facilitate visitor use of the park and operational functions. These include bike racks, bollards, drinking fountains, fences, fountains, grills, park lighting, picnic tables, planters, play equipment, recycling receptacles, Seven Canyons Fountain, signage (e.g., regulatory, wayfinding, directional signage, park identification), sports equipment (e.g., nets, fences, bocce stops), statues, traffic control devices, trash receptacles, and walls. These features are largely contemporary additions. Historic photographs indicate structures, objects, and features varied throughout the period of significance and served similar visitor and operational functions. These features are largely non-extant. Historic structures, objects, and features from the period of significance include the 900 S monumental entrance piers, artesian drinking fountain, Chase Mill Marker, piers with planters at the Concession Building, Liberty Park Marker at 900 S entrance, rustic stone fireplaces, rustic stone arbors, DAR Fountain, concrete bridge west of the Concessioner Building, and select benches. Bandstand benches, undated (image: © Utah State Historical Society). 900 S monumental entrance piers and fences, 1915 (image: © Utah State Historical Society). Metal benches throughout the park and piers with planters at Concession Building are similar to features in historic photographs and may date to the period of significance (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-25 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E 900 S TracyAviary Co n s t i t u t i o n E a s t D r Co n s t i t u t i o n W e s t D r Liberty Lake Doll and Dare Statue Loyal Orderof theMooseFireplace Fireplace Fireplace Fountain Chase HomeMarker Planter Seven CanyonsFountain StonePlanter Stone Wall Liberty LakeGazebo Liberty LakeBridge FalconFountain Chase MillStone Marker StoneGates StoneGates Liberty LakeDock WarMemorial Bridge Piers withPlanters (2) East Playground RotaryPlay VolleyballCourts BocceCourts BasketballCourt VolleyballCourt Tennis Courts SwimmingPool HorseshoePits DARFountain RicePavilion Merry-Go-RoundBuilding NorthShelter Greenhouse ChaseHome Maintenance Oˆce StoneArbors Picnic Tables 900 SMonumental Entrance Piers and Marker Chase Mill ArtesianDrinkingFountain Structures, Objects, andFeatures Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature Non-Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature Potential Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature - Requires Further Reseach 0 400 feet200 N 3-26 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Cultural Traditions The use and form of Liberty Park reflect the community, settlement and evolution of Salt Lake City, the original enduring vision of Liberty Park as a place to promote civic pride and improve the quality of life of its residents. The cultural and emotional ties, including both physical and intangible marks, of Liberty Park are ingrained in the collective memory of generations of park users. Liberty Park is significant for its reflection of the community’s identity and the evolution of urban parks in the life of Salt Lake City. The following physical and intangible connections highlight Liberty Park’s lasting ties to the community, settlement of Salt Lake City, and importance as a place of civic pride and center of urban life. The community of Salt Lake City is reflected in physical landmarks throughout Liberty Park, including Chase Mill and Chase Home. These connections to the early settlement of Salt Lake City and association with Issac Chase, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and founder of Salt Lake City, Brigham Young, are reinforced by programming and exhibits at these buildings and annual celebrations and gatherings spanning generations. Liberty Park has, since its establishment, hosted community gatherings, ranging in scale from family reunions to Pioneer Day commemorations, and has provided publicly accessible parkland to the community. The importance of the park as a place of gathering is reflected in the continued use of the park for picnicking. Newspaper articles throughout the twentieth century cite the popularity of the park for gatherings. Liberty Park’s picnic sites remain a Pioneer Day Parade along Constitution Drive (image: Utah State Historical Society). Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-27 Princess Alice and calf Prince Utah with keeper at Liberty Park, 1918 (image: Utah State Historical Society). key feature as the park has evolved to meet trends in urban parks over the last century. Liberty Park’s picnic sites remain popular and are connected to the celebrations, milestones, reunions, and everyday life of Salt Lake City’s residents. Liberty Park’s urban forest illustrates a physical connection to the settlement of Salt Lake City. Tree groves and tree allées reflect Salt Lake City’s early settlers’ efforts to establish trees throughout the valley. The importance of trees to the community was solidified when Salt Lake City was incorporated in 1851, and residents were required to plant and maintain trees along streets for the benefit of all. These patterns of tree-lined streets and groves are illustrated on early plans of Liberty Park and are reflected in early local names for the property, including “Forest Park” and “Locust Patch.” The link between Salt Lake City’s residents and the trees of Liberty Park endures and trees are cited when asking why residents visit the park, what they value about the park, and what the most pressing issue is to address. Water features and patterns of circulation and vegetation at Tracy Aviary reflect and were influenced by Liberty Park’s original zoo. Princess Alice, an Asian elephant, donated by schoolchildren in 1916, served as a major attraction to the Liberty Park and remains an iconic figure in Salt Lake City’s history. The importance of the zoo to the community of Salt Lake City was reflected in arguments from residents to keep the zoo at Liberty Park as its central location and streetcar service made it accessible to all. The zoo moved to Emigration Canyon in 1931 but its location at Liberty Park remains ingrained in the memory of the community. 3-28 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Park Uses and Experiences Liberty Park is significant for its diverse opportunities for passive and active recreational uses that were established during its period of significance and contribute to the historic character of the park. These include walking, bicycling, picnicking, wildlife viewing, passive recreation, active recreation, informal gatherings, and special events. Liberty Park’s existing recreational facilities include trails and walks, playgrounds, a basketball court, bocce courts, horseshoe courts, tennis courts, sand volleyball courts, a concrete volleyball court, handball courts, a swimming pool, a children’s amusement park, and paddle boat rentals. Common passive recreational activities include wildlife and lake viewing, picnicking, community gatherings, and special events. Historic documentation indicates active and passive visitor use evolved throughout the period of significance to meet increased demand for facilities and respond to evolving trends. Active and passive recreational uses remain similar to the period of significance. Liberty Park is a regional destination and major hub for community events with over 78 events a year, including annual community events held at the park. The city balances the demand for special events with everyday park use by limiting special events to one event per weekend. The popularity of Liberty Park as a central gathering space dates to the early establishment of the park in the late 1800s with reports by local newspapers documenting family reunions, community events, and holiday celebrations. Liberty Park continues to serve as a central gathering space of Salt Lake City with special events and permitted and informal gatherings occurring weekly. Liberty Park Current Uses 16 tennis courts 10.5 miles trails and walks 10 horseshoe courts 5 handball courts 3 bocce courts 3 sand volleyball courts 2 playgrounds 1 basketball court 1 concrete volleyball court 1 swimming pool Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-29 1300 S 70 0 E 70 0 E 50 0 E 50 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n E a s t D r Co n s t i t u t i o n W e s t D r Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary LibertyPark RotaryPlay Park Liberty ParkTennis Center BocceCourts HorseshoeCourt BasketballCourt ChaseMill ChaseHome SevenCayonsFountain Greenhouse SandVolleyballCourts RicePavilion Concrete VolleyballCourt EastPlayground 900 S Merry-Go- Round Building Concession Building PaddleboatRental NorthShelter Handball Swimming Rotary Restroom Tennis Building East Restroom Picnic TablesPicnic Tables 0 400 feet200 N 3-30 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Tracy Aviary Tracy Aviary is located within the southwest corner of Liberty Park on an eight-acre site defined by a perimeter fence and vegetation. The primary entrance to Tracy Aviary is along its north boundary with a gated secondary access along Constitution Drive, vehicular operations entrance along Constitution Drive, and its original entrance along Central Promenade. The location of the original entrance is marked by a gate. This entrance is not open for visitor use. Buildings and exhibits are oriented to a network of curvilinear walkways and water features. Primary views from Liberty Park to Tracy Aviary include views from Central Promenade to Chase Mills and Wilson Pavilion and views from the parking area to Swan Pond. The number of buildings, circulation, and features of Tracy Aviary was modified as the aviary expanded in use and size throughout the period of significance. Contributing features include Chase Mill, Wilson Pavilion, Office Building, Duck Pond, Flight Cage, and Original Entrance. The composition of Tracy Aviary is modified by the removal and addition of buildings and exhibits and by the addition of perimeter fences. Perimeter fences obscure physical and visual connections from Liberty Park to Tracy Aviary and Chase Mill. 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E 900 S PartialViews to Chase Mill Partial Views to Wilson Pavilion Constitution Drive Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e Maintenance and Operations Areas ChaseMill Vehicular Operations Entrance SwanPond Views to Swan Pond GatedEntrance PrimaryEntrance OceBuilding WilsonPavilion DuckPond Original Entrance Tracy Aviary Existing Condition (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Buildings Contributing Building Conributing Feature Non-Contributing Building Chapter 3: Existing Condition and Analysis 3-31 The historic setting and relationship of Chase Mill to Central Promenade (top image) and the larger park is modified by vegetation and fencing obscuring physical and visual connections between the building and park (center image) and establishment of a gathering area surrounding the mill (bottom image) (images: top image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1930; middle image: Mundus Bishop, 2024; bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2024). Views to Swan Pond (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). The bridge west of the Concession Building marks the location of a non-extant water feature that conveyed water from Liberty Lake to Swan Pond Tracy Aviary (image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-32 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report 3-1 2023 Urban Forest Action Plan, 16.3-2 2023 Urban Forest Action Plan, 20; 1980 NRHP, 3.3-3 2023 Urban Forest Action Plan, 213-4 2023 Urban Forest Action Plan, 16.3-5 Liberty Lake Landscape Scoping Project, A-4; RECONNAISSANCE-LEVEL CULTURAL RESOURCE INVENTORY OF LIBERTY LAKE, 6.3-6 The Chase Mill, 123-7 1970 Chase Mill Nomination; 1980 Liberty Park NRHP Endnotes Treatment Guidance 04 image: Mundus Bishop 4-2 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report This page intentionally left blank. Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-3 Introduction This chapter presents treatment guidance to ensure Liberty Park’s historical and architectural integrity is maintained. Treatment guidance is provided to inform repair, modifications, and additions to Liberty Park following similar design principles employed during the period of significance. Liberty Park is significant as one of the first public parks in Salt Lake City and the State of Utah, and for its embodiment of the American Park, City Beautiful, and Modern Movements. Liberty Park’s composition, central promenade, meadows, tree groves, tree allées, buildings, views, and relationship to Tracy Aviary reflect its historic significance. These recommendations establish overarching treatment guidance to preserve Liberty Park’s composition, views, trees, buildings, structures, objects, and features, and ensure the park continues its legacy as a central community gathering space within Salt Lake City. This treatment guidance complements recommendations presented in the 10-year Vision Plan for Liberty Park. Rehabilitation Treatment Approach The treatment approach for Liberty Park is rehabilitation. This treatment approach emphasizes preservation of the study area and allows for the repair and addition of compatible improvements. Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making possible a compatible use through repairs, alterations, or additions if those portions or features that convey its historic, cultural, or architectural values are preserved. Rehabilitation allows for new additions to be integrated within the cultural landscape in a manner that preserves established patterns, spaces, features, and scale of the historic park. Additional actions include those that preserve, restore, or repair contributing features and qualities that contribute to the study area’s historic character. All future work planned for the district will be guided by The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties—Historic Landscapes. Appendix B summarizes terminology used in this CLR to describe recommended actions. 4-4 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Park Composition ChaseHomeGreenhouse Views fromCentral Promenade NorthwestMeadow Sport Courtsand OperationsCore Park Edge Park Edge CentralMeadow LibertyLakeTracyAviary Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e NortheastMeadow along Central Promenade Views to Liberty Park Axis Building Tracy Aviary Boundary 0 300150 N1300 S 900 S Liberty Park is characterized by American Park Movement principles of order, harmony, and structure—ideals reflected in its broad central axis, symmetrical loop road, and balance of formal and informal spaces. The composition of Liberty Park is the foundation of the park, establishing its historic character. Preserve Liberty Park’s composition by protecting and repairing its organization as a distinct rectangular park composed of nine spaces, Central Promenade, and the arrangement and orientation of buildings and spaces to Central Promenade. Preserve Liberty Park as a distinct rectangular park with a central axis extending from 900 S to 1300 S. Preserve Liberty Park’s arrangement as nine distinct spaces defined by roads, trails, open lawn, tree groves, and tree allées. These include northwest, northeast, and central meadow, sport courts and operations core, Tracy Aviary, Liberty Lake, Central Promenade, Constitution Drive, and Liberty Park Edge. Preserve Central Promenade as the central axis and unifying spine of Liberty Park. Preserve its arrangement as parallel walks lined by tree allées with open areas between. Allow the removal of non-contributing features (e.g., flagpole, monuments, planters, signage) that obscure views and visual and physical relationships to Chase Home, Greenhouse, North Shelter, and Chase Mill. Protect the arrangement and orientation of Chase Home and Greenhouse along Central Promenade with primary facades oriented to the axis. Preserve views from the Central Promenade to the primary facades of Chase Home and Greenhouse. Allow modifications of the topographic mound to repair physical and visual connections between Liberty Lake and Central Meadow. 1 3 5 2 4 6 78 8 9 9 9 9 Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-5 Axis Building Tracy Aviary Boundary 0 300150 N1300 S 70 0 E 900 S Views to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range Views to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range ViewstoDowntown Views to Liberty Park along CentralPromenade Views to Liberty Park along CentralPromenade Views toChase Homeand Greenhouse Views and Vistas Views and vistas orient visitors to the meadows, tree allées, and water features of Liberty Park and its surrounding natural setting and contribute to the historic character of Liberty Park. Preserve and repair contributing views to Liberty Lake, Mount Olympus, the Wasatch Range, the skyline of Salt Lake City, Chase Home, Greenhouse, Chase Mill, and along Central Promenade. Remove, move, or modify non-contributing features that obscure or detract from contributing views and vistas (examples include signage, trash receptacles, light poles, and fences). Selectively remove or prune vegetation to reestablish or protect contributing views and vistas. Ensure tree allées are protected and removal or pruning does not modify historic patterns of tree allées or the characteristic form of individual trees. Ensure new features, including park amenities and infrastructure, do not detract and are located outside of contributing views and vistas. Preserve and repair contributing views across Liberty Lake to Mount Olympus and the Wasatch Range (image: © Utah State Historical Society, undated). 4-6 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Circulation Liberty Park is significant for its arrangement of circulation patterns that include Central Promenade, Constitution Drive, 900 S and 1300 S Gateways, and contributing walks and trails. Protect the integrity of Liberty Park’s circulation patterns and features through preservation and repair of extant features and repair of non-extant routes. Enhance safety and accessibility for visitors of all ages, abilities, modes, and backgrounds by providing new routes and allowing modifications to contributing features that protect the historic character of Liberty Park. Ensure future improvement of roads, walks, and trails preserves and repairs historic vegetation patterns, including tree allées. Provide the minimal signage and striping necessary to mark pedestrian and bicycle crossings, assist in vehicular wayfinding, and provide for bicycle use while ensuring placement and design protect contributing views and vistas. Consider re-establishing non-extant routes to provide access to destinations and repair historic connections. 1 Central Promenade. Preserve Central Promenade as the primary route through the center of Liberty Park with a hierarchy of adjacent routes. Retain its historic alignment, tree allées with a central open space, and relationships with 900 S and 1300 S Gateways, park spaces, Chase Home, Greenhouse, Chase Mill, and North Shelter. 2 Constitution Drive. Preserve Constitution Drive as a loop road and retain its historic alignment, width, and relationships with 900 S and 1300 S Gateways and park spaces. Maintain speed tables where necessary to lower vehicle speeds while allowing modifications for shared bicycle use. Ensure the interval of expansion joints does not contribute to the sound of vehicles in the park. 3 900 S and 1300 S Gateways and Park Entrance Roads. Preserve 900 S and 1300 S gateways as the primary multi-modal entrances to Liberty Park. Preserve original alignments of park entrance roads and relationships to gateway monuments. Allow curb extensions and medians to increase the visibility of crosswalks, shorten crossing distances, slow vehicle speeds, and serve as visible cues to vehicles that they are entering a park. Ensure modifications do not impact views along Central Promenade. 4 Pedestrian Park Entrances. Allow improvements to ensure ADA compliance and provide adequate clearances and passing zones to enter and exit Liberty Park. Consider re-establishing the historic Williams Avenue S entrance. 5 Walks and Trails. Preserve and maintain walks and trails along historic alignments. 6 Constitution Drive Walk. Preserve and maintain the alignment and width of Constitution Drive. 7 Multi-Use Trail. Preserve and maintain multi-use trail. Allow improvements to reduce conflicts and ensure ADA compliance. Consider increasing its width to accommodate higher trail volumes. Ensure widening does not result in the removal of tree allées and tree groves. 8 Mulch Trail. Maintain mulch trail and consider route realignments at 900 S and 1300 S Gateways for safer pedestrian crossings. Maintain concrete curbs and consider replacing the mulch surface with a soil solidifier for an all weather, abrasion- resistant path surface. 9 Liberty Lake Loop. Formalize a pedestrian route to assist in protecting vegetation and reducing soil compaction. Allow for a boardwalk along steep and narrow bank segments. Remove social trails and revegetate disturbed areas to prevent erosion. Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-7 1300 S 900 S Williams Ave S Herbert Ave S Harvard Ave Edith Ave S Ty l e r S t 50 0 E Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e Co n s t i t u t i o n D r i v e 70 0 E 50 0 E 50 0 E Pa r k S t 60 0 E Gr e e n S t 70 0 E Liberty Lake Tracy Aviary LibertyLake BridgeDock Central Promenade 900 S Gateway 1300 S Gateway Contributing Feature Central Promenade Consitution Drive Multi-Modal Park Gateway Park Entrance Road Pedestrian Park Gateway Walk / Trail Constitution Drive Walk Liberty Lake Social Trail Pedestrian Crossing Mulch Trail Access Road and Parking Bus Stop Circulation and Connectivity 0 400 feet200 N 2 4 4 4 4 4 4 1 12 25 6 78 8 7 6 65 5 55 2 9 3 3 4-8 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Urban Forest Liberty Park is significant for its patterns of tree allées, tree rows, and tree groves, and the enduring significance of the urban forest to residents of Salt Lake City. Support Salt Lake City’s commitment to the stewardship of the urban forest and establish Liberty Park as a model for urban ecological function and resiliency for the next 100 years. Strengthen and repair the urban forest using historic patterns and locations of existing and historic trees as a guide. Liberty Park Urban Forest. Develop a park- wide urban forest plan to identify locations for new trees, replacement trees, and tree removals. Coordinate plantings and removals with the city’s tree management system. Protect trees over 10” DBH as “specimen trees” as directed by zoning code 21A.48.135. Manage extant trees for health and longevity. Provide regular care and proactive replacement of the urban forest in historic patterns and locations. Water Conservation. Support water conservation to address drought and declining Great Salt Lake levels. Install a dual use irrigation system to separate zones for lawns and trees with the ability to adjust irrigation for lawn during droughts while continuing to irrigate trees at appropriate levels. Apply mulch within the dripline of trees. Climate Change Resiliency and Adaptation Design. Select replacement trees that are drought-tolerant, disease resistant, and hardy tree species that can tolerate shifts in heat and hardiness zones and other potential vulnerabilities associated with climate change. Select replacement trees that are similar in habitat, form, and character to historic trees. Tree Allées, Tree Rows, and Tree Groves. Preserve and restore historic patterns of tree allées, tree rows, and trees groves with species that are similar in habitat, form, and character. Reestablish missing tree allées, tree rows, and trees groves. 1 Central Promenade Deciduous Tree Allée 2 900 S Deciduous Tree Allée 3 500 E, 700 E, and 1300 S Deciduous Tree Row 4 Constitution Drive Evergreen Tree Allées 5 Interior Evergreen Tree Allées 6 Mixed Evergreen and Deciduous Tree Groves Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-9 Deciduous Tree Allée orTree Row Evergreen Tree Allées Mixed Deciduous and Evegreen Tree Groves 0 400 feet200 N 1 1 1 900 S 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E Liberty LakeTracy Aviary 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 44 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 4-10 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Buildings Liberty Park is significant for its contributing buildings and their historic arrangements, orientations, and locations. Contributing buildings date to the period of significance and include Chase Mill, Chase Home, North Shelter, Maintenance Office, Merry-Go-Round Building, and Rice Pavilion, and Office Building and Wilson Pavilion in Tracy Aviary. Preserve the historic significance of these buildings by protecting and repairing their historic arrangement, orientation, and location within Liberty Park and ensuring their preservation and repair is in accordance with the Secretary of Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Buildings and the Salt Lake City Landmark Preservation Design Guidelines. Preserve and repair contributing buildings. Complete annual inspections to assess the condition and appearance of foundations, structure, roof, finishings, drainage, and building systems. Maintenance work should be undertaken “in-kind” to match the original or in size, shape, material, color, scale, and design. Ensure modifications are compatible with character defining features of each building and Liberty Park’s historic character and are contemporary and of their own time. Consult the Secretary of Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Buildings and the Salt Lake City Landmark Preservation Design Guidelines for accepted preservation practices. Require detailed specifications and documentation for the repair or replacement of features and any maintenance work. Preserve and repair historic materials before replacement with new materials. Repair original materials to preserve their original character, using original materials for patching or replacement. Use material similar in color and texture, matching the finish of the original material if replacement is necessary. Ensure applicable standards for accessibility and sustainability requirements are met while respecting the historic character and preserving contributing features. Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-11 1 North Shelter. Preserve and repair North Shelter. Allow minor modifications to accommodate compatible community and partner uses and access. Consider removal of infill brick walls to rehabilitate North Shelter as an open air structure. 2 Maintenance Office. Preserve and repair Maintenance Office. Allow minor modifications to accommodate compatible administrative and operational uses and access. 3 Merry-Go-Round Building. Preserve and repair Merry-Go-Round Building. Allow minor modifications to accommodate compatible visitor and concessioner uses and access. 4 Rice Pavilion. Preserve and repair Rice Pavilion. Allow minor modifications to accommodate compatible visitor and concessioner uses and access. 5 Chase Home. Preserve and repair Chase Home. 6 Chase Mill. Preserve and repair Chase Mill. Allow minor modifications to accommodate compatible partner and community uses and access. 7 Office Building. Rehabilitate the Office Building using accepted preservation practices. Allow the relocation of the Office Building. Ensure the relocation of the Office Building preserves the historic integrity of the building and cultural landscape and does not adversely affect the significance of the historic setting of the new site and Liberty Park. 8 Wilson Pavilion. Preserve and repair Wilson Pavilion. Allow modifications to accommodate compatible administrative and operational uses and access. 1300 S 70 0 E TracyAviary 1 2 3 9 4 7 5 6 8 Buildings Contributing Building Buildings Contributing Building Non-Contributing Building 4-12 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Allow removal of non-contributing buildings. Consider reuse of these sites as new park space or for locations of future park additions. 9 Greenhouse. Allow the removal and replacement of the Greenhouse with a building of a similar mass, scale, form, and footprint to the original. Consider Historic American Building Survey (HABS) documentation prior to deconstruction of the building.. Preserve a footprint similar to the historic Greenhouse. Ensure the building is compatible with the park character and Liberty Park’s range of architectural styles. Design the new building in a contemporary style and practice, as a product of its own time, and reflective of its function and location. Respect Liberty Park’s architectural scale when designing the new greenhouse. Ensure new features are proportional in height, mass, and scale, but are subordinate to contributing buildings, with simpler forms and details reflecting the utilitarian function of the building. Ensure the new greenhouse provides a human scale that engages park users. Maintain original views, relationships, orientations, and setbacks of the Greenhouse to Central Promenade and Chase Home. Preserve the distinct setting of the Greenhouse, characterized by its formal composition to the north, east, and south of the building. This includes mown lawn, formal gardens, geometric walkways to primary building entrances, a central walk to the main entrance, and views to the Greenhouse from the Central Promenade. Allow for utilitarian uses west of the Greenhouse and new community uses that complement interior use. ChaseHome ParkOperations Buildings Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-13 Allow new buildings and shelters that support everyday park use (e.g., restrooms, picnic shelters, and operations facilities). Consider new open-air picnic shelters at the Northeast Meadow, Rotary Play, and Koi Pond. Design new buildings and shelters to complement and be subordinate to contributing buildings and structures. Ensure new buildings and structures are designed with the same care and consideration as Liberty Park’s historic buildings and structures. Design new buildings and features to be of their time while also being compatible in mass, form, and scale with the original buildings and features of Liberty Park. Design new buildings and structures as low-profile and horizontal forms with low slope or flat roofs and oriented to capitalize on views to the mountains, meadows, and historic features. Ensure new buildings and features support everyday, year-round use of Liberty Park and are accessible to the public. Ensure new buildings and features are reviewed and supported by the Department of Public Lands, Historic Landmark Commission, and community of Salt Lake City. 4-14 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Structures, Objects, and Features Liberty Park’s significant structures, objects, and features date to the period of significance and include benches, 900 S and 1300 S Gateway monuments, rustic stone fireplaces, fountains, rustic stone arbors, and stone planters. Preserve the historic significance of contributing structures, objects, and features by protecting and repairing their historic arrangement, orientation, and location within Liberty Park and ensuring their preservation and repair is in accordance with the Secretary of Interior Standards. Preserve and repair contributing structures, objects, and features. Consult the Secretary of Interior Standards for the Treatment of Historic Buildings and the Salt Lake City Landmark Preservation Design Guidelines for accepted preservation practices. Require detailed specifications and documentation for the repair or replacement of features and any maintenance work. Preserve and repair historic materials before replacement with new materials. Repair original materials to preserve their original character, using original materials for patching or replacement. Use material similar in color and texture, matching the finish of the original if replacement is necessary. 1 900 S Monumental Entrance Piers. Repair cracks on stone piers and planters and clean historic markers adhered to piers. 4 Chase Mill Stone Marker. Repair cracks on mill stone and clean historic marker. 5 Falcon Fountain and Amphitheater. Repair cracks and spalled concrete at foundation of Falcon Fountain and along amphitheater steps. Maintain Falcon Fountain as a dry art feature. Determine stewardship and maintenance responsibilities with Public Lands and Arts Council. 7 Artesian Drinking Fountain. Repair spalled concrete fountain basin and step and repoint missing mortar. Maintain Artesian Drinking Fountain as an operational water fountain. 6 Stone Gates. Straighten stone gate piers. Provide pre-deconstruction documentation to ensure piers are reconstructed accurately. Reset original stones to the greatest extent possible. Ensure new stones are compatible in composition, texture, color, and size to the existing wall. 8 Stone Arbors. Repair and straighten stone piers. Provide pre-deconstruction documentation to ensure piers are reconstructed accurately. Reset stones to the greatest extent possible. Ensure new stones are compatible in composition, texture, color, and size to the existing wall. Replace wooden trellis and beams. Consider removal of vines and other vegetation to deter further deterioration arbors. 9 DAR Fountain. Repair masonry. Provide a firm, stable surface with positive drainage away from stone arbors. 10 Rustic Stone Fireplaces. Preserve the recently repaired stone fireplaces. Consider future removal of bricks to reestablish features as functional fireplaces. Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-15 1300 S 70 0 E TracyAviary 1 7 9 8 10 10 11 12 12 10 5 4 6 3 2 Buildings Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature Non-Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature Buildings Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature Non-Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature Potential Contributing Structure, Object, and Feature - Requires Further Reseach Preserve and repair potential contributing features as contributing structures, objects, and features. Conduct additional research to determine if features date to the period of significance. 11 Stone Planters and Piers. Straighten stone piers and secure stone planter to piers. Repair cracks on stone piers. 12 Stone Planters. Repair cracks on stone planters. 2 Chase Home Fountain. Repair spalled concrete on basin walls, remove vegetative growth from pavers lining the bottom of basins, and treat and protect fountain from future corrosion. Maintain Chase Home Fountain as a dry art feature. Metal Benches (located throughout Liberty Park). Replace missing hardware and repair metal bench frames. Paint slats and metal frames to harmonize with the historic setting and aesthetic of Liberty Park. Maintain non-contributing features that facilitate park use and operations. These include bike racks, bollards, drinking fountains, fences, fountains, grills, park lighting, picnic tables, planters, play equipment, recycling receptacles, signage (e.g., regulatory, wayfinding, directional signage, park identification), sports equipment (e.g., nets, fences, bocce stops), statues, traffic control devices, trash receptacles, and walls. Allow removal, relocation, and modifications to non- contributing features where they diminish integrity. 3 Seven Canyons Refuge. Maintain Seven Canyons Refuge as a dry art feature. Continue to provide vegetation management to maintain views from Central Promenade to the amphitheater. 4-16 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report New Elements Liberty Park reflects Salt Lake City’s original and continued commitment to improve urban life through its public park system. Liberty Park serves as both the central gathering space of Salt Lake City and much-loved park that residents enjoy on a daily basis. Repair and allow new park spaces and amenities to facilitate use of existing amenities, respond to evolving trends in park use, and preserve Liberty Park as the central gathering space of Salt Lake City, offering diverse opportunities for the community to relax, recreate, gather, and celebrate. Ensure new elements, including park features, amenities, and spaces, do not detract from the visitor experience, obstruct contributing views, or diminish the character of Liberty Park. Ensure new elements express a consistent aesthetic, complementing the historic development of Liberty Park in materials, size, scale, and color. Ensure materials are durable to freeze-thaw cycles and high numbers of visitors. Ensure features are of a human-scale, designed with the highest level of craftsmanship and quality materials, and are compatible with the character of Liberty Park, including wood, painted steel, and stone. Design new elements to be of their time while also being compatible in mass, form, and scale with contributing buildings and features of Liberty Park. Ensure new elements are subordinate to, and harmonize with, the natural setting and provide spaces to immerse visitors in Liberty Park through thoughtful siting, orientation, and design. Ensure applicable standards for accessibility and sustainability requirements are met while respecting the historic character and preserving contributing features. Allow infrastructure supporting everyday park use. Ensure infrastructure is sited and designed to protect cultural landscape, contributing views, and views to and from Liberty Park. Ensure infrastructure is of a scale, material, and color that harmonizes with the historic setting and aesthetic of Liberty Park. Chapter 4: Treatment Guidance 4-17 Reestablish and reinforce key park spaces, including Liberty Lake, Koi Pond, non-extant bandshelter site, and Northeast Meadow. These spaces will contribute to increase visibility and safety throughout Liberty Park. 1 Reestablish the site of the non-extant bandshelter as a community gathering space, incorporating the topographic mound, designing memorable places to play, gather, and enjoy Liberty Lake and views to the Wasatch Range. Design spaces north and south of the topographic mound as unified spaces, integrating the north-south axis between Liberty Lake and Northeast Meadow. 2 Consider removal and potential relocation of bocce, horseshoe, and basketball courts before replacement of infrastructure occurs. Design the space to repair the historic Koi Pond setting and provide amenities to enhance use of Koi Pond and playground to the north (e.g., walks, picnic sites, picnic shelter). 3 Reinforce Liberty Lake as a focal point of Liberty Park by providing formalized routes, overlooks, and small gathering areas and establishing wetland / riparian vegetation to enhance habitat, biodiversity, and water quality. Ensure improvements enhance its ecological and stormwater functions. 4 Reinforce the Northeast Meadow as a destination for picnicking and court sports, including volleyball, basketball, horseshoes, and bocce. Repair existing picnic sites and consider an additional picnic shelter and sites. Reestablish historic walks throughout Northeast Meadow. 1300 S 70 0 E TracyAviary 1 2 3 4 4-18 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Tracy Aviary Preserve and repair views from Liberty Park to historic and iconic buildings and features within Tracy Aviary— i.e., Chase Mill, Wilson Pavilion, Office Building, Duck Pond, Flight Cage, and Original Entrance—through vegetation thinning, transparent fencing, and other methods that assist in highlighting specific features. Screen maintenance and operations areas. Improve the interface between Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park. Design a cohesive composition of buildings, walls, fences, openings, and vegetation that define and identify the boundary of Tracy Aviary with views that provide visual connections between Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park. Design buildings, walls, fences, and other boundary delineators in a subdued color palette using a simple palette of materials. Design gates for operational access points as part of the composition, using similar materials and colors. Consider modifications to non-contributing buildings and features to be more inconspicuous as viewed from Liberty Park and to function as background features. Ensure new building facades and features are expressive and identifiable as features of Tracy Aviary when viewed from Liberty Park. The relationship of Tracy Aviary to Liberty Park contributes to the historic character of the park. This relationship will be preserved and repaired by repairing physical and visual connections between Tracy Aviary and Liberty Park. 1300 S 70 0 E 50 0 E 900 S TracyAviary OceBuilding WilsonPavilion DuckPond Preserve and Repair Views to Chase Mill Preserve and Repair Views to Wilson Pavilion Constitution Drive Ce n t r a l P r o m e n a d e Screen Maintenance and Operations Areas Preserve Views to Swan Pond Original Entrance Flight Cage ChaseMill Buildings Contributing Building Conributing Feature Non-Contributing Building Appendices image: Mundus Bishop A-2 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report This Page Intentionally Left Blank Appendix A: Bibliography A-3 Books Carter, Kate (Barnson), and Emmeline B. (Woodward) Wells. The Chase Mill. Salt Lake City: Utah Print. Co., 1957. Cuch, Forrest. A history of Utah’s American Indians. Utah State University, University Libraries, 2003. Fohlin, E.V. Salt Lake City Past and Present. Salt Lake City, Utah: E.V. Fohlin, 1908. Datasets “Liberty_ParkAmenities Shapefile.” Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d. “Liberty_ParkStructures Shapefile.” Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d. Reports Alta Planning + Design. 9-Line Trail Extension Study. Salt Lake City, Utah, 2018. Design Workshop. Reimagine Nature SLC Public Lands Master Plan. Salt Lake City, Utah: Salt Lake City Public Lands Department, 2022. Design Workshop. Seven Greenways Vision Plan. Salt Lake City, Utah: Seven Canyons Trust, 2022. Downtown Planning Association. Downtown Salt Lake City Second Century Plan. Salt Lake City, Utah: Downtown Planning Association, Inc., 1962. Haglund, Karl T. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Liberty Park. Utah State Historical Society: Salt Lake City, UT, 1980. Hawkins, Bruce. Archeological Investigations at Chase’s Mill. Salt Lake City, Utah: Division of State History State of Utah, 1979. Landmark Design. Liberty Park Landscape Scoping Project. Salt Lake City, Utah: Park Planning & Development, 1997. Landmark Design. Salt Lake City Parks & Public Lands Assessment. Salt Lake City, Utah: Parks & Public Lands, 2019. Meess, Sara and Sheri Ellis. Historic American Landscapes Survey Liberty Park. Salt Lake City, Utah, 2001. Salt Lake City Planning Division. Salt Lake City Urban Forest Action Plan. Salt Lake City, Utah: Salt Lake City Department of Community & Neighborhoods, 2023. Salt Lake City Public Lands Department. Parks & Public Lands 2018 Annual Report. Salt Lake City, Utah: Salt Lake City Public Lands Department, 2018. Smith, Melvin T. National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Isaac Chase Mill. Utah State Historical Society, Salt Lake City, UT, 1970. United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. National Register of Historic Places Nomination—Isaac Chase Mill, 1970. Newspapers “$101,024 Walks Repair Plan Okehed.” Salt Lake Telegram. February 17, 1938. “A Birdseye View of an Electric Fountain in Liberty Park,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 13, 1913. “Boys’ Swimming Pool Work Is under Way,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 8, 1914. “Car-Load of Spruce,” Deseret News, October 15, 1884. “City Accepts $723 Greenhouse Bid,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 3, 1943. Appendix A: Bibliography A-4 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report “City to Build 10 Courts for Tennis,” Salt Lake Tribune, February 11, 1962. “Handsome Fountain for Liberty Park,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 14, 1912. “Liberty Park Drive Widened and Beautified,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, February 10, 1918. “The Liberty Park Plans,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, March 20, 1883. “New Hothouse at Liberty Park Opened,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 26, 1917. “Plans for Improving Public Parks.” Salt Lake Herald- Republican. February 3, 1883. “Primarily Amusement Place for Common People, So Writer Favors Liberty Park Location,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 23, 1923. “Progress Shown in City Parks Report.” Salt Lake Tribune. July 24, 1912. “Proposed Electric Fountain in Liberty Park,” Salt Lake Tribune, December 29, 1912. “Refreshment Stand to Be Built in Park.” Salt Lake Telegram. April 5, 1938. “Rose Garden at Liberty Park Is City Beauty Spot,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, July 14, 1920. “Rushing Work on Many Improvements at Liberty Park.” Salt Lake Telegram. April 15, 1912. “S. L. Parks Plans,” Salt Lake Telegram, January 3, 1950. “Transfer Plants to New Greenhouse,” Salt Lake Telegram, February 1, 1917. Websites “Aviary History - Tracy Aviary.” Tracy Aviary - Where Curiosity Takes Flight, October 10, 2024. https:// tracyaviary.org/aviary-history/#:~:text=Tracy%20 donated%20his%20collection%20to,natural%20 oasis%20it%20is%20today. “Dar Drinking Fountain Monument.” Daughters of the American Revolution, May 8, 2024. https://www.dar. org/national-society/historic-sites-and-properties/dar- drinking-fountain-monument. “Historic Utah Buildings.” ArcGIS web application. Accessed June 2, 2025. https:// shpo.utah.gov/portal/apps/webappviewer/index. html?id=8e218e18c2b74477b5f520e5617bebaf. Nix, Katherine. “The Doll and Dare.” NowPlayingUtah. com, September 23, 2020. https://www. nowplayingutah.com/public-art/the-doll-and-dare/. “Liberty Park Improvements.” MGB+A Studio, October 19, 2022. https://mgba-studio.com/project/liberty-park- bridge-and-gazebo/. “Slc.Gov.” Public Lands Department. Accessed March 4, 2025. https://www.slc.gov/parks/projects/reimagine- liberty-park-playground/. “Slc.Gov.” Public Lands Department. Accessed March 4, 2025. https://www.slc.gov/parks/ projects/scf/#:~:text=History%20of%20the%20 Fountain&text=Seven%20Canyons%20Fountain%20 was%20a,people%20could%20walk%20through%20 them. Westwood, Brad. “Salt Lake as an Early Industrial City and the Beginning of the Relief Society Halls.” CCE, November 15, 2023. https://community.utah.gov/salt- lake-as-an-early-industrial-city-and-the-beginning-of- the-relief-society-halls/#:~:text=Young’s%20ultimate%20 goal%20was%20to,Journals%2C%203:239. Appendix B: Treatment Terminology A-5 The following terminology is used in this report to describe recommended actions.A.1 Consider is to routinely evaluate if a treatment action can be undertaken. Budget constraints and long-term maintenance may result in delayed treatment action. As circumstances change, the treatment action should be reevaluated and eventually completed. Design intent refers to the creative objectives that were applied to the development of a historic property. Introduce is the addition of a new, nonhistoric feature compatible with the cultural landscape. This may also include the replacement of a missing historic feature. In-kind refers to the replacement of features extensively deteriorated or missing parts of features using materials that match the historic detail, configuration, and appearance as closely as possible. Maintain refers to measures that sustain the form, integrity and materials of contributing features, either on a regular basis or as a nonrecurring event. Preserve refers to those measures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials of contributing features. It includes initial stabilization work, where necessary, as well as ongoing preservation maintenance and repair of historic materials and features. Protect refers to actions to safeguard a historic feature by defending or guarding it against further deterioration or loss. Such action is generally of temporary nature and anticipates future preservation treatment. A.1 Adapted from The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties as amended and annotated, 1995 and http://www.nps.gov/dscw/definitions.htm. Reconstruct refers to the act or process of depicting, by means of new work, the form, features, and detailing of a non-surviving historic structure or any part thereof, for the purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific time in its original location. Rehabilitate refers to the act or process of allowing a compatible use through repair, alteration, or additions as long as those features that convey the historical, cultural, or architectural values are preserved. Repair refers to those measures that are necessary to correct deteriorated, damaged, or faulty materials of features. These measures are more extensive than regular maintenance and undertake work necessary to bring a contributing feature or area to good condition. Restore refers to those measures necessary to accurately depict the form, features, and character of a property as it appeared during a particular period of time by means of the removal of features from other periods in history and reconstruction of missing features from the restoration period. Retain are those actions that are necessary to allow a feature (contributing or noncontributing) to remain in place in its current configuration and condition. Stabilize refers to those measures that require more work than standard maintenance practices, and that are necessary to prevent the further deterioration, failure, or loss of contributing features. Appendix B: Treatment Terminology A-6 Liberty Park Cultural Landscape Report Appendix C: Contributing Features 1800 1825 1850 1875 1900 Liberty Park CLR Recommended Period of Significance (1882 to 1970) 1847 | SLC established Isaac Chase received first lot in Big Field 1852 | Chase Mill 1854 | Chase House 1881 | SLC purchases Liberty Park 1882 | Liberty Park opened 1882 to 1885 | Initial park improvement - central and loop park roads, walks, plantings 1883 | Joseph Don Carlos Young wins Liberty Park Design Competition early 1900s | Rose garden, lawn, park road paving 1903 | Greenhouse 1905 | DAR Fountain 1860 | Brigham Young acquires Chase Farm and Mill contrib buildings (pre-1930)Liberty Park NRHP Period of Significance (1800 to 1899) Liberty Park Opened (1882 to 1913)Farm and Mill Operations (1847 to 1880) Appendix C: Contributing and Non-Contributing Features A-7 18001825185018751900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2025 1920 | Entrance Monuments 1938 | Tracy Aviary 1939 | Greenhouse Boiler Room 1955 | 4 tennis courts and club house 1969 | Eagle Fountain 1980s | Tennis Building, Train Depot 2000s | Rotary Park Play, East Playground, Liberty Lake Gazebo and Bridge, Concession Building and Restroom 1949 | Bandstand, swimming pool and bathhouse 1950 | New greenhouse, maintenance office, workshop, vehicle storage 1914 | Zoo opened, boys’ swimming pool and dressing room c. 1915 | North Shelter, tennis courts 1931 | Zoo Closed 1943 | North Greenhouse Addition 1945 | Loyal Order of the Moose Fireplace after 1966 | Main Greenhouse c. 1960 | Merry-Go-Round Building, Horseshoe Building 1962 | 4 tennis courts 1990s | Swimming Pool and Building, Restrooms (playgrounds and tennis), Seven Canyons Fountain 1912 | Liberty Lake enlargement, islands and bridges, rustic shelter, bandstand, greenhouse expansion, drinking fountains, lighting, electric fountain, trees, benches comfort stations, flowerbeds, playground expansion, girls’ swimming pool and dressing room Post War Era(1946 to 1969)Use and Repair of LibertyPark (1995 to present day) contrib buildings (pre-1930) Liberty Park Opened (1882 to 1913)World Wars and the Great Depression (1914 to 1945) 1950 to 1970 | 600 E redesigned as Pedestrian Promenade 1970 | Rice Pavilion Park Planning andReactivation (1970 to 1996) Salt Lake City Public Lands Department CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORT MEMORY GROVE PARK AND FREEDOM TRAIL 30% Draft ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Team Kathryn Sonntag Associate Landscape Architect II Project Manager Tom Millar Director Planning & Design Division Tyler Murdock Deputy Director, Public Lands Department Technical Advisory Committee Kyle Shields Parks Division Operations Manager, Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Kelsey Lindquist Planning Manager, Salt Lake City Planning Division Tyler Fonarow Trails and Natural Lands Division Director, Salt Lake City Public Lands Department Holly Lopez Policy & Public Affairs Director, Salt Lake City Jesse Stewart Deputy Director, Public Utilities, Salt Lake City Nathan Johnsen Construction Program Project Manager, Salt Lake City Consultant Team Mundus Bishop Landscape Architecture and Planning JVA, Inc. Structural Engineers Table of Contents CULTURAL LANDSCAPE REPORTMEMORY GROVE PARK AND FREEDOM TRAIL 1. Introduction ........................................................1-1 Context ................................................................................1-2 Methodology ......................................................................1-3 Significance and Integrity ..............................................1-5 2. Site History ........................................................2-1 Introduction ........................................................................2-1 Historic Context ................................................................2-2 Periods of Landscape Development ........................2-7 3. Existing Condition and Analysis ....................3-1 Introduction .........................................................................3-1 Natural Systems and Features ....................................3-2 Cultural Traditions ...........................................................3-5 Spatial Organization and Topography ......................3-6 Views and Vistas ............................................................3-10 Circulation Features ......................................................3-14 Vegetation ........................................................................3-16 Urban Forest ....................................................................3-18 Water Features ...............................................................3-22 Buildings ...........................................................................3-24 Structures, Objects, and Features ...........................3-26 4. Treatment Guidance (included in next draft) Appendices ............................................................A-1 Appendix A: Bibliography ..............................................A-1 This Page Intentionally Left Blank 1-11. Introduction 1.Introduction Memory Grove Park has served as a sacred space in Salt Lake City (the city) since the establishment of its first memorial tree groves in 1920, honoring those who lost their lives or were impacted by the war. Today, Memory Grove Park endures as a retreat for remembrance and recreation. This document presents the Cultural Landscape Report (CLR) for Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail (the study area). This CLR presents detailed documentation of historical development and existing condition. It includes an analysis of integrity, identifies contributing features, and establishes a treatment philosophy along with recommendations to guide capital improvement projects for the next 10 years, as well as long-term stewardship of the study area. Figure 1-1. World War I Pagoda (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 1-2 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Context Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail are in the urban core of Salt Lake City, adjacent to Utah State Capitol. Memory Grove Park is characterized by its setting on the floor of City Creek Canyon, its memorials and monuments, and its role as a place for reflection and remembrance within Salt Lake City. Freedom Trail is located north of Memory Grove Park in Lower City Creek Natural Area. The trail is a popular destination for off-leash dog use, hiking, and features six plazas dedicated to the theme of freedom. Memory Grove Park has served as a prominent place of memorial for generations. Salt Lake City officially designated Memory Grove Park as parkland in 1902, and improvements began in 1914 with the initial planting of trees. However, the park remained relatively undeveloped until after World War I (WWI), when it was re-envisioned as a memorial to commemorate those who lost their lives or were impacted by WWI. Memory Grove Park is within the City Creek Canyon Historic District. The district is located at the mouth of City Creek Canyon, in a valley between the Capitol Hill Historic District to the west and the Avenues Historic District to the east. The significance of the study area as a vital open space, parkland, and memorial site for the community is highlighted by citywide planning initiatives aimed at enhancing park facilities, expanding the urban tree canopy, and improving accessibility within the park. These include the 2022 Salt Lake City Public Lands Master Plan, 2023 Urban Forest Action Plan, and 2025 Pioneer Trail. Figure 1-2. Memory Grove Park (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 1-31. Introduction Methodology The CLR was conducted at a thorough level of investigation and documentation for historical research, existing condition assessment, and analysis of integrity. It was prepared in accordance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Guidelines for the Treatment of Cultural Landscapes. The research methodology focused on review of select documentation of known and presumed relevance, including readily available primary and secondary sources. Document review included planning documents, administrative reports, technical reports, natural resource studies, correspondence, drawings, and photographs. Drawings and illustrations were prepared using background data provided by the city, supplemented by site reconnaissance in October 2025 to document existing conditions and evaluate integrity. These investigations were conducted at a thorough level and according to best practices. Figure 1-3. Memory Park Lake (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 1-4 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 2700 S INDIANA AVE 800 S 1300 S 2100 S E 0 0 9 E 0 0 7 SUNNYSIDE AVE E 0 0 3 1 600 N CALIFORNIA AVE TS N I A M W 0 0 3 NORTH TEMPLE For questions and more information, contact: historicpreservation@slc.gov or 801.535.7700. Salt Lake City | National Historic Districts Updated: June 20, 2025 Salt Lake City has two types of historic districts: National Historic Districts and Local Historic Districts. National Historic Districts are listed as resources in the National Register of Historic Places. Local Historic Districts are designated by the City to protect and maintain the historic character of neighborhoods. All locally-designated districts in Salt Lake City are listed on the National Register, but not all National Register districts are locally-designated. National Local Avenues BryantNeighborhood Salt Lake CityNorthwest City Creek CentralCity Salt Lake City East Side Bennion-Douglas Liberty Wells Yalecrest Capitol Hill(Extension) Salt Lake City Warehouse Capitol Hill South Temple Utah StateFairgrounds HighlandPark Forest Dale BoulevardGardens Westmoreland GilmerPark UniversityNeighborhood ExchangePlace U of UCircle Fort Douglas Avenues BryantNeighborhood Salt Lake CityNorthwest City Creek CentralCity Salt Lake City East Side Bennion-Douglas Liberty Wells Yalecrest Capitol Hill(Extension) Salt Lake City Warehouse Capitol Hill South Temple Utah StateFairgrounds HighlandPark Forest Dale BoulevardGardens Westmoreland GilmerPark UniversityNeighborhood ExchangePlace U of UCircle Fort Douglas 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. Capitol Hill City Creek / Memory Grove Avenues South Temple Exchange Place Central City University Yalecrest - Douglas Park Yalecrest - Normandie Circle Yalecrest - Harvard Heights Yalecrest - Upper Harvard & Yale Park Plat A Yalecrest - Harvard Park Yalecrest - Upper Yale Yalecrest - Princeton Heights Yalecrest - Laird Heights Yalecrest - Princeton Park Westmoreland Place 1 2 3 4 6 7 13 17 10 11 12 8 9 14 16 15 5 L O C A L H I S T O R I C D I S T R I C T S Figure 1-4. Salt Lake City National and Local Historic Districts (source: Salt Lake City Historic Preservation). Memory Grove Park Freedom Trail 1-51. Introduction Significance and Integrity Significance Memory Grove Park is significant for its association with the early settlement of Salt Lake City and the evolution of parks and war memorials in the United States. Memory Grove Park is important as a place for the community to retreat, commemorate, and recreate within the urban core of Salt Lake City. The upper section of City Creek Canyon, including present-day Memory Grove Park, was sold to Salt Lake City in 1902. City Council recognized its potential for recreational use, the need for parkland, and its development challenges. As a result, a resolution was passed to dedicate it as parkland. The establishment of the park coincided with the national City Beautiful Movement, which emerged in the 1890s and continued through the 1920s as a response to rapid urban growth and the impacts of urbanization. City Beautiful Movement advocates promoted careful planning of cities and parks to promote civic pride and improve the quality of life of its residents. The significance of the park was elevated when city officials rededicated it as a memorial in 1924. The end of WWI marked a surge in the establishment of memorials across the nation. These memorials served to unite the country and symbolically acknowledged the scale and impact of WWI. Memory Grove Park became a sacred space to grieve and honor those who died, fought, or were affected by WWI and later conflicts. Memory Grove Park embodied principles of American Park design, which aimed to preserve open spaces in urban settings while incorporating principles from 18th-century English landscape gardening. This included integrating rural landscapes into cities using pastoral elements such as open meadows, lawns, picturesque settings, broad views, and paths for walking. The memorials, lawns, tree groves, views, and setting of City Creek Canyon reflect the principles and character of American Park design. Memory Grove Park is within the City Creek Canyon Historic District. The district is listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) at the state level with a period of significance of 1875 to 1924. This period captures an important era of Salt Lake City’s growth and civic improvement. This CLR recommends a slightly different period of significance for Memory Grove Park, to begin with the dedication of the park in 1902 and to include significant improvements that occurred after 1924, as Salt Lake City re- envisioned the park as a memorial. The CLR recommended period of significance is 1902 to 1982, which captures the dedication of the land as parkland and the establishment of significant monuments, memorials, events, and resources that shaped Memory Grove Park. Ending the period of significance at 1982 captures the date Memory Grove Park was considered complete, distinguishing it from later changes that impacted the park’s character. Extending the period of significance for Memory Grove Park to 1982 captures later memorials and honors the exceptional importance of the park as a commemorative space. 1-6 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Integrity Integrity is the ability of a cultural landscape to convey its significance. Memory Grove Park was assessed to determine if the landscape characteristics that shaped the cultural landscape during the period of significance are present today. Integrity is evaluated according to seven aspects or qualities: location, setting, design, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association. Location is the place where the cultural landscape was constructed or a historic event occurred. Setting is the physical environment of the cultural landscape. Feeling is the cultural landscape’s expression of the aesthetic or historic sense of a particular period of time. Materials and Workmanship. Materials are physical elements that were combined or deposited during period(s) of time and in a particular pattern or configuration to form the cultural landscape. Workmanship includes the physical evidence of the crafts of a particular culture or people during any given period in history or prehistory. Design is the combination of elements to create the form, plan, space, structure, and style of the cultural landscape. Association is the direct link between the important historic event or person and a cultural landscape. Memory Grove Park retains integrity through extant features and buildings, circulation, and views and retains integrity in location, setting, feeling, materials, and workmanship and has diminished integrity in design. ●Memory Grove Park retains integrity in location and setting. The physical environment associated with the development of Memory Grove Park remains in the original location at the mouth of City Creek Canyon. Original relationships to Capitol Hill and Avenues neighborhoods, City Creek, City Creek Canyon, and the Wasatch Range remain. ●Memory Grove Park retains integrity in feeling and association. It retains original American Park, City Beautiful, and Modern Movement aesthetics of its initial design and construction. Memory Grove Park retains the same feeling that visitors would have experienced during the period of significance. ●Memory Grove Park retains integrity in materials and workmanship. Contributing features associated with Memory Grove Park retain the same materials and its workmanship with its initial design and construction. Monumental entrance gates, memorials and monuments, stone walls and paving, and Zucker Memorial Fountain represent American Park, City Beautiful, and Modern Movement styles. ●Memory Grove Park has diminished integrity in design. The design of Memory Grove Park has been modified by the loss of tree groves to natural disasters. The design of Freedom Trail is modified by the addition of Freedom Plazas after the period of significance. 2-12. Site History 2: Site History Introduction Figure 2-1. Memory Grove Park trail through tree groves, 1941 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Memory Grove Park was established as parkland in 1902 with the goal of enhancing the quality of life in Salt Lake City and providing the rapidly growing community with access to open spaces. The vision for Memory Grove Park expanded following World War I (WWI) when the city designated the park as a memorial to provide space for collective grief and commemoration of those lost or impacted by the war. Today, Memory Grove Park serves as a place for retrospection and recreation in the core of Salt Lake City. This chapter presents the historical context and overview of the physical development of Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail. It includes a chronology of the park’s physical development. 2-2 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Historic Context Memory Grove Park is representative of the evolution of parks and war memorials in the United States from its establishment to provide residents of the growing city with access to public parkland to its dedication as a memorial and enduring significance as a place for contemplation, remembrance, and gathering in Salt Lake City. Mormon pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and found refuge within City Creek Canyon. The mouth of City Creek Canyon, including present-day Memory Grove Park, served as an early campsite and offered settlers the essentials for establishing permanent settlement—timber and stone for construction material and water for irrigation and drinking. In 1857, the Utah Territory Legislature deeded the mouth of City Creek Canyon to Brigham Young. Young utilized City Creek to power both a sawmill and a flour mill. During the 1860s and 1870s, Young sold and gifted portions of his land to family and friends, leading to the establishment of houses in the lower section of City Creek Canyon. Upper portions of City Creek Canyon were narrow and difficult to access, and they were primarily used for industrial purposes, including mills and the P.J. Moran Construction Company. Around 1890, P.J. Moran Construction Company built a stable and equipment shed in what is now Memory Grove Park. This building was later used by the city’s waterworks department at the turn of the century. Figure 2-2. Construction of City Creek aqueduct in 1910, looking north (top image) and looking south (bottom image) (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Present-Day Memorial House City Creek Present-day Memory Park Lake Present-day Memory Park Lake 2-32. Site History The upper section of City Creek Canyon was sold to Salt Lake City in 1902. City Council recognized the canyon’s potential for recreational use, the city’s need for parkland in the area, and the challenges associated with accessing and developing the steep, rugged terrain. As a result, they passed a resolution to establish City Creek Park, which included plans to straighten the channel of City Creek and build a road, North Canyon Road, through the canyon.1 The establishment of City Creek Park coincided with the national City Beautiful Movement, which emerged in the 1890s and continued through the 1920s as a response to rapid urban growth and the impacts of urbanization. City Beautiful Movement advocates promoted careful planning of cities and parks to promote civic pride and improve the quality of life of its residents, which included preserving open space in urban areas. Improvements to City Creek Park began in 1914 when Mayor John McChrystal Wallace approved the planting of trees in the park. However further park development was paused due to the onset of WWI. The end of WWI marked a surge in the establishment of memorials throughout the nation. These memorials served to unite the country and symbolically acknowledge the scale and impact of WWI. Salt Lake City’s plans for City Creek Park evolved from developing a park to creating a sacred space to remember and honor those who died, fought, or were affected by WWI. The Service Star Legion, along with its subset, Gold Star Mothers (mothers whose sons died overseas), was formed to honor the sacrifices of men during World War I. The Baltimore branch of the Gold Star Mothers planted a grove of trees in 1919 as a living memorial to all those who gave their lives in WWI, the City of Baltimore, WWI allies, and President Woodrow Wilson. This initiative inspired women in Salt Lake City to propose a living memorial in City Creek Park. The official opening of City Creek Park was marked with the dedication and planting of three groves of memorial trees in the spring of 1920. The three tree groves included Service Tree Grove, Memory Tree Grove, and Gold Star Grove. The parks department prepared for the dedication by clearing twenty acres of sage from City Creek Park and preparing 500 holes for planting at Service Tree Grove. City officials, community members, and families planted trees in Service Tree Grove in honor of both living and deceased servicemen. Tree species planted in this grove included sycamores, maples, cork elms, and European lindens. Local Army, Navy, and Marine officials planted Memory Tree Grove in honor of those who gave their lives in WWI. Gold Star Mothers planted 196 trees in Gold Star Grove to honor the 196 Salt Lake City servicemen killed in WWI. Flowering tree species were chosen for Gold Star Grove, and blue sycamore trees were added as a backdrop to enhance the flowering trees. Sycamore trees were also planted in the steep walls of City Creek Canyon.2 The Salt Lake Herald Republican reported on the events of the tree-planting and described a vision for the park. “The canyon walls will be terraced with beautiful gardens and thick woods, threaded with footpaths and driveways. These improvements will be carried out in a manner to conserve the present wild beauty of the canyon. The beautiful main drive along the creek bed will remain unaltered, except where barren spots are transplanted with growth merging in the natural woods on either side. Monuments in commemoration of those events in which Salt Lake City takes especial pride will be erected at commanding points; and the canyon itself will be one colossal monument to municipal achievement.”3 2-4 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft The tree plantings were the only memorials until 1924, when city officials rededicated City Creek Park as a memorial and renamed it Memory Grove Park. That same year, the Service Star Legion planted a grove of trees and donated the World War I Memorial. The World War I Memorial featured a stone retaining wall with a plaque that listed the names of the 665 Utahns who were killed in the war, along with arbors.4 Service Star Legion expanded its presence in Memory Grove Park in 1926 when they leased the c. 1890 P.J. Moran Construction Company building from the city. Service Star Legion rehabilitated the building for use as their headquarters and renamed the building Memorial House. Memory Grove Park became increasingly significant as a place for gathering and remembrance throughout the 1920s. Memorial House emerged as a popular venue for social events and organizations and individuals donated monuments and memorials. Notable additions to Memory Grove Park during this time included a WWI German Cannon in 1926, a monument honoring the lost soldiers of the 145th Field Artillery in 1927, Kiwanis Club Stone Footbridge in 1927, and Rotary Steps, also built in 1927. Rotary Steps served as a memorial to WWI and established a connection from Capitol Hill at the rim of City Creek Canyon down to Memory Grove Park at the canyon floor. Mrs. E.O. Howard, chairwoman of the Gold Star Mothers Memory Park Committee, announced that a new monument honoring those lost in WWI would replace the 1924 World War I Memorial. In describing the new monument, Mrs. Howard stated, “We are anxious to have something that we know will be permanent—something worth our efforts that will be here long after we are gone.”5 World War I Pagoda was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1932. The monument was designed by Slack Winburn, a prominent local architect, who had also designed Memory Grove Entrance Gate. Marble used for the World War I Pagoda came from the quarry in Figure 2-3. Original World War I Memorial, 1927-1932 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Memory Grove Park Design Memory Grove Park reflects the Early American Park movement efforts to preserve open space in urban settings while incorporating principles developed by English landscape gardeners in the 18th century. This included bringing rural landscapes into the city through pastoral elements, including open meadow or lawn, tree groves, broad views, and paths for walking. The design of Memory Grove Park emphasized the picturesque qualities of City Creek Canyon with the rustic style of Memory Park Lake, World War I Monument, stone walls, and other early features harmonizing manmade features with the natural setting. The design of later memorials incorporated the classical forms, symmetry, ornate decoration, and grand scale of the City Beautiful Movement. This includes Memory Park Entrance Gate, World War I Pagoda, Meditation Chapel, and 145th Field Artillery Monument. 2-52. Site History Figure 2-4. 145th Field Artillery Monument, undated (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Vermont that had supplied marble for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The contributions of the Gold Star Mothers were honored with the dedication of Gold Star Hill in 1934. Gold Star Hill acknowledged the crucial role that Gold Star Mothers played in the creation and upkeep of Memory Grove Park. Donations from individuals and organizations in the 1920s and 1930s funded WWI memorials. The parks department completed various landscape improvements during this time. Additionally, the city received support from New Deal programs in the 1930s and 1940s. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided jobs for the unemployed during the Great Depression to carry out public works projects. WPA projects at Memory Grove Park included grading, landscaping, trail building, seating, park irrigation and lighting systems, rock walls, a dam for a settling basin, and a new bandstand.6 City reports during the 1930s and 1940s describe Memory Grove Park as a sacred space in Salt Lake City and highlight its importance as public parkland, providing the community with opportunities to gather, picnic, and recreate.7 2-6 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft The United States formally entered World War II (WWII) on December 8, 1941, and remained involved in the conflict until September 2, 1945. Gold Star Mothers and the Salt Lake City community quickly organized to integrate WWII monuments and memorials into Memory Grove Park. WWII was longer and more devastating than WWI, and Memory Grove Park provided a space for the Salt Lake City community to both celebrate heroism and mourn their losses. Mr. and Mrs. Beason donated Meditation Chapel in 1948 to honor the memory of their son, Lieutenant Ross Beason, Jr., and other Utah soldiers whose bodies were not recovered. Meditation Chapel provided a space for reflection and honored Utah’s soldiers who died in service overseas.8 France gifted the State of Utah a boxcar, known as the Merci Boxcar, as a thank you for food and supplies donated during WWII. Merci Boxcar was placed in Memory Grove Park in 1949 as a memorial to those who fought in France and to symbolize the friendship between the United States and France. Few improvements were made to Memory Grove Park from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. During this period, conflicts such as the Korean War and Vietnam War evoked antiwar sentiments and may have contributed to decreased interest in investing in new memorials.9 Figure 2-5. Meditation Chapel dedication, 1948 (source: © 2009 Utah State Historical Society). 2-72. Site History Periods of Landscape Development Five periods of landscape development describe the physical evolution of Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail from the earliest dedication of the park through the present day. The beginning and end of each period corresponds to and documents major physical changes in the cultural landscape. The city and community began to reinvest in Memory Grove Park in 1976, with the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. Memory Grove Park was selected as the site for Utah’s celebrations, and the Bicentennial resulted in park clean-up and repair efforts and additions, including Garden of Perception, Zucker Memorial Fountain, and Replica Liberty Bell.10 Two major natural disasters impacted Memory Grove Park and City Creek Canyon in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1983, City Creek experienced severe flooding that swept away trees, covered Gold Star Hill in debris, and inundated low-lying areas of Memory Grove Park. Salt Lake City established Freedom Trail in the aftermath of the flood to honor the community of Salt Lake City’s response to the natural disaster, while celebrating ideas of liberty and patriotism. Freedom Trail follows a historic route that connected Memory Grove Park to the site of the Empire Mill complex that predated the dedication of the public park. Freedom Trail included six plazas designed by local high schoolers. In 1999, a rare tornado struck Salt Lake City, causing minimal roof damage to Memorial House and resulting in the loss or damage of 478 trees in the park. A large-scale community clean-up took place the morning after the tornado.11 12 13 The community’s immediate and widespread response to address the devastation created by the 1983 flood and 1999 tornado highlighted the lasting importance of Memory Grove Park. The importance of Memory Grove Park was further emphasized by the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, which organized committees after the tornado to develop a master plan for the park. This initiative aimed to address the damage from the tornado while also honoring the community’s desire to preserve the park’s character and accommodate modern uses. Many of the recommendations from this master plan have been successfully implemented, including the addition of Korean War Memorial and two Entry Plazas. Initial Park and Memorial Development(1902 to 1940) Exclusive Indigenous Occupation(to 1847) World War II(1941 to 1951) Post War Period (1952 to 1975) Bicentennial Additions (1976 to 1982) Contemporary Alterations(1983 to present) 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050 Period of Significance (1902 to 1982) Periods of Landscape Development 2-8 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) Drinking Fountain(n.d.) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStarHill(1934) North Capital Street Stairs(unknown) World War I Pagoda(1932) Rotary Steps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove Park Entrance Gate(1930) WWIGermanCannon(1926) Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) Drinking Fountain(n.d.) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStarHill(1934) World War I Pagoda(1932) Rotary Steps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove Park Entrance Gate(1930) WWIGermanCannon(1926) A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue City Creek Figure 2-6. 1902 to 1940 Period Plan (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N 2-92. Site History Initial Park and Memorial Development (1902 to 1940) The vision for Memory Grove Park began as a public park in 1902 and later evolved into a memorial honoring those who served and were impacted by WWI. Tree groves served as the first memorials in Memory Grove Park. Families, veteran organizations, and community service groups contributed monuments and memorials, transforming the park into an important public space for reflection and gathering. 1902 Salt Lake City passed a resolution to build a park, initially known as City Creek Park, within City Creek Canyon in 1902. City Creek Park remained largely undeveloped until after WWI.14 1914 Salt Lake City built a bandstand on the foundation of the former Sundbury House for the grand opening of North Canyon Road and a footpath along the east side of City Creek. This footpath likely followed an existing route to the former Empire Mill complex and is today the general corridor of Freedom Trail. Sundbury House was part of the Empire Mill complex, established in the 1860s and destroyed by fire in the 1890s. 1920 Gold Star Mothers became involved in City Creek Park’s development and advocated for it to be a commemorative space. The first memorials were three groves of trees. These included a service grove dedicated to living and dead service men, a memory grove to honor those who gave their life in WWI, and a Gold Star Grove planted by mothers whose sons were killed in war. Documented tree species planted included sycamore trees, maple trees, cork elm trees, and European linden trees. Flowering trees were specifically planted in the Gold Star Mother’s grove. By the 1920s, City Creek Park became known as Memory Grove Park or Memory Grove. 15 2-10 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 2-7. 1924 World War I Memorial, 1927 to 1932 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 1924 The Gold Star Mothers dedicated a plaque, listing the names of the Utah soldiers who died overseas in WWI.16 Historic images indicate this plaque was part of the original WWI Memorial comprised of a stone cobble retaining wall and arbors. 1925 The Salt Lake Telegram reported that Salt Lake City commission granted $1,400 for the terracing of the west side of City Creek Canyon and noted the area would later be planted with lawns and trees.17 1924 World War I Monument A Street Liberty Park Lake 2-112. Site History Figure 2-8. “Memory Park, lying in the entrance of City Creek Canyon, an easy ten-minute walk from the center of the business district, is a mecca for picnickers and Sunday strollers. It is maintained as a tribute to Utah’s heroes of the World War,” undated (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 1926 Memorial House was remodeled and became the Service Star Legions headquarters. Later in 1926, the Kiwanis Club raised funds to add a bridge, Kiwanis Club Stone Footbridge, over City Creek, and a World War I German Cannon was added as a memorial to Disabled American Veterans.18 1927 145th Field Artillery Memorial, a granite semicircular bench with a central granite column decorated with a bronze plate depicting soldiers and their horses, was dedicated as a memorial to members of the 145th Field Artillery Unit who died in WWI.19 Kiwanis Club Stone Footbridge was completed. 1928 Rotary Steps, leading from East Capitol Boulevard to Memory Grove Park were completed and dedicated. Dean W. W. Fleetwood, of the Rotary Club, delivered the dedicatory address and noted: “The stairs are allegorical. ’Onward and upward’ is their silent cry. They represent the ascent that is ever going on in the world. Each step typifies advancement, and divergent paths above the steps, meandering over the hillside, only to join together at the top, illustrate the idea that every man eventually achieves the same destination. The stairs will stand as a constant reminder for those who come after of the love and devotion that is due of those patriots to whose memory the steps were erected.”20 Rotary Steps East Capitol Boulevard Memorial House 145th Field Artillery Monument 2-12 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 1928 (continued) Memory Park Lake was completed. Intake and embankments were rip-rapped with concrete and cobble, contributing to the rustic aesthetic of Memory Grove Park. The maximum length of the lake was 215 feet and the maximum width was 90 feet, with a depth of under two feet. A series of settling basins were designed above the intake channel to prevent silt and debris washed out of City Creek Canyon from clogging the outlet.21 2-132. Site History Figure 2-9. Plans for Memory Park Lake and Channel developed by City’s Engineer’s Office, Salt Lake City, April 1, 1929 (source: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-14 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 2-11. Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate, 1945 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 1930 Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate, designed by architect Slack Winburn, was added along North Canyon Road. Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate included two art deco style concrete columns with a bronze plaque attached.22 1931 Mrs. H.F. McCann donated a marble bench in memory of her son, Lieutenant Walter G. McCann.23 Figure 2-12. Plans for Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate developed by Slack Windburn (source: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-152. Site History 1932 World War I Pagoda, a large Classical style marble structure, was dedicated. The marble pagoda featured an eight-sided pedestal topped with a bronze urn. The names of Utah soldiers who died during the war were inscribed around the pedestal.24 1934 Gold Star Mothers funded and established Gold Star Hill to honor women who were integral to the creation and maintenance of Memory Grove Park. The memorial consisted of semicircular tiers of concrete embellished with embossed gold plaques. Figure 2-13. World War I Pagoda in 1939, looking northeast (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Figure 2-14. World War I Pagoda, undated (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 2-16 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft after 1935 Salt Lake City’s Engineering Department designed the A Street Entrance to Memory Grove from the east rim of City Creek Canyon to Memory Grove Park. This included two sets of steps, two benches, stone walls, and stone paving. 3’-0” wide trails descended from the A Street Entrance to the floor of City Creek Canyon. Figure 2-15. Plans for the top entrance to Memory Grove Park developed by City’s Engineer’s Office, Salt Lake City, December 4, 1935 (source: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-172. Site History after 1936 (continued) Salt Lake City’s Engineering Department developed drawings for the bottom of the A Street Stairs in 1936, The bottom entrance included sandstone stairs, benches, and walls with a drinking fountain. A bronze plaque dedicated to Captain James R. Austin was set in the sandstone wall. These improvements were an official WPA project. 1937 Salt Lake City received funding from the Works Progress Administration to continue landscaping and maintenance improvements at Memory Grove Park.25 Figure 2-16. Plans for the bottom entrance to Memory Grove Park developed by City’s Engineer’s Office, Salt Lake City, June 1936 (source: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-18 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 1938 Salt Lake City received $25,341 in funding for WPA projects. This funding, along with City funds, provided for grading, landscaping, trails, seating, an irrigation system, a lighting system, a dam for a settling basin and rock wall, and a new grandstand.26 The Salt Lake City Engineering Department developed drawings for improvement of North Canyon Road and walks and a new trash incinerator at Memorial House. Drawings illustrate a rock curb along North Canyon Road, a 5’-0” wide side walk and steps at Memorial House and a 12’-3” drive to Memorial House. A sewer line is located along Canyon Road with light poles west of the road.27 Figure 2-17. Plans for cobble stone seating at Memory Grove Park developed by City’s Engineer’s Office, Salt Lake City, May 1938 (source: Salt Lake City Public Lands). 2-192. Site History Figure 2-18. Memory Park Lake improvements, 1939 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 2-20 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 2-19. Rotary Steps, undated (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Figure 2-20. Stone walls at Memorial House, 1938 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 2-212. Site History Figure 2-21. Memory Park Lake aerial, 1936. 2-22 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft World War I Pagoda(1932) Captain James R. Thomas Jr.Memorial Flagpole(1945) Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStar Hill(1934) World War I Pagoda(1932) Captain James R. Thomas Jr.Memorial Flagpole(1945) Meditation Chapel (1948) City CreekBridge(after 1941) MerciBoxcar(1949) RotarySteps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove ParkEntrance Gate(1930) WWIGermanCannon(1926) Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStar Hill(1934) Meditation Chapel (1948) City CreekBridge(after 1941) MerciBoxcar(1949) RotarySteps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove ParkEntrance Gate(1930) WWIGermanCannon(1926) A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue City Creek Figure 2-22. 1941 to 1951 Period Plan (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N 2-232. Site History World War II (1941 to 1951) Salt Lake City integrated additional monuments and memorials to honor community members who died in WWII. These include two marble benches dedicated to local men who served in the war, as well as the Captain James R. Thomas Jr. Memorial Flagpole, Meditation Chapel, Merci Boxcar, and a plaque accompanied by a marble bench. Figure 2-23. Memory Park Lake, 1944 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 1941 Works Progress Administration funding was approved for updates to the park, including replacing the bottom of Memory Park Lake with concrete and building a “new rock dam, stone walls, steps and trails and installing sprinkling system in the park.”28 1945 The Flora Culture Garden club dedicated two marble benches to local men who fought in the war before World WWII ended and the Disabled American Veterans installed a flagpole, the Captain James R. Thomas Jr. Memorial Flagpole, west of World War I Pagoda.29 2-24 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 1946 Salt Lake City Commissioners approved a compromise settlement for joint jurisdiction over Memory Grove Park by the Service Star Legion and Gold Star Mothers, ending a long-standing feud. It was agreed that the Service Star Legion would have jurisdiction over Memory Grove Park with appointments of the Gold Star Mothers to the committee.30 1948 Mr. and Mrs. Beason donated Meditation Chapel, a reinforced concrete structure with a marble face, to honor the memory of their son, Lieutenant Ross Beacon, Jr., providing a space for reflection and to honored Utah’s soldiers who died in service.31 1949 France gifted the State of Utah a boxcar, Merci Boxcar, as a thank you for food and supplies donated during WWII. Merci Boxcar was placed at the southeast corner of Memory Grove Park as a memorial to those who fought in France and the friendship between the two countries.32 1950 500 Salt Lake City community members attended a 26th anniversary celebration for Memory Grove Park. A plaque, mounted on a boulder, describing Memorial House was unveiled.33 1951 A memorial plot of the Salt Lake Navy Mothers’ Club No. 21 was dedicated at Memory Grove Lake in April. More than 100 roses were planted in memory of the club’s past members and officers. 34 Salt Lake’s Navy Mothers’ Club placed a granite plaque and marble bench honoring Utah’s Navy dead at Memory Park Lake.35 Eight fir trees, dedicated to fallen war heroes, were planted in Memory Grove Park as replacements to eight trees illegally removed from the park in 1950.36 The Presidents’ Patriotic Council planted a row of 41 Japanese cherry trees along East Capitol Boulevard in Memory Grove Park. The trees honor ten past presidents of the council and the presidents of other organizations who were members of the council.37 2-252. Site History Figure 2-24. Meditation Chapel Dedication, 1948 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Figure 2-25. Memory Park Lake, 1950 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 2-26 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) ComfortStation(1962) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStar Hill(1934) World War IPagoda(1932) Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial(1963) Meditation Chapel (1948) City CreekBridge(after 1941)WWIGermanCannon(1926) MerciBoxcar(1949) RotarySteps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove ParkEntrance Gate(1930) Captain James R. Thomas Jr.Memorial Flagpole(1945) Vietnam APC Memorial(1975) Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) ComfortStation(1962) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStar Hill(1934) World War IPagoda(1932) Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial(1963) Meditation Chapel (1948) City CreekBridge(after 1941)WWIGermanCannon(1926) MerciBoxcar(1949) RotarySteps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove ParkEntrance Gate(1930) Captain James R. Thomas Jr.Memorial Flagpole(1945) Vietnam APC Memorial(1975) A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue City Creek Figure 2-26. 1952 to 1975 Period Plan (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N 2-272. Site History Modifications and additions to Memory Grove Park slowed in post-war years. Additions included a Comfort Station, Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial, and a Vietnam War Memorial. Post-War Period (1952 to 1975) 1962 The city built Comfort Station, a cement and brick building, north of Memorial House. The building included a restroom and office. Two additional one-story outbuildings are located west of Memorial House. Their date of construction is undocumented. The buildings share a similar construction to Comfort Station and were likely built around the same time.38 1963 Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial, a polished aggregate lectern with a bronze plaque, was dedicated west of the World War I Pagoda. The bronze plaque included the words of “Sleep Solder Boy,” a national Veterans of Foreign Wars memorial song written by Dorothy Alexander. Alexander was president of the ladies’ auxiliary, VFW Post 409, Salt Lake City.39 1975 An armored personal carrier (APC) was placed at Memory Grove Park to commemorate those who fought in the Vietnam War.40 2-28 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Garden of Perception(1979) Zucker Memorial Fountain(1981) Replica Liberty Bell (1979) Utah Medal of Honor Memorial Vietnam APC Memorial(1975) Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) ComfortStation(1962) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStar Hill(1934) World War I Pagoda(1932)Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial(1963) RotarySteps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove ParkEntrance Gate(1930)MerciBoxcar(1949) Meditation Chapel (1948) City CreekBridge(after 1941) Captain James R. Thomas Jr.Memorial Flagpole(1945) WWIGermanCannon(1926) Garden of Perception(1979) Zucker Memorial Fountain(1981) Replica Liberty Bell (1979) Utah Medal of Honor Memorial Vietnam APC Memorial(1975) Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge(1927) 145th Field Artillery Monument(1927) A Street Sandstone Staircase(after 1935) MemorialHouse(c. 1890) ComfortStation(1962) WPA Stone Bench(after 1938) GoldStar Hill(1934) World War I Pagoda(1932)Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial(1963) RotarySteps(1928) Canyon RoadStone Wall(unknown) MemoryGrove ParkEntrance Gate(1930)MerciBoxcar(1949) Meditation Chapel (1948) City CreekBridge(after 1941) Captain James R. Thomas Jr.Memorial Flagpole(1945) WWIGermanCannon(1926) A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue City Creek Figure 2-27. 1976 to 1982 Period Plan (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N 2-292. Site History Bicentennial Additions (1976 to 1982) A significant period of reinvestment occurred with the 1976 Bicentennial. Memory Grove Park was selected as the site for the State of Utah’s Bicentennial celebrations, and the Bicentennial sparked increased interest in the park, including the addition of Garden of Perception, Zucker Memorial Fountain, and Replica Liberty Bell 1976 Bicentennial improvements kicked off in 1976. A series of additions and improvements were instated at this time including a time capsule to be opened in 2075 and a memorial tree and plaque dedicated to Utah’s Medal of Honor recipients. A geyser fountain was added to Memory Park Lake, sandstone steps were repaired, and a tree and plaque were placed in honor of 10 Utah men who were missing in action.41 The Veterans Administration in Washington initiated and sponsored a bicentennial tree planting program in each state. The Veterans Administration Regional Office and the Veterans Administration Hospital in Salt Lake City planted four white fir trees in Memory Grove Park with a dedication plaque at the base of each tree to honor the memory of four Utahns who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.42 1979 An anodized aluminum plaque mounted on concrete backing was dedicated on July 21, 1979 by the Utah League of Families of Prisoners and Missing in Action in Southeast Asia. Perception Garden was completed in 1979. The garden was designed for visitors with visual or physical impairments and featured plant species with aromatic qualities, braille plant identification labels, and wide walkways. Three new groves were planted in 1979, including the Grove of Service in recognition of the individuals who “devoted energy and resources to the betterment of the community,” the Grove of Life “in the name of the children who are the hope of the future,” and the Celebrity Grove “in honor of individuals who have made outstanding accomplishments in their fields of endeavor.” Brigham Young University’s Beta Sigma Phi sorority raised funds for a five-to-one scale replica of the Liberty Bell. The bell arrived in Salt Lake City in 1976. The Replica Liberty Bell and Tower were placed and dedicated in 1979.43 1981 University of Utah professor Dr. Louis Zucker donated Zucker Memorial Fountain in honor of his wife, Ethel Kaolan Zucker. The circular cast concrete fountain includes five water columns of varying heights.44 2-30 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Contemporary Alterations (1983 to Present) Two major natural disasters struck Memory Grove Park in the 1980s and 1990s. The first was a destructive flooding event in 1983, followed by a tornado in 1999. Both disasters caused extensive damage to the park. In the aftermath of these events, several repair efforts were undertaken. These included significant tree plantings, the improvement of a historic trail along City Creek, which was renamed Freedom Trail, the restoration of the Memorial House and Meditation Chapel, as well as the addition of the Korean War Memorial and two Entry Plazas. 1983 Spring runoff overwhelmed City Creek Canyon causing extensive damage to the Memory Grove Park. Much of the park was covered in mud and loose gravel when Memory Park Lake water levels rose and inundated low lying areas. Flooding uprooted trees throughout Memory Grove Park and Utah Medal of Honor Monument, a low-lying granite monument with a bronze plaque, was relocated south of the World War I Pagoda.45 1984 Freedom Trail was built in the aftermath of the flood to honor the community efforts in response to the natural disaster, while celebrating ideas of liberty and patriotism. The trail begins at the North end of Memory Grove and stretches north to the Bonneville Boulevard loop.46 “’The concept of a Freedom Trail developed in the aftermath of the flooding that occurred in Salt Lake City during 1983 which had a devastating impact of Memory Grove, but also exemplified the sense of community and spirit of volunteerism on the part of our citizens as thousand of people turned out to fight the raging flood waters,’ Mayor Wilson and Mr. Shea said.”47 2-312. Site History 1985 The Utah Chapter of the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association donated Pearl Harbor Obelisk. The granite obelisk memorializing those who died at Pearl Harbor.48 1991 Memorial House renovations began in 1990. The house was in poor condition and the Service Star Legion vacated the house in 1986. Repairs were completed in the fall of 1991.49 1993 Utah Heritage Foundation moved into Memorial House, using the space as their headquarters. Navy veteran Charles Beam placed a sandstone bench in front of the memorial chapel to honor his WWII platoon.50 1998 Meditation Chapel stained glass windows were replaced and the chapel was opened to the public.51 1999 A rare tornado struck Salt Lake City on August 11, 1999. Memorial House had superficial roof damage and Memory Grove Park’s urban forest was considerably reduced with the damage or complete loss of 478 trees in the park. A large-scale community clean up took place the morning after the tornado.52 2001 36 sugar maple trees were planted along the entrance to Memorial House and hundreds of trees, shrubs, and groundcover plants were planted throughout Memory Grove Park. Figure 2-28. Aftermath of 1999 tornado to Memory Grove Park’s urban tree canopy (source: ©1999 King Richard’s Resources). 2-32 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 2002 Rotary Steps were redesigned along their historic alignment to be accessible. The Merci Boxcar, World War I German Cannon, and Vietnam APC Memorial were deemed unsafe and removed from Memory Grove Park.53 2001 / 2002 Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office organized committees after the 1999 tornado to redesign portions of Memory Grove Park to preserve the character of the park while providing for contemporary uses. This included the addition of the Entry Plaza and the redesign of the site of the former Merci Boxcar as a second Entry Plaza and the redesign of the Vietnam APC Memorial as the Korean War Memorial. 2003 Korean War Memorial listing the names of 142 Utah soldiers who died during the war was placed at APC plaza.54 after 2005 A plaque dedicated to the memory of Sergent Brandon James Thomas, the grandson of James R. Thomas, was added to Captain James R. Thomas Jr. Memorial Flagpole. Brandon James Thomas was killed in Iraq in 2005.55 2006 The fraternity Beta Sigma Phi donated a marble bench.56 2020 A bench and plaque mounted to a concrete base were placed along Memory Grove Park Trail to commemorate the decades of service Philip Carroll dedicated to Memory Grove Park. Figure 2-29. Illustrative plan of Memory Grove Park improvements after the 1999 tornado, including new APC, Boxcar, and Entry Plazas (source: Landmark Design). 2-332. Site History Endnotes 1 William Love, “A History of Memory Grove,” Utah Historical Quarterly, Volume 76, No. 2. 2008, Jessie Embry, “City Creek Canyon Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination, March 12, 1980 2 “Raise Trees in Memory of City’s Heros,” Salt Lake City Telegram, April 15, 1920. 3 “Canyon Park on City’s Verge to be Embellished.” Salt Lake Herald Republican, April 4, 1920. 4 Utah Division of State History. Utah’s World War I Monuments. Utah Department of Heritage & Arts, n.d., 6. 5 Utah Division of State History. Utah’s World War I Monuments. Utah Department of Heritage & Arts, n.d., 12. 6 William Love, “A History of Memory Grove,” Jessie Embry, “City Creek Canyon Historic District,” “City Creek Park is Born,” Salt Lake City Tribune, April 4, 1904, “Park Trees to be Soldier Memorials” Salt Lake Telegram, March 24, 1920, “City Fund Granted for Park Project” Salt Lake Telegram, November 25, 1936. Lauren Webb “Annie Payne Howard, Gold Star Mother,” Utah Women’s History 7 Meess, Sara and Sheri Ellis, Memory Park. Historic American Landscape Survey. SWCA Environmental Consultants. August 15, 2011, 15. 8 “Beason Lauds Utah for Memorial Site,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 12, 1948. 9 Love, “A History of Memory Grove.” 10 Love, “A History of Memory Grove,” M. J. Rymsza- Pawlowska, History Comes Alive: Public History and Popular Culture in the 1970s, University of North Carolina Press, 2017. 11 Brian Wilkinson, “Students to Join ‘Freedom Trail’ Fund Drive,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 13, 1984. 12 Kim Folsom, “Tornado Hits Downtown Salt Lake City,” Magna Times, August 19, 1999. 13 “Twister toll is $170 million Mayor offers update on damage, tree project and cleanup.” Deseret News, August 26, 1999. 14 Love, “A History of Memory Grove,” Jessie Embry, “City Creek Canyon Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination, March 12, 1980. 15 “Park Trees to be Soldier Memorials” Salt Lake Telegram, March 24, 1920. 16 “Mrs. Howard Hopes to Extend Memory Grove Beautification to Entire City Creek Canyon” Salt Lake Telegram March 22, 1925. 17 “Terracing at Memory Park is Under Way,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 8, 1925. 18 “Memorial House Formally Opened; Heroes Eulogized,” Salt Lake Telegram June 14, 1926, “City to Aid in Building Kiwanis Memorial Bridge,” Salt Lake Telegram, December 8, 1926, “Biggest Utah Gun to Go In Place” Salt Lake Telegram, November 28, 1926. 19 Sara Meess and Sheri Ellis, SWCA Environmental Consultants, “Memory Park,” Historic American Landscape Survey, August 15, 2011; “Lake at Memory Park” Salt Lake Telegram, October 21, 1928. 20 “Memorial Steps are Presented,” Salt Lake Telegram, May, 5, 1930. 21 “Lake at Memory Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, October 21, 1928. 22 “Data to be Placed in Memory Park Pedestal,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 11, 1930, Love, “A History of Memory Grove.” 23 “Marble Bench to Be Presented Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, September 7, 1931. 24 “Final Plans for War Memorial are Announced,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 8, 1931, “Memorial Project Progress Reported,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 9, 1932. 2-34 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 25 “Memory Grove Project Okehed,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 30, 1937. 26 “WPA Projects Receive Okey,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 4, 1938. 27 Layout of Improvements - Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1938. 28 “Memory Grove WPA Project is Approved by City,” Desert News, October 30, 1941. 29 “Culture Club to Set Benches in Memory Park to Honor Local Heroes of Present War,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 27, 1945, “Memory Grove Benches Dedicated by Glade,” Salt Lake Telegram, May 21, 1945, “Memory Park,” Historic American Landscape Survey, August 15, 2011. 30 “Memory Grove Dispute Ends,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 27, 1946. 31 “Plane Spreads Flowers in Heroes’ Honor,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 15, 1948, Historic American Landscape Survey, August 15, 2011. 32 “’Merci’ Boxcar Granted Sport in Memory Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 1, 1949. 33 “Unveil Plaque” Salt Lake Telegram, June 26, 1950. 34 “Memorial Plot Dedicated by S.L. Navy Club,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 14, 1951. 35 “Church Rites Honor S.L. Military Dead,” Salt Lake Telegram, May 28, 1951. 36 “Fir Trees Replaced,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 7, 1951. 37 “Planting of Cherry Trees to Honor Past Leaders,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 22, 1951. 38 Jessie Embry, “City Creek Canyon Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination, March 12, 1980 39 “To Participate in Special Activities,” Uintah Basin Standard, November 7, 1963. 40 “A Memorial to Veterans,” Deseret News, November 12, 1975. 41 Genevieve Folsom, “Perception Garden: The Tinkling of a Fountain,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 7, 1976, “Time Capsule Shows Lifestyle,” Iron County Record, December 16, 1976, “VA Sponsors Tree Planting Program,” Beaver Press, November 11, 1976, Genevieve Folsom, “Memory Grove Gets Garden Addition,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 5, 1976. 42 “VA Sponsors Tree Planting Program,” Beaver Press, November 11, 1976. 43 Genevieve Folsom, “Perception Garden: A Dream Comes True,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 13, 1979, Genevieve Folsom, “Help Build Perception Garden,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 27, 1975. 44 “Fountain Dedication Set,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 14, 1981. 45 Landmark Design. Memory Grove Park Interpretive Concept Plan, 22. 46 Brian Wilkinson, “Students to Join ‘Freedom Trail’ Fund Drive,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 13, 1984. 47 Wilkinson, “Students to Join ‘Freedom Trail’ Fund Drive.” 48 “Names of Pearl Harbor Casualties Sought,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 10, 1985. 49 Tom Wharton, “Escape to Memory Grove,” Salt Lake Tribune, 50 Love, “A History of Memory Grove,” Chris Jorgensen, “Bench Replaces Nightmares of War for S.L. Man,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 2, 1993. 51 Nancy Hobbs, “Bringing Back Memories,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 9, 1998. 52 Kim Folsom, “Tornado Hits Downtown Salt Lake City,” Magna Times, August 19, 1999. 53 Love, “A History of Memory Grove.” 54 National Register of Historic Places Nomination, March 12, 1980, Tim Sullivan, “Chiseled into Focus,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 8, 2003. 55 Sara Meess and Sheri Ellis, SWCA Environmental Consultants, “Memory Park,” Historic American Landscape Survey, August 15, 2011, 9. 56 National Register of Historic Places Nomination, March 12, 1980 3-13. Existing Condition and Analysis 3: Existing Condition and Analysis Introduction Figure 3-1. Meditation Chapel (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). This chapter describes the existing condition of Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail (the study area) and analyzes their integrity. The evaluation of existing condition and analysis of integrity for Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail was undertaken to understand the study area as a whole; to identify and document qualities that contribute to its historic character; and to identify individual features that contribute to its significance. Site investigations completed in the fall of 2025 documented the existing condition of the study area. The study area is evaluated according to landscape characteristics that include tangible and intangible aspects that create the historic character of the study area and aid in understanding its cultural significance. These are spatial organization, circulation, vegetation, water features, buildings, structures, objects, features, and cultural traditions. 3-2 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Natural Systems and Features Natural systems and features contribute to the historic character of Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail. City Creek and City Creek Canyon shaped the development of the study area and established its character throughout the period of significance. Significant features of the study area include City Creek and City Creek Canyon. City Creek Canyon extends from Salt Lake City to the Wasatch Mountains with City Creek at its center. City Creek Canyon is characterized by steep canyon walls and a narrow valley floor that historically limited development. Salt Lake City purchased these steep, rugged lands in 1902 and passed a resolution to establish a park. Memory Grove Park was established near the mouth of City Creek, where the valley floor widens, and slopes are less steep. City Creek provided a water source to establish a formal park landscape with irrigated lawn, garden, and tree groves within the native semi-arid grassland landscape of Salt Lake City. The 1902 resolution to establish Memory Grove Park included plans to manage City Creek flooding and improve access to City Creek Canyon. To address flooding issues, the city straightened and channelized City Creek and built North Canyon Road through the narrow canyon before beginning improvements to the park. The design of the study area has evolved in response to natural processes, including catastrophic flooding in 1983. Spring rain and rapid melting of the snowpack led to unprecedented flooding and the subsequent creation of Freedom Trail. The severe flooding swept away trees, covered Gold Star Hill with debris, and inundated low-lying areas of Memory Grove Park. Large-scale repairs in the area included reinforcing Memory Park Lake with concrete and establishing the Freedom Trail to repair damage throughout City Creek Canyon. City Creek was frequented by Indigenous peoples and served as one of the first domestic and irrigation water supplies for Euro-American settlers. It is identified on Stansbury’s 1849-50 survey as “nah-po-pah” and is identified by the Goshute as “so’ho- gwa.” Euro-American settlers renamed the creek to reflect its location within downtown Salt Lake City.5 3-33. Existing Condition and Analysis A S t r e e t E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue 500 N Bo n n e v i l l e B o u l e v a r d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d Bonneville Boulevard B S t r e e t C S t r e e t D S t r e e t 10th Avenue 11th Avenue Zane Avenue Girard Avenue E C a p i t o l S t r e e t Co r t e z S t r e e t De S o t o S t r e e t Penny Parade Drive Capitol Park Aven orthp MemorialHouse World War IPagoda MeditationChapel A StreetSandstoneStaircase RotarySteps GoldStarHill Narrow Canyon Floor Wider Canyon Floor Freedom Trail 100-Year Flood Zone City Creek 100-Year Flood Zone TheAvenues CapitolHill UtahState Figure 3-2. Natural Systems and Features (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 100-Year Flood Zone Freedom Trail Study Area 0 15075 N 3-4 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 3-3. Natural systems and features contribute to the historic character of the study area. The steep topography of City Creek Canyon, topography of the floor of the canyon, and City Creek shaped park development throughout the period of significance and remain today. City Creek Canyon before park development (top image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1910). Memory Grove Park design preserved the topography of the canyon and capitalized on City Creek to create Memory Park Lake (bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-53. Existing Condition and Analysis Cultural Traditions The use and design of the study area reflect the establishment of Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City’s participation in global events, and its enduring value as a place of remembrance, contemplation, and gathering. It continues to hold significance for the residents of Salt Lake City and serves as a sacred site, contributing to the historic character of Memory Grove Park. The mouth of City Creek Canyon, including Memory Grove Park, served as an early campsite for Mormon pioneers entering Salt Lake Valley in 1847. This location provided essential resources, such as timber, stone, and water, for the early establishment and growth of Salt Lake City. As the city expanded, city officials, inspired by the City Beautiful Movement, recognized that careful planning of urban areas and parks could enhance civic pride and improve residents’ quality of life. City officials recognized the naturalistic and recreational attributes of City Creek Canyon and the need for open space in the area. Memory Grove Park was dedicated as parkland and improved to provide a retreat within the city. Its open lawns, tree groves, views, and setting in City Creek Canyon reflect the values of the early community of Salt Lake City and the enduring importance of open space to the community. Memory Grove Park’s dedication as a memorial space established it as a sacred place to unite the community. Memory Grove Park’s continued function as a memorial space provides a link to the past, enabling people to remember and reflect upon the sacrifice of those who fought in conflicts or were affected by them. Memory Grove Park’s urban forest illustrates a physical connection to early visions of the park as a place to honor and remember those who had died in service to the United States. Trees were planted as living memorials to lives lost after World War I across the nation, and were the first memorials established at Memory Grove Park. This tradition of planting trees to commemorate individuals continued throughout the period of significance and remains today. The first objects and structures dedicated as memorials ranged from individual benches and plaques to the World War I Pagoda. The symbolic expression of families, community members, and organizations planting and donating memorials throughout the period of significance reflected the desire of individuals and the larger community to establish a physical link to the past and enable those who were impacted by the conflict and future generations to remember and respect. Memorial features remain as a physical expression of shared memories, connections to world events, and civic pride. 3-6 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Spatial Organization and Topography The arrangement of memorials as distinct spaces along City Creek, definition of Memory Grove as a space on the floor of City Creek Canyon, and steep topography of City Creek Canyon define its spatial organization and reflect the principles and character of its period of significance. Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail are set along the floor of City Creek Canyon at the mouth of City Creek. The canyon floor is narrow to the north and gradually widens to the northern boundary of Memory Grove Park. City Creek Canyon walls rise over 70’ from Memory Grove Park to adjacent neighborhoods. Memory Grove Park is a long linear space set within the floor of City Creek Canyon and defined by the steep walls of the canyon with City Creek at its center. A series of distinct memorial park spaces are set along City Creek with each set on a slight rise above the elevation of City Creek. Each park space is oriented to City Creek with canyon walls and vegetation as a backdrop. E Capitol Boulevard+4520’World War IPagoda+4450’ City CreekCenter ofMemory Grove Park Pa r k B o u n d a r y Pa r k B o u n d a r y A Street+4570’ SteepCanyonWalls SteepCanyonWalls TheAvenuesCapitolHillCanyon FloorMemory GrovePark Figure 3-4. Memory Grove Park is set on the floor of City Creek Canyon with canyon walls rising steeply to the east and west. Topography reflects the period of significance (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 3-73. Existing Condition and Analysis Steep Canyon Walls Canyon Floor Steep Canyon Walls No r t h C a n y o n R o a d Tra i l Fre e d o m T r a i l Cit y C r e e k A StreetSandstoneStaircase to CapitolHill GoldStarHill 145th Field Artillery Monument Meditation Chapel Blue Jacket Waters Memorial Utah’s Medal of Honor Memorial Korean WarMemorial World War IPagoda ZuckerMemorialFountain Entry Plazas Memory Grove Park EntranceGate RotarySteps MemorialHouse TheAvenuesUtahState Figure 3-5. Memory Grove Park Spatial Organization (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N City Creek Canyon Wall Top of City Creek Canyon Bottom of City Creek Canyon Memory Grove Park Memorial 3-8 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft WPAStone Bench A Street Sandstone Staircase 145th Field Artillery Monument World War I Pagoda World War IGermanCannon Memory GrovePark EntranceGate RotarySteps Kiwanis Club Stone Footbridge MemorialHouse Hill MeditationChapel MerciBoxcar CityCreekBridge WPAStone Bench A Street Sandstone Staircase 145th Field Artillery Monument World War IPagoda World War IGermanCannon Memory GrovePark EntranceGate RotarySteps Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge MemorialHouse Gold StarHill The steep slopes and rugged terrain of upper City Creek Canyon created challenges for development but were viewed by city officials in 1902 as a prime setting for parkland. The steep canyon walls and location of Memory Grove Park on the floor of the canyon created a sense of retreat within the urban core of Salt Lake City. The walls of the canyon were later incorporated into the design of memorial as backdrops and helped define distinct memorial spaces. Memory Grove Park was modified throughout the period of significance but retains its original spatial organization as a long linear space set within the floor of City Creek Canyon, defined by the steep walls of the canyon, with City Creek at its center. Its historic organization was maintained and strengthened through the design of memorials that reflected the original design character of the park. Topography remains similar to the period of significance and contributes to the historic character of Memory Grove Park. 0 15075 N 0 15075 N 1. Initial Park and Memorial Development (1902 to 1940)2. World War II (1941 to 1951) 3-93. Existing Condition and Analysis Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial VietnamAPC Memorial ComfortStation MeditationChapel MerciBoxcar CityCreekBridge WPAStone Bench A Street Sandstone Staircase 145th Field Artillery Monument World War IPagoda World War IGermanCannon Memory GrovePark EntranceGate RotarySteps Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge MemorialHouse Gold StarHill Blue JacketWaters MemorialUtah Medal of Honor Memorial Zucker FountainGarden of Perception MeditationChapel CityCreekBridge Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial ComfortStation WPAStone Bench A Street Sandstone Staircase 145th Field Artillery Monument World War IPagoda VietnamAPC Memorial World War IGermanCannon Memory GrovePark EntranceGate RotarySteps Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge MemorialHouse Gold StarHill MerciBoxcar FreedomTrail Korean WarMemorial EntryPlazas Blue JacketWaters Memorial Utah Metal of HonorMemorial MeditationChapel CityCreekBridge Veterans ofForeign WarsMemorial ComfortStation WPAStone Bench A Street Sandstone Staircase 145th Field Artillery Monument World War IPagoda World War IGermanCannon Memory GrovePark EntranceGate RotarySteps Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge MemorialHouse Gold StarHill Zucker FountainGarden of Perception 0 15075 N 0 15075 N 0 15075 NFigure 3-6. The arrangement of circulation, memorials, and park spaces remain similar to the period of significance of 1902 to 1982 (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 3. Post-War Period (1952 to 1975)4. Bicentennial Additions (1976 to 1982) 5. Contemporary Additions (1983 to Present) 3-10 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Views and Vistas Views and vistas orient visitors to the memorials of Memory Grove Park, the natural and urban setting of the study area, and the natural features of City Creek Canyon. These views reflect the original design of the study area and character of its period of significance. Figure 3-7. Prominent views, including views to memorials, City Creek, Memory Park Lake, Utah State Capitol, City Creek Canyon, and the Wasatch Range remain similar to the period of significance. (top image source: © Utah State Historical Society, bottom image source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Prominent views include views to memorials, City Creek, Memory Park Lake, Utah State Capitol, Salt Lake City’s skyline, City Creek Canyon, and the Wasatch Range. Historic views from memorials to the natural and urban setting of Memory Grove Park remain. The study area was part of the national American Parks movement, which aimed to preserve open space in urban settings while incorporating principles from 18th-century English landscape gardening. This movement integrated rural landscapes into cities by using pastoral elements such as open meadows, lawns, picturesque settings, and broad views. The views and vistas of Memory Grove Park reflect the principles and character of its period of significance. 3-113. Existing Condition and Analysis 0 15075 N No r t h C a n y o n R o a d Tr a i l Fre e d o m T r a i l Cit y C r e e k A Street SandstoneStaircaseViews to MemoryGrove Park, Utah State Capitol, Skyline, Wasatch Range 145th Field Artillery MonumentViews to Utah State Capitol, Memory Park Lake, Skyline,Memorial House Meditation ChapelViews to Utah State Capitol, Memory Park Lake, Memorial House Blue JacketWaters MemorialViews to Utah State Capitol, Memory Park Lake Utah’s Medal of HonorMemorial Views to Utah State Capitol, Memory Park Lake Korean War MemorialViews to Utah State Capitol,Memory Park Lake World War I PagodaViews to Utah State Capitol, Memory Park Lake, Skyline, Memorial House Zucker Memorial FountainViews to Utah State Capitol Entry PlazasViews to City Creek Canyon,Memory Grove Park Memory Grove ParkEntrance GateViews to City Creek Canyon, Memorial House, Memory Grove Park Rotary StepsViews to City Creek Canyon, Memory Park Lake, and Memorials Memorial HouseViews to Memory Park Lake, Memorials TheAvenuesUtahState Figure 3-9. Memory Grove Park Views (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N 3-12 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Circulation Features The arrangement of circulation patterns remain similar to the period of significance and contribute to the significance of Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail. Contributing circulation features includes Rotary Steps and pedestrian entrances, A Street Sandstone Staircase and pedestrian entrances, Memory Grove Park Trail, North Canyon Road, and North Canyon Road sandstone sidewalks. Vehicular circulation includes North Canyon Road, which was established after the city acquired the upper section of City Creek Canyon in 1902. North Canyon Road has retained its historic alignment and was converted into a restricted access route for vehicles, as well as a path for pedestrians and bicycles, at an unspecified time. The curb materials varied during the period of significance, featuring both sandstone and stone curbs, and examples of both can still be found along North Canyon Road. Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate, Rotary Steps, and A Street Sandstone Staircase define primary entries to the study area. Monumental gateway features are typical of the City Beautiful Movement. Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate defines the south entrance to Memory Grove Park. The monumental gateway provides multi-modal access. Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate includes a vehicular entrance at North Canyon Road and two pedestrian entrances east and west of North Canyon Road. The gate remains similar to the period of significance, with the contemporary addition of a gate supported by two concrete columns to restrict vehicular access to administrative and operational uses. Rotary Steps and A Street Sandstone Staircase provide pedestrian access from the east and west to Memory Grove Park. Rotary Steps opened to the public in 1927. Steps and walls were rebuilt in 2002 along their historic alignment. Concrete stairs are generally in good condition. Sloped asphalt walks are in poor condition and do not meet current ADA requirements. Asphalt- paved walk condition is impacted by erosion, cracking, heaving, and loss of material. A Street Sandstone Stairs were designed in 1935 and likely built shortly after. Historic sandstone stairs remain and are in fair condition. Sloped concrete walks were rebuilt after the period of significance along historic alignments and vary in condition. Condition is impacted by erosion, undercutting, cracking, and loss of surface material. 3-133. Existing Condition and Analysis A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue WWI Pagoda Meditation Chapel A StreetSandstoneStaircase FreedomTrail ADA Route Memory Grove Park Trail Memory Grove Park Trail CanyonRoadSidewalks ADA Route Memorial House RotarySteps Korean War Memorial Utah’s Medal ofHonor Memorial Zucker Fountain EntryPlazas 145th FieldArtillery Monument City Creek Memory GrovePark EntranceGate Figure 3-10. Circulation Features (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N Contributing Circulation Feature Non-Contributing Circulation Feature Study Area 3-14 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Pedestrian routes include concrete and sandstone paved sidewalks east and west of North Canyon Road within Memory Grove Park and a curvilinear concrete paved walk connecting memorial sites from the Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate to Freedom Trail. Short concrete and sandstone walks provide connections to individual memorial sites. Historic circulation is modified by the replacement of historic surface material along North Canyon Road sidewalks where sandstone was replaced with concrete; addition of an ADA-compliant route to Meditation Chapel and Zucker Memorial Fountain; trail realignment south of the lake; and the removal of a pedestrian route north of Memorial House. The non- extant route is marked by sandstone stairs. Freedom Trail likely follows segments of road that predate the establishment of Memory Grove Park and trail segments established during the period of significance. Historic alignments are not documented, but are likely similar to the current alignment of Freedom Trail, given the steep topography and narrow canyon floor. Freedom Trail is in fair to poor condition with areas of erosion. A Street Sandstone Staircase Memory GrovePark Entrance Gate Memory GrovePark Trail Trail RotarySteps Kiwanis ClubStone Footbridge North Canyon Road and Sidewalks FreedomTrail ADA Route ADA Route EntryPlaza Box CarPlaza 0 15075 N 0 15075 N Figure 3-11. Circulation features remain similar to the period of significance with the addition for ADA accessibility and improvement of an existing trail after flooding in 1983 (Freedom Trail) (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Period of Significance (1902 to 1982)Present-day (2026) 3-153. Existing Condition and Analysis Figure 3-12. The overall arrangement of circulation patterns remains from the period of significance and contribute to the significance of Memory Grove Park (top image source: © Utah State Historical Society, 1927 to 1932, bottom image source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 3-16 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Vegetation The study area is significant for its formal park landscape, including lawn and ornamental plantings, and forest vegetation along steep canyon walls. Pastoral elements such as lawns, tree groves, and ornamental plantings are characteristic of the national American Park movement. These elements were incorporated into the park during its period of significance to create a picturesque setting and retreat in from the urban setting of Salt Lake City and remain today. The formal park landscape of Memory Grove Park includes lawn, trees, and ornamental plantings. Forested walls of City Creek Canyon provide a backdrop to the formal park landscape. City Creek Canyon, including of Freedom Trail, is characterized by forested vegetation along steep walls of the canyon. Pastoral elements such as lawns, tree groves, and ornamental plantings are characteristic of the national American Park movement. These elements were incorporated into Memory Grove Park during its period of significance to create a picturesque setting and retreat in from the urban setting of Salt Lake City and remain today. Memory Grove Park’s initial ornamental park plantings included shrubs, roses, and vines. Historic photographs indicate formal ornamental plantings were established throughout the park and continued to evolve in location, extent, and composition during the period of significance. Ornamental plantings define the settings of World War I Pagoda and Memorial House. Plantings at Memorial House and World War I Pagoda remain similar to the period of significance. Ornamental plantings are less prevalent today. City Creek Canyon wall plantings varied through the period of significance. Plantings were originally more formal and less dense than present-day. Historic photos indicate the hillside along Rotary Steps was planted with flowering shrubs and perennials, creating a formal setting for the stairs and foreground to Utah State Capitol. 3-173. Existing Condition and Analysis No r t h C a n y o n R o a d Tra i l Fre e d o m T r a i l Cit y C r e e k A StreetSandstoneStaircase to CapitolHill GoldStarHill 145th Field Artillery Monument Meditation Chapel Blue Jacket Waters Memorial Utah’s Medal of Honor Memorial Korean WarMemorial World War IPagoda ZuckerMemorialFountain Entry Plazas Memory Grove Park EntranceGate RotarySteps MemorialHouse TheAvenuesUtahStateE C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d Figure 3-13. Vegetation (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N Formal Park Landscape Forested Canyon Wall Ornamental Plantings Top of City Creek Canyon Bottom of City Creek Canyon Memorial 3-18 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Urban Forest Memory Grove Park is significant for its urban forest composed of commemorative tree groves, North Canyon Road tree allée, forested canyon walls, and planting at memorials as backdrops. The urban forest of the study area includes mixed deciduous and evergreen tree groves, North Canyon Road Village Green Zelkova tree allée, Entry Plaza Flowering Crabapple tree row, forested canyon walls, and trees planted as backdrops to 145th Field Artillery Monument, Meditation Chapel, World War I Pagoda, and Memorial House. Patterns of trees established during the period of significance included commemorative tree groves, North Canyon Road tree allée, forested canyon walls, and planting at memorials as backdrops. The first tree grove was planted in Memory Grove Park in 1914. Tree groves were expanded in 1920 with the dedication and planting of Service Tree Grove, Memory Tree Grove, and Gold Star Grove. Tree species planted in the Service Tree Grove included sycamores, maples, cork elms, and European lindens. Flowering tree species were chosen for Gold Star Grove, and blue sycamore trees were added as a backdrop to enhance the flowering trees. Sycamore trees were also planted in the steep walls of City Creek Canyon. Trees continued to be planted throughout the period of significance as living memorials and to enhance the picturesque qualities of the park. Today, the historic patterns of tree groves, the North Canyon Road tree allée, forested canyon walls, and the backdrops to memorials remain intact, contributing to the historic character of the study area. However, these historic vegetation patterns were significantly impacted by catastrophic flooding in 1983 and an F2 tornado in 1999, which destroyed many mature canopy tree groves established during the period of significance. The 1999 tornado alone resulted in the loss or damage of 478 trees in the park. Although the groves have been replanted, they are now less dense and contain fewer trees than during the period of significance. 3-193. Existing Condition and Analysis TheAvenuesUtahState A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d Fre e d o m T r a i l E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue City Creek No r t h C a n y o n R o a d Tra i l Cit y C r e e k A StreetSandstoneStaircase to CapitolHill GoldStarHill 145th Field Artillery Monument Meditation Chapel Blue Jacket Waters Memorial Utah’s Medal of Honor Memorial Korean WarMemorial World War IPagoda ZuckerMemorialFountain Entry Plazas Memory Grove Park EntranceGate RotarySteps MemorialHouse Figure 3-14. Vegetation (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 0 15075 N North Canyon Road Tree Allee Tree Grove 145th Field Artillery Monument Vanderwolf Limber Pine Tree Backdrop Meditation Chapel Tree of Heaven Backdrop World War I PagodaBlue Spruce Tree Backdrop Entry Plaza Flowering Crabapple Tree Row Memorial House Eastern Redbud Tree Backdrop Formal Park Landscape Forested Canyon Wall Top of City Creek Canyon Bottom of City Creek Canyon Memorial 3-20 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 3-15. City Creek Canyon vegetation before park development, 1910 (top image) and after establishment of irrigation, gardens, and tree plantings, 1925 to 1950 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Figure 3-16. World War I Pagoda’s historic composition included a foreground of open lawn, evergreen backdrop, with ornamental plantings at its base, 1944 (source: © Utah State Historical Society). Figure 3-17. The historic formal park landscape of Memory Grove Park included tree groves at Memory Park Lake, undated (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 3-213. Existing Condition and Analysis Figure 3-18. Tree groves established during the period or significance were largely lost to catastrophic flooding in 1983 and a tornado in 1999. Historic pattens of open lawn, tree groves, and dense plantings as a backdrop to memorial remain but are less dense than the period of significance (source: © Utah State Historical Society). 1977 Condition Existing Condition (2025) Open Lawn Memory Park Lake Memory Park Lake Open Lawn Open Lawn Open Lawn Open Lawn Forested Canyon Wall Forested Canyon Wall Forested Canyon Wall Forested Canyon Wall Forested Canyon Wall Forested Canyon Wall Open Groves 0 15075 N 0 15075 N 3-22 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Water Features The study area is significant for extant water features, including City Creek, Memory Park Lake, and Zucker Memorial Fountain. The sound of water is prevalent throughout Memory Grove Park and contributes to its character and experience. The study area’s water features include City Creek, Memory Park Lake, and Zucker Memorial Fountain. City Creek is channelized and flows through the center of Memory Grove Park. The creek flows from the Wasatch Range south to Memory Grove Park where it enters a manmade lake, Memory Park Lake, near the park’s south end and is conveyed into an underground conduit that extends from downtown Salt Lake City to Jordan River. Early settlers described City Creek as a braided stream that split into two main branches at the mouth of City Creek Canyon. One branch flowed west along present-day Temple Street and the other flowed south to a confluence with Red Butte, Emigration, and Parleys Creek before flowing to the Jordan River. City Creek provided settlers with a source of water for irrigation and domestic use.1 City Creek frequently flooded and caused significant damage to homes and businesses along the creek. Salt Lake City straightened and channelized portions of City Creek with the acquisition of the upper section of City Creek Canyon in 1902. City Creek remains channelized and is lined with stone and concrete walls with a historic spillway near the north end of Memory Grove Park. The original spillway near the center of the park was improved in 1928 with the establishment of Memory Park Lake. City Creek retains channelized segments established during the period of significance and is modified by the removal and replacement of segments of stone walls with contemporary concrete walls. Memory Park Lake is modified by the removal and replacement of segments of stone walls with contemporary concrete walls, CMU block walls, a contemporary trash rack, the addition of geotextile- reinforced slope within an area of erosion, and reductions to the size of the lake. The floor of City Creek Canyon is largely designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as a Special Flood Hazard Area where flooding has a 1% annual chance of occurring. The park was impacted by catastrophic flooding in 1983, with many features within this flood zone. Zucker Memorial Fountain was added to Memory Grove Park at end of the period of significance. The tiered design of the water fountain contributes to audible connection of the park to the water. The condition of the fountain is impacted by deterioration of concrete. 3-233. Existing Condition and Analysis Figure 3-19. Memory Park Lake retains its historic location in the park with reductions to the overall size of the lake (source top image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1950 and bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-24 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Buildings Buildings established during the period of significance reflect distinct aesthetics associated with City Beautiful and the Modern Movement. Contributing buildings include Memorial House, Comfort Station, two outbuildings at Memorial House, and the Meditation Chapel. Memorial House predates the establishment of Memory Grove Park and is significant for its association with the early settlement of Salt Lake City. Memorial House was originally built as a stable and shed, and, after the establishment of Memory Grove Park, was leased to the Service Star Legion. The building was extensively remodeled in the late 1920s, a one-story garden room was added to the west side of the building c. 1953, and a patio was added to the east side of the building c. 1974. Memorial House retains characteristics of the Classical style, including pilasters around the main entrance door, a pediment above the main entrance door, and dentils below the eaves.2 The one-story Comfort Station north of Memorial House is clad in stucco and includes public restrooms and storage space. Two additional one-story outbuildings are located west of Memorial House. The date of construction is undocumented. The buildings share a similar construction to Comfort Station and were likely built around the same time.3 0 15075 N Foundations Memorial House Meditation Chapel Comfort Station Contributing Building 3-253. Existing Condition and Analysis Meditation Chapel memorializes Utah soldiers who died in World War II and whose bodies were never recovered. The chapel, designed by Paul Owen Davis, is designed in the form of a Greek temple with four Ionic columns supporting an entablature that overhangs the entrance and is built of concrete clad in striated Georgian marble.4 Foundations along Freedom Trail mark the location of Sundbury House, part of the Empire Mill complex, established in the 1860s. The mill burned in 1883 and the parks department built a bandstand on the foundation of Sudbury House in 1914. The bandstand was later removed, with the foundation of the Sudbury House left in-place. Figure 3-20. Foundations along Freedom Trail mark the location of the former Sundbury House and later rehabilitated as a bandstand (source top image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1950 and bottom image: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-26 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Structures, Objects, and Features The study area is significant for its structures, objects, and features, dating to the period of significance, including bridges, an entrance gate, flagpole, monuments, walls, plaques, and stairs. Structures, objects, and features memorialize lives lost during war and facilitate visitor use, remaining in their historic settings. Structures, objects, and features are located throughout Memory Grove Park and along Freedom Trail to facilitate visitor use and operational functions. These include benches, bike racks, bollards, lighting, picnic tables, trash and recycling receptacles, signage, and walls. These features are largely contemporary additions. Historic photographs indicate structures, objects, and features varied throughout the period of significance and served similar visitor and operational functions. These features are largely non-extant. Historic structures, objects, and features from the period of significance include the following memorial features, walls, bridges, and fountains. 145th Field Artillery Monument: Semicircular granite benches with wall behind it and a tall central column with a bronze sculpture of two soldiers. A bronze sculpture wraps the top of the wall. A stone pedestal with a missing sundial is set west of the monument. A Street Sandstone Staircase: Sandstone staircases with sandstone and stone walls, and concrete surface walks connecting Captain James R. Austin Memorial to A Street. Captain James R. Austin Memorial: Sandstone steps, bench, and wall with bronze plaque. Drinking Fountain: Drinking fountain, clad in stone veneer with a concrete basin and two faucets, remains in its original location along North Canyon Road. Captain James R. Thomas Jr. Memorial Flagpole: Concrete base with flagpole and three bronze plaques. 3-273. Existing Condition and Analysis No r t h C a n y o n R o a d Cit y C r e e k A StreetSandstoneStaircase to CapitolHill GoldStarHill WPA StoneBench North WaterDiversionStructure 145th Field Artillery Monument Freedom Trail Plaque and Plaza Kiwanis Club Stone FootbridgeMemorialHousePlaque Memorial Plantings Drinking FountainNorth Capital Street Stairs Meditation Chapel Meditation Bench Blue Jacket Waters Memorial Irag and Afghanistan Memorial South CityCreek Bridge Utah’s Medal of Honor Memorial Korean War Memorial MarbleBench Replica Liberty Bell World War I PagodaVeterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Captain James R. Thomas Jr. Memorial Pearl Harbor Obelisk World War I Memorial ZuckerMemorialFountain EntryPlazas Memory Grove Park EntranceGate RotarySteps South Water Diversion Structure North Canyon RoadStone Wall Captain James R. Austin Memorial A S t r e e t N C a n y o n R o a d E C a p i t o l B o u l e v a r d 300 N 9th Avenue 8th Avenue 7th Avenue 6th Avenue City Creek 0 15075 N Figure 3-21. Structure, Objects, and Features (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Contributing Structures, Objects, and Feature Non-Contributing Structures, Objects, and Feature Study Area 3-28 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft North Canyon Road Stone Wall: Mortared stone wall partially covered in ivy, extending from south of Memorial Grove Park Entrance Gate to Memorial House. A black metal enclosure along the wall, east of Memorial House, marks the location of a historic trash incinerator. The historic sheet metal doors and tile pipe have been removed. WPA Stone Bench: Stone bench set in hillside overlooking City Creek. Garden of Perception: Concrete retaining with bronze plaques indicating plant species originally planted in the garden. Gold Star Hill: Memorial carved into a steep hillside consisting of a four-tiered concrete retaining wall to the west. A five-pointed star is set in the center of the concrete paved surface of the memorial with in the center of concrete circle. Plaques are set into three tiers of the wall and a granite boulder with anodized aluminum plaque is set south of the concrete circle. Kiwanis Club Stone Footbridge: Concrete and stone bridge with asphalt paved surface and small bronze plaque with inscription. Original bridge was built in 1927 and was removed and replaced in xxx. Liberty Bell Replica: Metal bell suspended between two concrete towers with a time capsule buried nearby. Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial: Concrete and marble lectern with a bronze plaque on its west side. Meditation Chapel Markers: Markers set in planning beds with names of Utah servicemen who died in WW II with no known grave. Memory Grove Park Entrance Gate: Two granite columns with granite balustrade walls and a contemporary gate supported by two concrete columns. Memorial House Plaque: Bronze plaque mounted to large boulder. Memorial Plantings: Two circular bronze plaques set into a concrete base and one rectangular stone plaque set into a concrete base the base of trees along the east side of North Canyon Road, north of Kiwanis Club Stone Footbridge. North Capitol Street Stairs: Two remnant sets of sandstone stairs north of Memorial House marking the location of a non-extant connection from Memorial House to Capitol Boulevard. World War I Memorial: Stone wall east of World War I Pagoda. World War I Pagoda: Marble memorial with eight doric columns supporting a circular entablature. An octagonal marble shaft with a marble urn is set in the center of the circular structure. Marble is sourced from a quarry in Vermont that supplied marble for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. Rotary Steps: Concrete stairs with metal railings along a route extending from North Canyon Road to the Utah State Capitol. Original steps were built in 1927 and removed and replaced along the same alignment in 2002. Historic stone piers with contemporary lighting remain along the route. Utah’s Medal of Honor Memorial: Stone memorial with concrete bench to its west. Zucker Memorial Fountain: Circular cast concrete fountain base with five metal columns with concrete caps of varying heights. 3-293. Existing Condition and Analysis Structures, objects, and features established after the period of significance include memorials, plazas, benches, obelisks, and water features. 1 Blue Jacket Waters Memorial: Two bronze plaques with concrete bases and one stone plaque set into the hillside. 2 Freedom Trail Plaque and Plazas: Plaque marking the south entrance to Freedom Trail and three plazas arranged along Freedom Trail. Each plaza includes sculpture expressing a different “freedom” theme. Plazas include South High School Freedom Plaza, Judge Memorial High School Freedom Plaza, and Rowland Hall - St Mark’s School Freedom Trail. 3 Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial: Boulder at the base of a tree with a bronze plaque. 4 Korean War Memorial: Three upright panels forming an L shape around a small plaza with metal benches. 5 Marble Bench: Marble bench south of Liberty Bell. 6 Meditation Bench: Granite bench with small bronze plaque. 7 North Water Diversion Structure: Modern structure with a retaining wall set in bank of City Creek with two outlets to drain water from the slope above, wing walls, and a metal railing on top of the structure. 8 Pearl Harbor Obelisk: Small granite obelisk with etched lettering and Pearl Harbor Survivors emblem. 9 South City Creek Bridge: Concrete footbridge with metal railing. 10 South Water Diversion Structure: Modern structure including a concrete base with metal grade and two metal headgates. 3-30 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 3-22. Historic images indicate the 1924 World War I Memorial included a plaque, stone retaining wall, arbors, and plantings (top image). The World War I Pagoda replaced the original memorial. The retaining wall remains east of the pagoda and is screened by a dense row of blue spruce trees (bottom images) (source: top image: © Utah State Historical Society, 1927 to 1932; bottom images: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-313. Existing Condition and Analysis Figure 3-23. Stone drop structures and walls established during the period of significance remain along City Creek. Modifications include the addition of CMU block walls and replacement with concrete where impacted by previous flooding or to address erosion (source: historic images: © Utah State Historical Society; present-day images: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-32 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 3-24. Zucker Memorial Fountain is prominently set in the center of a circular plaza defined by a retaining wall with a backdrop of dense deciduous and evergreen understory species (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Figure 3-25. Korean War Memorial is set along Memory Grove Park Trail with a backdrop of vegetation (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Figure 3-26. World War I Pagoda, Captain James R. Thomas Jr. Memorial Flagpole, Veterans of Foreign War Memorial, and Pearl Harbor Obelisk. World War I Pagoda is at the base of the canyon floor on a slight elevation with memorials arranged to its north and west with area of open lawn to its west and a backdrop of blue spruce trees to its east (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-333. Existing Condition and Analysis Figure 3-27. Utah’s Medal of Honor Memorial is set along Memory Grove Park Trail and defined by steep topography to the east with views to Memory Park Lake and a backdrop of dense vegetation (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Figure 3-28. Blue Jacket Waters Memorial is set along Memory Grove Park Trail with three markers set along the base of a hill rising to the elevation of the 145th Field Artillery Monument (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). Figure 3-29. 145th Field Artillery Monument (left) and Meditation Chapel (right) are prominently arranged along Memory Grove Park Trail on a rise above City Creek with a dense backdrop of vegetation (source: Mundus Bishop, 2025). 3-34 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Figure 3-30. Freedom Trail Arrival Plaza is located at the southern entrance to Freedom Trail oriented to City Creek and Memorial House (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Figure 3-31. Captain James R. Austin Memorial is at the base of the steep walls of City Creek Canyon (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Figure 3-32. Gold Star Hill is set within the base of City Creek Canyon along North Canyon Road with a dense backdrop of vegetation (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 3-353. Existing Condition and Analysis Figure 3-33. Rotary Steps at the bottom of the west wall of City Creek Canyon (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Figure 3-34. Memorial House is at the base of Utah State Capital along North Canyon Road (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). Figure 3-35. Replica Liberty Bell is arranged along North Canyon Road sidewalks (source: Mundus Bishop, 2026). 3-36 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft 1 Bio-West, Inc. City Creek Management Plan. (Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010). 2 Meess, Sara and Sheri Ellis, Memory Park. Historic American Landscape Survey. (SWCA Environmental Consultants. August 15, 2011), 2, 3. 3 Meess, Memory Park HALS, 3. 4 Meess, Memory Park HALS, 12. 5 Design Workshop. Seven Greenways Vision Plan, 14. Endnotes A-1Appendices Books Glassbery, David. “Remembering War,” Sense of History: the Place of the Past in American Life, University of Massachusetts Press, 2001. Rymsza-Pawlowska, M. J. History Comes Alive: Public History and Popular Culture in the 1970s, University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Utah Division of State History. Utah’s World War I Monuments. Utah Department of Heritage & Arts, n.d. Datasets “Public Lands Assets.” Salt Lake City: Public Lands Department, n.d. Reports Design Workshop. Seven Greenways Vision Plan. Salt Lake City, Utah: Seven Canyons Trust, 2022. Embry, Jessie. “City Creek Canyon Historic District,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination, March 12, 1980. Meess, Sara and Sheri Ellis, Memory Park. Historic American Landscape Survey. SWCA Environmental Consultants. August 15, 2011. Journals Love, William. “A History of Memory Grove,” Utah Historical Quarterly 76, no. 2 (2008). Doss, Erika. “War, Memory, and the Public Mediation of Affect: The National World War II Memorial and American Imperialism,” Memory Studies 1, no. 2 (2008). Websites Webb, Lauren. “Annie Payne Howard, Gold Star Mother.” Utah Women’s History. https:// utahwomenshistory.org Newspapers “A Memorial to Veterans,” Deseret News, November 12, 1975. “Beason Lauds Utah for Memorial Site,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 12, 1948. “Biggest Utah Gun to Go In Place” Salt Lake Telegram, November 28, 1926. “Canyon Park on City’s Verge to be Embellished.” Salt Lake Herald Republican, April 4, 1920. “Church Rites Honor S.L. Military Dead,” Salt Lake Telegram, May 28, 1951. Appendix A: Bibliography A-2 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft “City Creek Park is Born.” Salt Lake City Tribune, April 4, 1904. “City Fund Granted for Park Project.” Salt Lake Telegram, November 25, 1936. “City to Aid in Building Kiwanis Memorial Bridge,” Salt Lake Telegram, December 8, 1926. “Culture Club to Set Benches in Memory Park to Honor Local Heroes of Present War,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 27, 1945. “Data to be Placed in Memory Park Pedestal,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 11, 1930. “Final Plans for War Memorial are Announced,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 8, 1931. “Fir Trees Replaced,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 7, 1951. Folsom, Genevieve. “Help Build Perception Garden,” Salt Lake Tribune, April 27, 1975. Folsom, Genevieve. “Memory Grove Gets Garden Addition,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 5, 1976. Folsom, Genevieve. “Perception Garden: A Dream Comes True,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 13, 1979. Folsom, Genevieve. “Perception Garden: The Tinkling of a Fountain,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 7, 1976. Folsom, Kim. “Tornado Hits Downtown Salt Lake City,” Magna Times, August 19, 1999. “Fountain Dedication Set,” Salt Lake Tribune, October 14, 1981. Hobbs, Nancy. “Bringing Back Memories,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 9, 1998. Jorgensen, Chris. “Bench Replaces Nightmares of War for S.L. Man,” Salt Lake Tribune, November 2, 1993. “Lake at Memory Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, October 21, 1928. “Lake at Memory Park Completed,” Salt Lake Telegram, October 21, 1928. “Marble Bench to Be Presented Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, September 7, 1931. “Memorial House Formally Opened; Heroes Eulogized,” Salt Lake Telegram, June 14, 1926. “Memorial Project Progress Reported,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 9, 1932. “Memorial Plot Dedicated by S.L. Navy Club,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 14, 1951. “Memorial Steps are Presented,” Salt Lake Telegram, May, 5, 1930. “Memory Grove Benches Dedicated by Glade,” Salt Lake Telegram, May 21, 1945. “Memory Grove Dispute Ends,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 27, 1946. “Memory Grove Project Okehed,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 30, 1937. “Memory Grove WPA Project is Approved by City,” Desert News, October 30, 1941. “Memory Park,” Historic American Landscape Survey, August 15, 2011. “’Merci’ Boxcar Granted Sport in Memory Park,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 1, 1949. “Mrs. Howard Hopes to Extend Memory Grove Beautification to Entire City Creek Canyon” Salt Lake Telegram, March 22, 1925. A-3Appendices “Names of Pearl Harbor Casualties Sought,” Salt Lake Tribune, March 10, 1985. “Our Memory Grove,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 27, 1924 “Park Trees to be Solder Memorials.” Salt Lake Telegram, March 24, 1920. “Plane Spreads Flowers in Heroes’ Honor,” Salt Lake Telegram, July 15, 1948. “Planting of Cherry Trees to Honor Past Leaders,” Salt Lake Telegram, March 22, 1951. “Raise Trees in Memory of City’s Heroes.” Salt Lake Telegram, April 15, 1920. Sullivan, Tim. “Chiseled into Focus,” Salt Lake Tribune, July 8, 2003. “’Surprise’ Memory Grove Flood Brings New Troubles,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 25, 1983. “Terracing at Memory Park is Under Way,” Salt Lake Telegram, August 8, 1925. “Time Capsule Shows Lifestyle,” Iron County Record, December 16, 1976. “To Participate in Special Activities,” Uintah Basin Standard, November 7, 1963. “Twister toll is $170 million Mayor offers update on damage, tree project and cleanup.” Deseret News, August 26, 1999. “Unveil Plaque” Salt Lake Telegram, June 26, 1950. “VA Sponsors Tree Planting Program,” Beaver Press, November 11, 1976. Wilkinson, Brian. “Students to Join ‘Freedom Trail’ Fund Drive,” Salt Lake Tribune, August 13, 1984. Wharton, Tom. “Escape to Memory Grove,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 20, 1991. “WPA Projects Receive Okey,” Salt Lake Telegram, April 4, 1938. A-4 Memory Grove Park and Freedom Trail Cultural Landscape Report 30% Draft Drawings Approach at Bottom East Slope of Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1935. Approach at Top East Slope of Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1935. Bridge over City Creek at Memory Park. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1927. Cobble Stone Seat for Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1938. Comfort Station for Memory Grove Park. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1961. Entrance to Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, undated. Intake for Supply to Lake in Memory Park. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1929. Layout of Improvements - Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1938. Memory Grove Alignment for Trail Steps on East Side. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1937. Memory Grove Improvements Extension of Rock Channel for City Creek. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, undated. Memory Grove Layout of Sprinkling Systems West Side of “A” Street Between 6th and 8th Avenues. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1938. Memory Grove Profile for Trail Steps on East Side. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1937. Memory Park Dam for Settling Basin. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1933. Memory Park Lake and Channel. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1929. Memory Park Steps between Walk and Parked Strip 6th Avenue & A Street. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1938. Memory Park Trash Incinerator. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1938 Memory Park Trash Rack. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1936 Plan of Trail Wall & Seat on East Slope of Memory Grove. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1936. (Revised) Details of Approach Bottom of East Slope Memory Grove near 8th Avenue. Salt Lake City: Engineering Department, 1936.