Everything about Park City Utah totally explained
Park City is a city located in
Summit County, Utah,
United States. It is one of two major
resort towns in Utah, the other being
Moab. It is considered to be part of the
Wasatch Back and a part of the
Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The city is 32 miles (48 km) east of downtown
Salt Lake City and 15 miles (24km) from Salt Lake City's east edge of
Sugar House along
Interstate 80. The population was 7,371 at the 2000 census. Its estimated population in
2006 was 8,044. On average, the tourist population greatly exceeds the number of permanent residents.
After a population decline following the shutdown of the area's
mining industry, the city rebounded during the
1980s and
1990s through an expansion of its tourism business. The city has three major
ski resorts:
Park City Mountain Resort,
Deer Valley Resort, and
The Canyons Resort. The Park City and
Deer Valley ski resorts were the major locations for
ski and
snowboarding events at the
2002 Winter Olympics. Although they receive less snow and have a shorter ski season than do their counterparts in
Salt Lake County, such as
Snowbird resort, they're much easier to access.
Additionally the city is the main location of the United States' largest
independent film festival, the
Sundance Film Festival, home of the
United States Ski Team, training centre for members of the
Australian Freestyle Ski Team, the largest collection of
factory outlet stores in northern Utah, the 2002 Olympic
bobsled/
skeleton/
luge track at the
Utah Olympic Park, and
golf courses. Some scenes from 1994's
Dumb and Dumber were shot in the city. Outdoor-oriented businesses such as
backcountry.com and
Rossignol have their headquarters based in Park City. The city has many upscale luxury national retailers, clubs, bars, and restaurants, and has nearby
reservoirs,
hot springs,
forests, and
hiking and
biking trails. Park City is also the original home of the
Mrs. Fields Cookies chain.
In the summertime many valley residents of the
Wasatch Front visit the town to escape high temperatures. Park City is usually 11°F (6°C) cooler than Salt Lake City, as it lies mostly above 7,000 above
sea level, while Salt Lake City is situated at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. It is one of the wealthiest cities in the United States and is notable for having a large number of
Northern and
Central European immigrants.
History
The city was settled as a
mining community in
1870, following the discovery of
lead,
gold, and
silver in the area. The city became heavily populated to such an extent that many people thought it would replace
Salt Lake City as the primary city in
Utah. However, the mines penetrated the water table and were flooded, and the city nearly became a
ghost town.
Skiing began to come to the city in the
1950s, but the city didn't recover until the
1970s, when growth finally came. Growth has accelerated in the last few decades, and it now stands as one of the most affluent and lively resort towns in the
United States.
One of the few
Utah towns established by non-
Mormons, it once had 27 saloons lining the street, with an accompanying wager, apparently never won, that no one could take a drink at each one in a single night and end up standing. Getting a drink in this part of Utah was never a problem. Hence the town's slogan: "At the base of a 3100 ft vertical drop, you'll find an extraordinary place to land."
Once the site of the largest silver-mining camp in the country, the town was virtually destroyed by fire in
1898. Tragedy struck again in
1902 when 34 miners were killed in an explosion in the Day West Mine. The mining community never fully recovered. A collapse in silver prices and the economic consequences of the first world war exacerbated the town's decline. Half a century ago Park City was listed as one of the
ghost towns of the west.
Skiing, however, helped drive the phantoms away. Particularly gung-ho is the terrain around Jupiter Peak, where, over the years, more than $400 million worth of silver ore was mined, creating the 23 millionaires, including
George Hearst, founder of the news dynasty.
Roger J. Traynor was born in Park City in
1900 and raised there; he went on to become Chief Justice of the
California Supreme Court.
As long ago as the
1920s, miners in Park City were using underground trains and shafts to gain access to the mountain for skiing. When the slopes opened to the public in
1963 as Treasure Mountain, skiers were transported nearly three miles into the mountain on the Spiro Tunnel mine train and then lifted 1800 ft (548 m) to the slopes on a mine hoist elevator. Aerial trams once used for hauling ore were converted into chairlifts. To this day, there are still more than 1000 miles (1609 km) of old silver-mine workings and tunnels beneath the slopes at
Park City Mountain Resort and neighboring
Deer Valley.
Park City might be a fairly nondescript-appearing town were it not for its colorful and evocative Main Street, where 64
Victorian buildings are listed in the
National Register of Historic Places. Other relics from its past have been left near the slopes. Old mine buildings, mineshafts, and hoists, including the weathered remains of the Walker Webster Silver Mine and the water towers once used to hydrate one of the biggest mines, the Silver King, rear out of the snow to give the skiing a dash of history.
Geography and climate
Park City is located at (40.659306, -111.499828).
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 9.4
square miles (24.4
km²). None of the area is covered with water.
Park City is located at the south end of
Snyderville Basin and climbs steep mountains to the southeast, south, and west. It is accessed by
State Route 224 from
Interstate 80 to the north and
State Route 248, which heads east to
U.S. Route 40 and on to
Kamas.
|
br> |
an |
eb |
ar |
pr |
ay |
un |
ul |
ug |
ep |
ct |
ov |
ec |
| Park City Daily Maximum | °F |
27 |
31 |
36 |
48 |
59 |
70 |
79 |
78 |
68 |
53 |
39 |
31
|
| Park City Daily Minimum | °F |
7 |
10 |
16 |
24 |
32 |
39 |
48 |
47 |
37 |
24 |
17 |
12
|
| Data is for Park City |
Demographics
As of the
census of 2000, there were 7,371 people, 2,705 households, and 1,687 families residing in the city. The
population density was 781.4 people per square mile (301.8/km²). There were 6,661 housing units at an average density of 706.1/sq mi (272.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 80.50%
White, 0.42%
African American, 0.30%
Native American, 1.86%
Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander, 15.71% from
other races, and 1.19% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 19.64% of the population.
There were 2,705 households out of which 32.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.9% were
married couples living together, 7.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.6% were non-families. 21.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 3.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.72 and the average family size was 3.11.
In the city the population was spread out with 23.3% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 25.6% from 45 to 64, and 4.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 118.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 118.9 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $65,800, and the median income for a family was $77,137. Males had a median income of $40,032 versus $26,341 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $45,164. About 5.3% of families and 10.0% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 11.6% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
Notable residents
Trivia
Singer-songwriter Josh Kelley and actress Katherine Heigl were married in Park City on December 23, 2007.
Sister Cities
Courchevel (Savoie), France.Further Information
Get more info on 'Park City Utah'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://park_city__utah.totallyexplained.com">Park City, Utah Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
