Park City Miners Hospital

Before 1904, a sick or injured Park City miner faced a thirty-mile trip to a Salt Lake hospital — brutal in winter. So the town built its own, in a rare act of common cause between the community and the miners' union, Local 144 of the Western Federation of Miners. Businesses and workers raised the money; a woman named Edza Nelson gave the acre of ground at the north edge of town. The little hospital that resulted stood for decades near what is now the base of the ski area — care the miners built for themselves.

What the plaque says

Beginning in the late 1860s the Park City mining district attracted hundreds of laborers to work the mines. With them came organized labor, which sought to assure better wages and working conditions for the miners. In Park City they were represented by Local No. 144 of the Western Federation of Miners. Health care was a major concern, since Parkites had to be treated at Salt Lake hospitals. The 30-mile journey was a hardship, especially in winter. In a significant gesture of mutual cooperation between the community and the miners' union, an effort to fund a local hospital was begun in 1903. Individuals and businesses conducted fundraising projects, and an acre of ground for a building site was donated by Mrs. Edza Nelson. The land was located at what was then the north end of town, and is now adjacent to the Park City Ski Area. It was deemed suitable because of its distance from fire danger and city noise, and its maximum degree of sunshine and fresh air. Ground was broken in April, 1904, and construction completed by October of that year. Various fraternal organizations, social groups and individuals donated furnishings. Dedication ceremonies were attended by all sections of the community, underscoring the cooperative spirit of the venture. The hospital administered to the community's medical needs for about 30 years, until the demise of the W.F.M. and the dissolution of Local No. 144. The hospital passed into private hands. It was run as a private clinic until the 1950s, then vacated. In the 1960s the building was renovated to house a bar, restaurant and skier dormitory. In the 1970s it was certified as an American Youth Hostel. But by the late 1970s development plans for its original site threatened its continued survival. Responding to citizens' concern that the building be preserved, the owner moved the structure to its present site. Park City voters then approved a bond to convert the hospital to a public library. Restoration was begun in 1981 and by September of 1982 the project had been completed. The building is listed in the state and national registers of historic places. The restoration has received recognition from the Utah Heritage Foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Park City Mountain — 0.3 mi
  The largest ski resort in the United States, grown straight out of a 19th-century silver town.
• Park City — 0.6 mi
  Silver built it. Snow saved it.
• Park City Main Street — 0.6 mi
  A historic mining town turned world-class ski and film festival destination
• Deer Valley — 2.2 mi
  A ski-only luxury resort above Park City, now in the middle of the largest expansion in U.S. ski history.

More markers nearby

• John C. Green Jr. — steps away
• Park City Pioneers — 0.6 mi
• Utah Coal & Lumber — 0.6 mi
• Rodney W. Schreurs Centennial Park — 0.6 mi