Park City: mining history under the mountain-town surface

Park City’s resort identity sits on a mining town that lasted well into the modern era. Prospectors founded the town in 1868, silver mining continued into the 1970s, and the city is now home to Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain. Those endpoints describe a long transition, not a change that happened on one day.

More than 400 historic sites are recorded in Park City. The Main Street Historic District entered the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Mining Boom Era Residences Thematic District followed in 1984 and covers significant residences from the 1872 through 1929 mining period.

The district records keep two parts of the mining years in view: Main Street and residences built across the boom years. They also put a useful limit on appearances. An old-looking building is not automatically part of the historic inventory.

Start with Main Street for the public district context. For the status of a particular building, use the city’s historic-district page and site inventory; ownership, access, and present condition need their own current record.