OGDEN --Three decades ago Ogden tore down half a block of historic buildings on Historic 25th Street and was anxious to tear down more, the better to rebuild and renew.
Weber County and Ogden officials threw bricks through windows on old buildings on Washington Boulevard. Soon those buildings were gone, making way for the Ogden City Mall that would, they said, revive Weber County as a commercial center for the Top of Utah and sections of Idaho and Wyoming.
Three decades later the mall is gone, replaced in part by buildings that mimic the historical buildings it replaced. The torn-down section of 25th Street is rebuilt in the style of the old.
Around Top of Utah, historic buildings are being restored and reused: Ogden High School is being renovated, the American Can Building houses a school and recreation-oriented businesses, Defense Depot Ogden is a business and warehouse center and Brigham City, Farmington, Layton and Kaysville are resurrecting their city centers around their historic roots.
Much that used to be -- The Broom Hotel, the Orpheum Theater, dozens of historic mansions -- is gone, but passion to save what remains has taken hold.
This year's Progress Edition looks at the preservation movement and the people who are leading it, the historic buildings and neighborhoods getting new lives.
It tells why people restoring a mansion or renovating a building feel they are not just giving an old building a new life, but are giving structure and meaning to the future of their whole city.
Check out the special Progress Edition stories by clicking here.
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