Utah history

More than 100 years of history moved a few city blocks Tuesday as the Weber County Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum building was moved from its current location at 2148 Grant Ave. to 2104 Lincoln Ave. on a half-acre lot donated by the city.

The building is being relocated through the joint efforts of Weber County DUP, Ogden city and the LDS Church in conjunction with the renovation of the Ogden LDS Temple.

Eve Hartley called me half a dozen times about her 1959 football movies. I was slow to get back, because I didn’t connect her with the calliope.

They are cool movies.

Back in the 1950s, some news agency collected highlights of college games, strung them together on huge reels of 16 mm movie film with sound and sent them to TV stations.

Four huge reels of this stuff now sit in Eve’s living room, along with a monster sound movie projector. We watched excerpts from the 1959 Army-Navy game (Navy won, 43-12) while Eve told me how her husband died horribly from toxic bacteria in that very room, leaving her with a lifetime of stuff to get rid of.

Ogden was the place to have a good time in 1890. In fact, some folks in town decided to party New Orleans-style and “laissez les bon temps rouler” with a big Mardi Gras celebration.

“This event barely registers in the history books, but was a significant, colorful and (above all) improbable happening in Ogden,” said Val Holley, by email.

Holley, whose book “25th Street Confidential” is scheduled to be published next year by the University of Utah Press, was invited to give the keynote address at this year’s Utah State History Conference.

“I think they assumed I would speak about 25th Street, but the theme of the conference is historic encounters, and being familiar with the Mardi Gras that happened in 1890, especially with the amazing diversity of groups that came together for an unlikely event in Ogden, I thought ‘Boy, if you want encounters, I can give you encounters — I’ll talk about Mardi Gras,’ ” the Weber County native said by phone from his office in Washington, D.C.

KAYSVILLE — Woven into his story of dropping “candy bombs” to the children of war-torn Germany is a message of service, hope and gratitude.

Retired Air Force Col. Gail S. Halvorsen, 91, visited Samuel Morgan Elementary to re-enact how he became known as the “Candy Bomber” during the Berlin Airlift following World War II.

Wearing the same uniform he wore in 1948 as the pilot of a C-54 airplane, Halvorsen climbed into a helicopter to drop candy parachutes to the students Friday morning, just as he had done for the children of Berlin more than half a century ago. But before he flew above the school, he told the students his story.

FARMINGTON — With the active help of city leaders, the demolition of historic structures in the community has slowed down, the chairwoman of the Farmington City Historical Preservation Commission said.

ROY — Roy residents of all ages are invited to try out for history and variety shows to be performed during Roy Days this year.