On Tuesday, South Ogden City officials planted a tree by the war memorial just to the east of South Ogden City Hall to celebrate the city’s 90th birthday.

A short ceremony featuring South Ogden City Mayor Russ Porter preceded the planting of the European Hornbeam.

“There’s a great analogy here with a tree and a city,” he said. “We’ve got trees that have been here a long time; we have trees that have been here a short time. This tree is going to be in the ground now, but hopefully it’ll still be here in 90 years.

He said that the analogy goes much deeper, though.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

“The roots of the tree are what make it work,” he said. “Don’t forget our roots. Don’t forget what South Ogden is about. Don’t forget those that came before us that created the roots that we all get to enjoy.”

Porter said growth is also a huge theme for both cities and trees.

“It starts small but then it grows,” he said. “It becomes bigger and it provides shade and it provides comfort and it even provides a home for creatures like a city does — not that we have creatures in our city.”

He said like a tree, officials and residents alike have a responsibility to their city.

“We have to tend to that growth,” he said. “We have to water it. We have to care for it. Sometimes we have to trim it so it can provide shade.”

Officially organized July 6, 1936, South Ogden City came from humble roots itself.

“There were some families farming here on the south end of Ogden and eventually wanted to become their own city,” Porter told the Standard-Examiner after the ceremony. “They incorporated in 1936. … they became a city and over time, more people moved in. There was a space between South Ogden and Ogden at the time — that’s all been filled in with people.”

He said it’s meaningful to be able to help usher the city into its 90th year.

“I grew up just across the street here — you can see the house I grew up in (from City Hall),” he said. “It’s a birthday party for my favorite city, the city I get to lead and we have great people that live here and great staff that we have here.”

Porter said the city is already working towards the next 90 years of its existence.

“A lot of it is continuing to make it a great place to live, continuing to provide great services for people,” he said. “There’s some areas where there’s some vacant buildings that need some redevelopment. If we can get some quality things to go into those areas that are a little bit more rundown or vacant, we’re looking forward to some more things like that.”