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By Kent Larsen
Mormon Roots of the Historic Kimball Hotel
PARK CITY, UTAH -- The Park City Record Saturday looked at the
history of the Kimball Hotel, one of the oldest buildings in Utah's
Summit County. The Hotel was originally built in 1862 by William H.
Kimball, son of Heber C. Kimball, and was owned by his family for
many years. Although it has not been protected by historic status,
the hotel is still well-preserved and is now a private home.
In addition to operating as an elegant hotel, the building also
housed several successful businesses. The Kimballs adapted to
changing technology when railroads and automobiles arrived in the
county, offering a light express stage coach between Salt Lake City
and Park City as well as local US mail service. The hotel staff also
delivered freight and ore from Park City's mines and rented horses,
sleds, buckboards and cutters through the Dexter Livery at the bottom
of Main Street in Park City. The family also started an ice business,
saving ice from the winter for delivery into Salt Lake City in the
Summer months.
Centrally located between Kimball and Silver Creek Junctions (now on
the north side of Interstate 80), the hotel was on the route chosen
by the Lincoln Highway Association when it built the first
transcontinental highway in 1913. Finally, when Interstate 80 was
built in 1960, the route went behind the building, sparing it, but
also bypassing it. Now the hotel is owned by the Bitner family as a
private residence. Development is swelling around it, but somehow it
has not changed.
Source:
Kimball Hotel stands amid growth
Park City UT Record 3Feb01 D6
By Karri Dell Hays: Record Staff
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