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In 1845, Miles Goodyear founded a settlement at Fort Buenaventura, located near the confluence of the Weber and Ogden Rivers. The area was renamed Ogden in 1851 by Mormon Church president Brigham Young after Peter Skene Ogden, a Hudsonas Bay Company fur trapper. Ogden prospered as an agricultural town and then thrived with the arrival of the railroads, when the growing community, often referred to as aJunction City, a became a major railroad hub. Union Station became a well-known landmark surrounded by rowdy gambling houses and brothels as well as ethnically diverse residential neighborhoods. Since 1889, Ogden has also been an important center of higher education, and it is now home to Weber State University. World War II brought Ogden into the modern era as a transportation and military center with the establishment of Hill Air Field, Defense Depot Ogden, and the Naval Supply Depot.
About the author
John Sillito, curator of special collections at Weber State University, and Sarah Langsdon, associate curator of special collections, have selected photographs dating back to the first century of Ogden's existence, from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. The images, many of them never before published, are drawn from the archives at Weber State University and offer a glimpse into Ogden's colorful early days.
