History of City Creek Park

City Creek Park is not historic in itself, but City Creek and City Creek Canyon played significant roles in Salt Lake City’s cultural and economic development. During the 1990s, City Creek Park was developed to honor the pioneers’ 150th anniversary of settling the valley.⁣⁣

Within days of arrival, pioneers dammed City Creek to grow potatoes, corn, buckwheat, and turnips. The creek was also used for drinking water, powered Brigham Young’s sawmill and silk plant, a flour mill, and even LDS baptisms were held there. ⁣⁣

City Creek was the first in the valley to be put into a culvert to “protect the water supply and prevent accidental drowning.” The historical flooding of City Creek in 1983, which overflowed the culvert and storm drains, flooded State Street, prompting Salt Lake residents to rethink the way it manages its waterways. City Creek then became the first creek to be daylighted in 1995, where a stretch of its water flows through City Creek Park.⁣⁣

Ken Lund, Utah State Historical Society⁣