This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The city of South Salt Lake boasts a rich history, one that is not well embodied in the current built structure of the city.

When the pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, settlements were quickly established on the fertile strip of alluvial land flanking the Millcreek River, the "Big Field." It was here the pioneers cultivated their crops.

The area continued to grow and develop. Near the turn of the century dirt roads and the construction of important public buildings began.

Recently, South Salt Lake's history has quietly eroded away, being overrun by a monotonous landscape filled with Salt Lake's crucial industrial base. South Salt Lake lost hundreds of historic buildings and landscapes and is now divided in quarters by I-80 and I-15.

A handful of historic landmarks remain: the Scott School (1890); St. Ann's Catholic School (1899); and the Columbus School (1917). In 1916, construction of Granite High School started with the Science building, designed by the Utah firm of Cannon & Fetzer architects. Other buildings followed: Granite Junior High (1928); the Auditorium and Gymnasium building (1939); and the Industrial Arts building (1959). This complex of buildings served the needs of students for nearly a century until the district shuttered the buildings in 2009 and bussed students to outlying schools.

As the city embarked on its journey into the 21st century, a visionary mayor attempted to build a livable community atop the existing framework of disjunction: "A City on the Move."

To that end, city leaders hoped to establish an identity, a city center, a symbol for the community, a place to gather and commune. Rather than redefining this anew, the city set its sights on Granite High School. The opportunity to purchase the property presented itself and the city of South Salt Lake put the decision to voters in a $25 million dollar bond proposal. The Granite High Bond was regrettably defeated by 11 votes in 2011, sealing the fate of Granite High.

In a show of disastrous stewardship, Granite School District offered the campus to hungry developers, eager to remove the buildings and replace them with single family homes and big-box retail centers and erasing the history of the site. A committed effort recently by the Granite High Encore project to purchase and save the buildings for reuse was rejected by the development team. Regrettably, the demolition of the Granite High School campus is moving forward at a cost of $2.8 million. The large sum surely could have been used to provide needed infrastructural upgrades to the existing buildings such as seismic enhancements, providing an opportunity for reuse and negating Granite School District's argument that the cost to upgrade the buildings is prohibitive.

As county leaders impose new infrastructure in the city of South Salt Lake (including a homeless resource center), opportunities for the reuse of Granite High School are again being ignored.

The Utah State Board of History recently recognized the honored value that Granite High School represents to Utah's local history, recommending its listing on the National Register of Historic Places. This move presents the opportunity for a substantial tax credit at both the federal level and state level if the building is reused.

It is time to take the opportunity to maintain a piece of Utah's history.

I quote, in part, the fight song of the Granite High Farmers:

"When sight and sound of

the campus

Fade in the long, busy

years

Yet will return in our

memories

Echoes of old songs and

cheers

Go it Granite, go it Granite

Hear the battle cry;

Go it Granite, go it Granite

Yours 'til we die."

Steven D. Cornell, Millcreek, is a native Utahn and is a practicing architectural preservationist living and working in Utah's communities.