1920: When the opening of the new cement S.L.-Ogden highway was celebrated in Layton

The Layton portion of the first S.L.-Ogden concrete highway in the 1920s,  at 27 S. Main Street
                                                                 -Photo from the Heritage Museum of Layton collection.



"OPENING of Ogden-Salt Lake highway to be celebrated" was a headline in the July 18, 1920 headline in the Salt Lake Herald-Republican newspaper.
On July 22 that year, representatives of the Kiwanis, Rotary and Commercial clubs in northern Utah -- and the Motive Dealers' Association -- gathered in Layton to celebration the completion of the new hard-surfaced highway. The Commercial Club of Nation hosted the celebration of this 40-mile stretch of highway.
This concrete road was a narrow highway, with no middle stripe.
-Sadly, satisfaction for the new highway didn't last but less than three years.
"Wider highway from S.L. to Ogden sought" was a May 8, 1923 headline in the Salt Lake Telegram newspaper.
This story stated a four-mile section between Layton and Clearfield was of particular concern. That stretch of road was already crumbling after three years of use.
"...the road (there) is practically ruined and will have to be reconstructed," the story concluded.

This is a look at the section of road that was north of Layton in about 1920, that needed resurfacing less than three years later, in 1923.        -Photo from the Heritage Museum of Layton collection.