A look back at Decades past in Layton City

       A broken down vehicle being towed along Layton's dirt and dusty Main Street in 1912.
                                            (Photo from the Heritage Museum of Layton's collection.)



THE poor condition of roads was a big issue back in the 1910s for Layton. “Road from Ogden to Salt Lake a disgrace”
was a March 3, 1918 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner.
“Automobiles sink eighteen inches into the soft mud and cannot be pulled out – Truck now stuck in the mud – Auto
people indignant over neglect of the State Highway,” the article stated.
Back then, the worst section of all was just south of Layton. The story implied that driving through neighboring
pastures would be preferable to the sinking highway.
It would be the 1920s before that problem would be fixed. It was on July 4, 1925 that the Standard-Examiner
reported that the paving of a two-mile stretch of state highway north of Layton finally marked completion of a paved
highway stretch between Brigham City and Nephi.
It is easy to take sidewalks for granted, but before 1921 there were no sidewalks in Layton.

Layton’s Main Street looking northward, as it appeared in the late 1920s. Main Street was a narrow concrete highway and there were no sidewalks yet.
                                                                  (Photo from the Heritage Museum of Layton's collection.)

In fact, in the spring of 1921, Layton first began creating sidewalks, according to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of March 3, 1921.
However, these early sidewalks were simply hard-packed dirt, with cinders on top. These first sidewalks were found on the south end of today’s Main Street.
Concrete sidewalks came many years later.
“Layton looks to lively future” was a May 26, 1967 headline in the Davis County Clipper.
This article highlighted the completion of I-15 through Layton in the fall of 1966, as well as the addition of Layton High School that year.
Plans were underway at that time for a new elementary school, Lincoln. The park near Vae View Elementary School was under construction then.
In 1967, Layton had a population of nearly 15,000 residents, with James Biggs as Mayor.
Layton also contained 13 wards of the LDS Church, as well as St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church, First Southern Baptist and more.