Layton’s First Park and recreation/entertainment history

This is a partial view of the Main Street and Gentile Street intersection in Layton, looking eastward. This photograph was probably taken in the late 1930s. The Shell Service Station is in the center of the picture and the Latter-day Saints’ “White Chapel” can be seen in the distance on the left. A portion of Layton’s first park, intersected by railroad tracks, shows up at the bottom of the photo.

                                                                                        (Heritage Museum of Layton photograph.)

LAYTON City’s first ever park used to be at 20 South Main Street, in between Main Street and a railroad spur line. Volunteers from the community reclaimed this weedy, unused piece of land in 1933 and turned it into a landscaped park.

This was obviously a very small park by today’s standards.

In 1934, a bronze plaque commemorating the Pony Express route through Layton, was placed in the park, as well as a flag pole. When Main Street was widened in 1953, the wider road replaced the park and the plaque was moved to the American Legion’s property.

However, Webster’s Grove, a large patch of trees planted by George W. Webster on Angel Street in Kaysville, was the first widespread recreation spot for Layton. Its heyday was the early 1880s to the turn of the century and it had swings, baseball fields and even a dance hall.

Early Layton residents also often went to the short-lived Lake Side resort, located southwest of Kaysville. It opened in 1870, offering a chance to “float like a cork” in the Great Salt Lake. By 1886 Lagoon was also a popular resort for Laytonites (and still is today).

The Hillbilly Band, Webster's Grove and Pavilion, Kaysville Opera House, Layton Opera House, Kaysville Brass Band and Fiddler's Creek are all entertainment-based features from Layton’s past.

What was the first sport ever played inside today’s boundaries of Layton City? The first official sporting event recorded in a newspaper was a baseball game between the unincorporated community of Layton and Kaysville residents. The game was played in Layton on Decoration Day, May 30, of 1901, according to the Davis County Clipper newspaper of June 7, 1901. Layton defeated Kaysville 2-0 in a morning contest on the diamond and then it also blanked a team from South Weber 2-0 in an afternoon contest.

(There were likely earlier and less organized baseball or cricket games played prior.)

It was a common practice in the early 20th century for dances to be held as send-offs and fund-raisers for departing Latter-day Saint missionaries. This created a lot of regular social events in town.

Layton had an “Amusement Center” that opened in 1919 in the southwest corner of where the original Layton Elementary School was located on west Gentile Street. The building was billed as the “largest and best amusement hall in the state” at the time. It could seat 600 people, cost $65,000 to construct and was 68 feet wide and 110 feet long. Primary funding to start building construction came from area LDS Wards, which contributed $1,000 toward the structure.

Mr. and Mrs. Hyrum Adams of Layton chaperoned 16 young people on horseback in the Wasatch Mountains, east of town for several days in August of 1922. They camped at the Smith Creek Lakes on the east side of mountains and then journeyed down the other side into Morgan, where they also enjoyed a visit to Como Springs Resort. Then, they returned home by way of Weber Canyon.

The Pioneer Day (July 24) was celebrated in 1914 with two communities united, Kaysville and Layton together at one ballpark. According to Salt Lake Tribune of July 25, 1914, the celebration included a formal program with speakers and music. Then, a lot of sporting events and dancing in the evening.

-Layton’s baseball team defeated the Air Mail Service team from Salt Lake, 7-0, in a game played in August of 1922.

A baseball team from Layton, is shown circa 1930. The photograph was taken at Lagoon Park, a popular hotspot for baseball games in that era. Standing, left to right are: Clair Whitesides, Norman Brown, John Brown, Ted Brown, Kenneth Slater, Bill Cowley, Lewis Briggs, Robert Barton and Fred Jones. Bottom, left to right, are: Reed Simmons, Samuel Scoffield, Kenneth Page, Lewis Major, Ural Major and Stanford Cowley. The photographer was Lewis Major. (Heritage Museum of Layton photograph.)

Boxing and wrestling were popular indoor spectator sports in Layton from the 1920s into the mid-1940s. “Athletic program for Layton fans” was an April 8, 1922

headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. Latonia Hall was the site of this event and the bouts featured many local boxers and wrestlers. Tom Layton of Layton was one of the boxers, as was Elder Walker, another Layton resident.

Other sources state that Latonia Hall, 52 North Main Street, was used as early as 1920 for boxing matches.

On Feb. 4, 1931, an “Athletic Carnival” was held in the West Layton Amusement Hall, with both boxing and wrestling matches. Admission costs for that event was 75 cents for reserved seats; 50 cents general admission and 25 cents for children.

According to the Davis County Clipper of April 3, 1942, a “Boxing Carnival” was held at the Layton Ward Recreation Hall several days prior.

The Layton Elementary Football Team in the mid-1930s is pictured. Elementary schools in Davis County sponsored grid teams in the era before junior high schools came along. Note the leather helmets and the cloth shoulder pads.    (Heritage Museum of Layton photograph.)

"Athletic Smokers" is an intriguing title given to boxing from about 1910 to 1940. The events were actually smoke-free and usually held in LDS Church buildings. Many local boxers would commonly fight to benefit families whose houses had burned down or who had been involved in other tragedies, charging 75 cents to $1.50 a seat.

In 1936, it was renamed the Roxy Theater and likely closed soon

after. The Latona Hall and Motion Picture Theater was the second big screen business in Layton.

When the Layton Auto Company moved elsewhere, the building at 52 North Main was remodeled. Kowley Drug came along in 1924 and occupied the front section of the building. Theater goers could get ice cream and treats from the drug store as they exited the theater.

The building also hosted socials and weddings.

This theater closed in 1968, though the drug store remained there until 1980.

Layton’s third theater, the Ritz, was a $35,000, 496-seat theater at 96 North Main. It opened on Sept. 20, 1941 and was managed by

E.G. King. This theater had sloping floors and moveable, padded seats. (The building was originally occupied by the Becker Saloon.)

Movies would play each evening, with matinees on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Ritz closed down in 1968, a victim of the television boom. Today the building houses the Harvest Bread Company and it leveled out the old sloping floor.

Layton's fourth theater was the Davis Drive-In. It opened in 1945 near Angel and Main Street after World War II. The twin-screen

theater closed in 1992 and was torn down in 1993 to make way for commercial development. Today, Kohl’s department store and other businesses occupy the former Drive-in’s space.

Layton's next theater was Cinemark Movies 6, opening in the early 1980s shortly after the Layton Hills Mall was built.

Located just northwest of the mall, it was joined by the $1.5 million, 1,800-seat Cinemark Movies 10 complex in December 1990.

This was remodeled and expanded again to become the Cinemark Tinseltown USA at the Layton Hills Mall, 740 West 1500 North, in

May 1997 with 7 additional screens and about 1600 seats.

In the mid-1990s, a separate new 9-screen theater, just a half-block northeast of Cinemark, was constructed at 728 West 1425 North.

“Old units removed to make room for Layton ‘Dream Park’ was an April 25, 1973 headline in the Ogden Standard-Examiner. The “old” were the last remains of Verdeland Park, government housing erected in Layton during World War II, to house military families. At that time, Layton’s population was only about 700 residents. Yet, 430 families lived in Verdeland Park during its heyday and helped triple the City’s population.

The U.S. government condemned 85 acres of farmland in the early 1940s, paying $23,934. In January 1943, the area opened as Verdeland Park.

Ironically,  Jay Starkey, Layton City Parks Director, had his office in one of the WW II buildings, one of only 10 remaining buildings in 1973, according to the Standard-Examiner story.

In 1957 Layton City officials purchased Verdeland Park for $648,000 at a 4.5 percent interest rate for 10 years. The barracks-type houses were disassembled and lumber and other building materials were sold for $270 per house.

In 1962, Layton City sold 28 acres (at $3,000 per acre) of the former Verdeland Park land to the Davis School District for the creation of Layton High School. (Otherwise Commons Park would even be larger today.)

And, plans for the future $500,000 “Dream Park” were laid out in Starkey’s office.

In fact, Layton City owned and rented the Verdleand Park buildings to new families, for about $40 a month, from 1950 to 1968.

(Letters notifying residents to vacate their Verdeland Park housing was sent by Layton City in early 1964, according to the Standard-Examiner of Feb. 25, 1964. Residents living where Layton High School was to be built had six months to leave, according to the Standard of March 3, 1964.)