Rose Park, Salt Lake City
Rose Park is a neighborhood on the west side of Salt Lake City, Utah. In the past, the term sometimes generically refered to the west side of the city, but this usage is now rare due to the rise of other neighborhoods on the west side of the greater Salt Lake County including Taylorsville, Magna, and West Valley City. Rose Perk is often considered the poorest section of Salt Lake City, and among the most ethnically diverse areas in the state.
Boundaries
The most commonly accepted boundaries of the neighborhood state that it lies west of I-15, north of 600 North Street (More on Salt Lake City's coordinant system), and east of Redwood Road (approximately 1750 West). The Salt Lake City Community Council district for the "Rose Park" adopts these precise boundaries. Rose Park extends north all the way to city limits which is the boundary between Salt Lake and Davis counties.
Rose Park is north of the Poplar Grove and Glendale neighborhoods and west of the northwest slope of Capitol Hill. The entire neighborhood falls within the boundaries of West High School, one of Utah's largest and oldest high schools.
History
In the ealy 20th century, Rose Park was marketed as a reasonably priced division with larger plots than older Salt Lake City neighborhoods like the Avenues. After World War II, population and growth in the area exploded as vacant plots were bought up and homes built. Many trees were planted in the neighborhood during this period, and Rose Park now boasts some of the city's largest and most densely spaced trees.
Long having the reputation of being near (and on the wrong side of) the railroad tracks, Rose Park is one of the most religiously and ethnically diverse areas of Utah. Like Murray, many of the turn-of-the-century settlers were non-Mormon blue-collar workers, although Rose Park's workers worked for railroads instead of smelters. The historic Salt Lake City Union Pacific Depot isn't far from the neighborhood.
Superfund cleanup site
In the early 1980s a hazardous site existed in Rose Park near Rosewood Park and south of the Rose Park Golf Course. The state of Utah petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to add it to their list of Superfund cleanup sites. The agency agreed and in 1982 it was added to the superfund list as "Rose Park Sludge Pit."
Local refineries dumped waste products in the sludge pit from the 1930s until 1957. The acidic sludge contained carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and sulfur dioxide posing a threat to groundwater an surrounding organisms. This was particularly unnerving because much of the municipal water in Rose Park comes from scattered wells.
Amoco oil company was potentially liable for the site, so agreed to clean it up in 1985. The solution entalied building a slurry wall around and under the slugde pit to avoid groundwater contamination. A clay cap was also placed on top of the sludge pit and topped with grass.
Since these improvements, the site has passed all of its five-year reviews with the solution deemed "protective of human health and the environment."
Population shifts and redistricting
In the 1980s Rose Park became home to increasing numbers of non-European immigrants due to modest house prices. These immigrants came chiefly from Polynesia and Latin America. Poverty in the area led to increased crime, including gang violence. Although crime has since subsided, Rose Park still has a local reputation of being among the worst places to live in Salt Lake County.
After redistricting following the 1990 Census, Rose Park found itself in a different congressional district, 1st district, then the rest of Salt Lake County, which was in 2nd district. Some Democrats, a minority in the legislature then and now, claimed that this partition had racist motivations. Democrats claimed that Rose Park, a historically liberal area, had few interests in common with the mostly rural 1st district which included St. George, Utah far to the south.
However, after redistricting following the 2000 Census, all three of Utah's US Congressional districts became like the 1990s 1st district. Salt Lake City is divided among the three districts so that each has a mix of urban and rural areas as the Republican-controlled state legislature desired. Rose Park remains in the 1st district which now includes most of northern Utah.