PROVO -- Some of them changed the economic and social fabric of Utah County. Others brought international attention, not always positive.
Utah County's biggest events of the 20th century included the creation of businesses, educational growth, an engineering feat, a natural disaster, violent crimes, a sporting achievement and a political election.Although vastly different in nature, the events that most defined Utah County in the 1900s had one thing in common: They made this place unique from every other spot on the globe.
Some events that drastically affected the lives of Utah County residents -- like the Great Depression and two world wars -- were not included in the list because their influence came from the outside. Our 10 biggest events were chosen because they could have happened only here.
A list of about 30 events was taken from Brigham Young University professor Richard N. Holzapfel's 1999 book, "A History of Utah County."
The list was pared to 10 by vote of Deseret News staff writers based in Provo. The results provide a glimpse at a dynamic 100 years of struggle, failure, achievement and victory.
Utah County, here's to a remarkable century:
No. 1: Geneva Steel. The event that most impacted and defined Utah County was the creation of Geneva Steel in 1944. Spurred by the post-war economy boom, the steel plant employed thousands of workers for more than half the century. The beginning of Geneva Steel, located in present-day Vineyard, signaled the transition from an agrarian economy to one based on industry, and later, technology. Geneva remained one of Utah County's top five employers into the 1990s, despite a near-shutdown a decade earlier.
No. 2: WordPerfect. When Alan Ashton began teaching computer science at BYU in 1972, not many residents
would have believed a company started in Utah County could establish a powerful presence on the international business stage. Ashton and one of his students, Bruce Bastian, developed a word processing program that at one time possessed 60 percent of the U.S. market. WordPerfect in the 1990s underwent a series of mergers and downsizing moves, but its economic impact continued through Ashton's ambitious Thanksgiving Point development in Lehi and large donations to education. Hundreds of spin-offs benefitted from the miniature Silicon Valley started by WordPerfect.
No. 3: Brigham Young University. What started as a small parochial school in the 19th century grew into one of the largest private universities in the country. Brigham Young Academy became BYU in the first years of the 20th century but flirted with closure until as late as the 1950s, when President Ernest L. Wilkinson led an explosive growth surge. BYU built multiple new buildings and began attracting students from around the country. The university remains Utah County's largest employer.
No. 4: Strawberry Irrigation Project. In May 1916, Utah County residents gathered in Payson to celebrate the completion of a $3.5 million project that allowed south Utah County farmers access to water from the eastern-flowing Strawberry River. The water, diverted via a reservoir and tunnel to the Spanish Fork River, allowed south Utah County farms and towns to thrive.
No. 5: Thistle. The floods of 1983 destroyed the Spanish Fork Canyon town of Thistle in one of the six largest mudslides ever recorded in North America. Not only were Thistle residents displaced and the town never rebuilt, but U.S. 6 was realigned and railroad tunnels were drilled through Billies Mountain. But something good did come out of the floods of the spring of 1983.
"For a lot of Utah County residents, it was the first time they felt like neighbors," said Holzapfel, referring to the huge volunteer effort that brought residents shoulder-to-shoulder as they filled sandbags.
No. 6: BYU football team wins national championship. After completing an undefeated regular season in 1984 and winning the Western Athletic Conference championship, BYU defeated Michigan in the Holiday Bowl and was named No. 1 by a national panel of sports writers. The success of the BYU team, led by Coach LaVell Edwards, focused attention on Provo and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
No. 7: Gary Gilmore is executed. Soon after being released from prison and moving to Utah County to live with family members, Gilmore in July 1976 killed one man at an Orem gas station and another at a Provo motel. Six months later, Gilmore became the first person executed in the United States after the Supreme Court lifted a 10-year ban. While the case was of international interest, it also had a psychological impact on Utah County residents who may have thought that wouldn't happen here, Holzapfel said.
No. 8: Sundance. In 1944, Utah County resident Raymond R. Stewart opened a small ski resort in Provo Canyon named Timp Haven. Purchased by actor Robert Redford several decades later, the resort grew and became known as Sundance. In addition to skiing, it came to house theater, film and art programs as well as restaurants and cabins. A Sundance-based independent film festival became an off-Hollywood phenomenon.
No. 9: University Mall. When developers in November 1972 opened University Mall on Orem's State Street and 1300 South, many doubted such a concept would succeed in what had been a quiet community filled with fruit orchards. But Utah County's first shopping mall developed into an economic powerhouse, spurring business growth along State Street and University Parkway while attracting shoppers from all over central Utah. After briefly flirting with a similar concept in the early 1970s, Provo envied Orem's economic success until building its own mall a quarter-century later.
No. 10: Mr. Smoot goes to Washington. Reed Smoot, a Utah County resident, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1903 but didn't take office for four years because of a federal investigation. During 15 years in Washington, Smoot became a powerful figure who put Utah County on the national political map. When Smoot helped bring President William Howard Taft to Provo in 1909, thousands of residents filled the streets and many credited Smoot with helping them gain access to power as well as solutions to various problems.
Among other big events considered for the list were the pop culture phenomenon sparked by the performing Osmond family; BYU student Sharlene Wells being named Miss America; the growth of Utah Valley State College; and the influenza epidemic of 1918 that forced quarantine of most of the county.
There are dozens of others, but one of our favorites was the opening of the Deseret News Utah County bureau in August 1983. Without that, many of the top events wouldn't have been chronicled as they were.
We invite readers to discuss our picks and submit their own, if desired. Contact the Deseret News in Provo by phone at 437-7600 or fax us your choices at 437-7624.
Meanwhile, watch for our coverage of the biggest Utah County events of the 21st century.