The train station in the town of Keetley could have been lost in the 1990s, when crews dammed the Provo River and flooded the former community to create the Jordanelle Reservoir.
But as the story goes, seniors in Park City had been told years earlier, “If you can move it, you can have it.” And they did, raising enough money through bingo games, yard sales and raffles to fund the building’s two-day, 15-mile trek. It was placed just off Main Street on Woodside Avenue, in a coveted Old Town spot that some seniors ski into in the winter.
Today, as many residents who helped shape Park City have grown older, they’ve outgrown their upcycled home. In the last five years, membership at the Park City Senior Center has quintupled from less than 100 to now more than 500.
“We have no place for anybody to sit,” Linda McReynolds said on a recent sunny May afternoon, after she and other center board members arranged benches outside. “Which is why we’re sitting out here.”
The squeeze has convinced the seniors to give up their sweetheart land lease — $1 per year, for 99 years — as part of a plan to develop a new center surrounded by housing, including affordable units and spots for seniors.
The city has approved $3.5 million to construct the new center, but that amount is still being negotiated and could change, a city spokesperson said last week. The developer — which has been selected by the city but is not being disclosed during ongoing negotiations — will finance the housing project.
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This article is published through the Utah News Collaborative, a partnership of news organizations in Utah that aims to inform readers across the state.