Brigham City Sites

The Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge was created by Congress in 1928 to protect waterfowl on the flyway through the Great Salt Lake Basin.  It covers 80,000 acres of marshes, sloughs and uplands at the delta of the Bear River, flowing out of the northern Wasatch Mountains.  Early efforts to improve habitat and water quality for migratory birds in the 1920s had come to naught, so local hunters and conservationists sought the aid of the federal government.   The newly-renamed Bureau of Biological Survey took over management of all national wildlife refuges in 1933 under President Franklin Roosevelt, the number of...

"In Brigham City, the PWA sponsored another public building, the Box Elder High School Gymnasium. This was a more ambitious project, one of twenty Utah school gymnasiums built during the 1930s. Of red brick, the building cost $106,000. Its construction provided work not just for Brigham City laborers but for the Joseph Nelson architectural firm, an Idaho general contractor, a city building inspector, a Utah plumbing/heating/ventilating contractor, and a roofing/sheet metal specialist. The design, acceptable for the time, provided for two gyms: a 7,000-square-foot boys' gym with seating for 1,000 and a girls' gym one-fourth that size. There was also a...

The Brigham City Cemetery grounds were improved by the WPA. "Major Cemetery improvements started after World War I when the existing roads were mapped out sprinkler systems installed, grave markers lined up and landscaping improved. Much of this work was accomplished by the Works Progress Administration, a federal assistance program established during the Great Depression. Since that time the Cemetery has been under perpetual care maintenance by the City."