The Surprising Past Of This Utahn Town
Ogden, UT is known for its gritty people, beautiful views, Weber State University, and a past that might surprise you. Before I lived here I thought that Utah was going to be overrun by… we’ll just say religiously motivated… but I have been intrigued by the diversity of Ogden.
While there is a strong conservative community in Ogden, there is also a strong counter-culture that present. People in Ogden love tattoos, breweries, and mountain sports and it is a great place to live if you love the mountains but are afraid of the sky-high rent prices in Boulder.
I work downtown as a server at a very busy brewery that has been there for a while. The building is old, the customers are loyal, and the beer is plentiful. All seems fairly normal until you go downstairs to the basement.
You see, back in the early 1900s Ogden was a TOUGH town. Situated as a strategic railway junction, Ogden was where travelers, businessmen, gangsters, and everyone in-between stopped to unwind. The city was overrun with most crimes you can think of and the prohibition only magnified that. The citizens of Ogden started using an intricate tunnel system that’s built underneath the city to smuggle drugs, prostitutes, illegal booze, gambling money, and much more.
In the basement of many of the older buildings downtown you can find the remnants of what used to be the infamous Ogden underground tunnels. In the basement of my employer, you can see where the city built a concrete barrier in the old doorway to the smugglers paradise.
In time, the downtown was cleaned up and is now relatively safe to venture around. When I get off work in the late evenings the streets are bustling, musicians are busking, and the old bars are glowing. While Ogden is not the same city that it was when it rumored to be too tough a town for Al Capone (seriously, I heard Al Capone couldn’t handle it back in the day), there is still a leftover grittiness that can be felt in the air.
Do not let this scare you away from taking a trip to Ogden or living there! You will find yourself in a tight-knit community that supports each-other. You will always have something to do, and you may even get lucky enough to peek at an old smuggling tunnel.