A railroad corridor turned city block
700 West in Salt Lake City sits close to where a Union Pacific Railroad line ran for nearly a century, from 1909 until the tracks were pulled up in 2007, and near the spot where Thomas Coleman was killed in December 1866. A building put up in 1961 now stands at 700 West.
Freight trains ran past this ground for a century
On open ground near 700 West, a Union Pacific Railroad line once ran about 300 feet east of here. For nearly a hundred years, freight cars rolled past this spot before the tracks were pulled up for good.
About half a mile away, Preaching Buddha (Salt Lake City) is Jordan Park and its International Peace Gardens. India's government gave the park a bronze sculpture of Buddha seated on a lotus blossom, dedicated in 1965. The gift was meant to arrive in 1947, timed to Utah's pioneer centennial, but World War II delayed it by nearly two decades.
The same gardens hold a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, donated by India's government and dedicated in 1997.
Thomas Coleman was beaten and his throat cut
Three hundred feet from this spot, on a cold night in December 1866, Thomas Coleman was beaten with a rock and his throat was cut. He had once been enslaved by Mormon settlers in Salt Lake City. His body was found the next day. The Salt Lake Daily Telegraph reported the killing on December 12. No one was ever convicted.
A building rose on the lot after the tracks left
Long after the railroad and the killing, a building went up on this lot in 1961. It still stands at 700 West, on ground the Salt Lake County Assessor lists at just over two acres. The tracks that once ran past it are gone, pulled up by 2007.
The lot at 700 West sits quiet now, with no trace of the rail line that once ran beside it.
Every person, building and event in this story opens into its own dig in the app — and Strata will dig the ground under your feet instead, wherever that is, in about a minute, with every source shown.