During his life in Park City, Pop Jenks witnessed the town in slow decline. Park City fortunes rose and fell with the price of silver, lead, and zinc since the economy was based on raw materials. War created boom but peace left a sudden oversupply and a plunge in price soon followed. After WWII, Park City sported a faded elegance that wouldn¿t change for twenty years. That his life in Park City and his photographic record would be cherished by future residents and an abundance of tourists would have astounded Jenks. Life in a small, out-of-the-way, nondescript mining town was not the stuff of history museums.Nowadays many small towns across the US have historical societies and a prominent historic building that has become the town¿s history museum. Park City is no different.

Our collections hold the ubiquitous wringer washing machine, a 1926 fire truck, the glamorous dresses of our famous Silver Queen and everything in between. The photos in this book taken by Jenks are 620 of 50,000 historic images the Park City Museum has preserved.Our collections hold stories; each object defines life in Park City and demonstrates where we came from. Why is that street named Marsac? What is a widowmaker? Without the Park City Museum proudly presenting our history at every opportunity, our town¿s past would be lost to obscurity.Like many similar historical societies, we launched with a grand event. With the Park City Centennial imminent in 1984, time was of the essence to create a local history museum. Exhibits were created, the historic City Hall renovated, the governor spoke, the mayor cut the ribbon and the Park City Museum was born.