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The Salt Lake County Health Department History, 1850-1970

As early as Utah's first days of government, health has been on our public officials' minds. Government leaders of what was then-"Great Salt Lake County" first met in March 1852, after Congress officially made Utah a U.S. Territory. In these earliest meetings, the government was charged with protecting the overall health and wellbeing of the county's 11,000 residents.

Since 1852, Salt Lake County government and particularly the Department of Health have expanded their programs and staff to answer to the county's various needs. In this exhibit, you can learn about how the county health department changed over the course of 120 years, from 1852 to 1970.

Exhibit written & researched by Megan Weiss

A crowd of people standing on the sidewalk.

Board of Health Building, 1956

Did you know? Public health in Salt Lake County dates back to 1852!

What is Public Health?

Public health encompasses the science and social programs used to protect the well-being of communities. This includes medical things that help individual people stay healthy like immunizations, access to doctors, and controlling disease outbreaks. It also involves regulations and inspections designed to protect the public from health risks present in food handling, living conditions, and the environment. In Salt Lake County, it also involved social welfare and taking care of the county’s most vulnerable populations. 

As one medical student remarked to the Board of Health in 1955, “The community is much like the health officer’s patient. The health officer should know the medical history. He should look for any symptoms of illness. And he should take all the preventative medical steps necessary to protect his patient – not only from any existing illness but also from possible future illness.” 

In protecting the community, public health officers have had to navigate social issues, culture, class and other differences to respond to disease threats and garner public support for their cause. Learn more about this rich history below to see where health and community intersect!

A large house with a few people sitting on the porch.

Great Sanitary Awakening 1850-1880
A man sitting at a desk.

Germ Theory 1880-1912
A couple of women standing outside a house.

The Progressive Era & Beyond 1912-1940
A woman looking at a man in a hospital bed.

Individualized Patient Care 1940-1970

A Note on Archival Sources

The Salt Lake County Health Department’s rich history is documented thanks to archival resources kept at the Salt Lake County Archive. Important official records, such as County Commission Minutes, the County Board of Health minutes, annual reports, and more, all diligently tracked health department activities, goals, and impact over the course of the twentieth century.

Some devoted public servants also painstakingly documented health department history out of a passion for preservation and commitment to the work. This is made evident in the rich photo collections and scrapbooks you can find at the Salt Lake County Archives health department records.

One health department employee in particular, public nursing assistant director Ruth Cronin, devoted part of her career to researching the history of public health in Salt Lake County, and compiled all of her notes and findings in a binder in the 1960s. Because of hobby historians like Cronin, as well as regular employees donating records to the County Archives, we can get a good idea of what the health department accomplished over the years.

There are still plenty of records from Salt Lake County health department history that did not survive. At the time, record preservation wasn't the priority it is today, and it's suspected that during the demolition of the Salt Lake County General Hospital in 1985, many records relating to the county health department were lost or destroyed.

The county health department as we know it today exists because of a merger between the city and county health departments in 1969. This means that much of the history can also be found across multiple different county- and city-level records series. It is the job of the historian to parse through this variety of records relating to local public health to get a full picture of how health officers and the community worked together to keep Salt Lake County healthy. 

SALT-LAKE-CITY-HEALTH DEPARTMENT 1968 HEALTH REPORT

Health Department Historic Records

Much of what we know about health department history is because of the county archive. See digitized records here!

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