CONFERENCE LOCATION
Columbus Center / Historic Columbus School
2531 S 400 E
South Salt Lake
**Note that the historic entrance of the building faces 500 E. Registration and parking will be most readily accessible from the entrance on 400 East.
PARKING
Limited parking is available in the lot on 400 E. Street parking is available throughout the adjacent neighborhood.
PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION
The 205 bus line stops in front of the building on 500 E.
The 500 E Station, TRAX, is a ½ mile walk from the building (the Silver line is north of the Columbus Center).
Visit UTA for more details & schedules: https://www.rideuta.com/rider-tools/schedules-and-maps
ACCESSIBILITY
The Columbus Center is wheelchair accessible.
Historic Columbus School
The Columbus School, designed by architect Charles S. McDonald, was constructed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style in 1916. An auditorium was added onto the west side of the building in 1955, with subsequent additions to the southwest between 1965-1972 . Originally an elementary school, the building became a training center for intellectually disabled adults in 1968. This use lasted two decades before the Board of Education elected to turn the building into warehouse space due to safety concerns regarding asbestos and seismic stability.
South Salt Lake City purchased the school in 1995 with plans to turn it into their new City Hall. However, the building would ultimately become a community center and library following a $5,000,000 rehabilitation directed by architectural firm Cooper Roberts in 1997. Bruce Talbot, the Community and Economic Development Director at the time, stated that “[t]he [community] center will give the city an extra dimension. It will foster the arts and provide a meeting place for people” (Deseret News, 1998). The Columbus Library and adjoining Senior Center opened in 2002.
While the Library closed in 2020, the Senior Center is still in service along with the Columbus Center which houses a Community Opportunity Center, Recreation Department, Best Buy Teen Tech Center, Promise SSL Youth Center, and a Head Start preschool.
Historic Photographs courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society.
Thank you to the Columbus Center for hosting the Preservation Engaged conference this year!
