Ogden, Utah, United States

🇺🇸 Ogden (Ho-quip) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately 10 miles (16 km) east of the Great Salt Lake and 40 miles (64 km) north of Salt Lake City. It is Utah's eighth largest city. The city served as a major railway hub through much of its history, and still handles a great deal of freight rail traffic which makes it a convenient location for manufacturing and commerce. Ogden is also known for its many historic buildings, proximity to the Wasatch Mountains, and as the location of Weber State University.

Ogden is a principal city of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), which includes all of Weber, Morgan, Davis, and Box Elder counties. In 2010, Forbes rated the Ogden-Clearfield MSA as the 6th best place to raise a family.

History Originally named Fort Buenaventura, Ogden was the first permanent settlement by people of European descent in what is now Utah. It was established by the trapper Miles Goodyear in 1846 about a mile west of where downtown Ogden sits today.

In November 1847, Captain James Brown purchased all the land now comprising Weber County together with some livestock and Fort Buenaventura for $3,000 (equivalent to $94000 in 2022). The land was conveyed to Captain Brown in a Mexican Land Grant, this area being at that time a part of Mexico. The settlement was then called Brownsville, after Captain James Brown, but was later named Ogden for a brigade leader of the Hudson's Bay Company, Peter Skene Ogden, who had trapped in the Weber Valley a generation earlier. There is some confusion about which "Ogden" was the first to set foot in the area. A Samuel Ogden traveled through the western United States on an exploration trip in 1818. The site of the original Fort Buenaventura is now a Weber County park.

Westbound passengers changed cars at Ogden, from Union Pacific to Southern Pacific, which took them to California

Ogden is the closest sizable city to the Golden Spike location at Promontory Summit, Utah, where the First transcontinental railroad was joined in 1869. It was known as a major passenger railroad junction owing to its location along major east–west and north–south routes, prompting the local chamber of commerce to adopt the motto, "You can't get anywhere without coming to Ogden". Railroad passengers traveling west to San Francisco from the eastern United States typically passed through Ogden (and not through the larger Salt Lake City to the south). However, Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, no longer serves Ogden. Passengers who want to travel to and from Ogden by rail must travel via FrontRunner commuter rail to Salt Lake City and Provo. Renowned Danish impressionistic writer Hermand Bang died in Ogden in 1912 during a lecture tour in the United States.

In 1972, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completed construction of and dedicated the Ogden Utah Temple in Ogden. The temple was built to serve the area's large LDS population. In 2010, the LDS Church announced they would renovate the Ogden Temple and the adjacent Tabernacle. The work which began in 2011 includes an update to the exterior, the removal of the Tabernacle's steeple to make the Temple's steeple a main focus, and a new underground parking garage and gardens. The Temple was rededicated in 2014.

Because Ogden had historically been Utah's second-largest city, it is home to a large number of historic buildings. However, by the 1980s, several Salt Lake City suburbs and Provo had surpassed Ogden in population.

The Defense Depot Ogden Utah operated in Ogden from 1941 to 1997. Some of its 1,128 acres (456 ha) have been converted into a commercial and industrial park called the Business Depot Ogden, colloquially known as "BDO".

Geography Ogden is located at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains. This is at about the same latitude as Benevent in Campania in southern Italy.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 26.6 square miles (69.0 km²), all land. Elevations in the city range from about 4,300 to 5,000 feet (1,300 to 1,500 m) above sea level.

The Ogden and Weber Rivers, which originate in the mountains to the east, flow through the city and meet at a confluence just west of the city limits. Pineview Dam is in the Ogden River Canyon 7 miles (11 km) east of Ogden. The reservoir behind the dam provides over 110,000 acre-feet (140,000,000 m3) of water storage and water recreation for the area.

Prominent mountain peaks near Ogden include Mount Ogden to the east and Ben Lomond to the north.

Streetscape From south to west to north, Ogden's neighboring towns are South Ogden, Roy, West Haven, Marriott-Slaterville, Farr West, Pleasant View and North Ogden. The city is - like many others in the US - characterized by a spacious, street grid with many blocks. The streets are numbered from north to south, which is expressed in the corresponding street names. By extending the numbers with directions ("E" for east and "W" for west) their relative relation to the central point is made clear. In the centre of the city, the blocks from Union Station along 25th Street, the north-to-south oriented cross streets are named after former U.S. presidents such as Lincoln Avenue, Grant Avenue, Washington Boulevard, Adams Avenue, Jefferson Avenue, and Madison Avenue. The central connecting street in north–south orientation is Harrison Boulevard. The city area is divided into six districts: in the North End, including West Ogden, Downtown and East Central; in the East, including East Bench and Shadow Valley.

Education • Weber State University • Ogden-Weber Applied Technology College • Stevens–Henager College

Economy As the principal city of the 2nd largest MSA in Utah, Ogden serves as an economic hub for the northern part of the state. Much of the central city is occupied by offices of federal, state, county, and municipal government entities. The Internal Revenue Service has a large regional facility in Ogden and is the city's largest employer with over 5,000 employees. Other large employers include McKay Dee Hospital, Weber State University, Ogden City School District, Autoliv, Fresenius, and Convergys.

In 2013, Ogden ranked No. 16 on Forbes' list of the Best Places for Business and Careers.

The western parts of the city have several industrial areas. The largest is Business Depot Ogden, a former Army depot that was restructured to be a 1,000-plus acre business park.

Headquarters • MarketStar – Sales and marketing company. • ENVE Composites - high-end bicycle components • Autoliv North America – Automotive safety equipment. • Bank of Utah – Banking services. • America First Credit Union – Banking services. • Kadince – Software services.

Transport Interstates 15 and 84 serve the city. I-84 runs east–west through the southern suburbs, merging with I-15 near Riverdale. I-15 runs north–south near the city's western edge and provides connections to the rest of the Wasatch Front and beyond. Ogden is served directly by exits 341, 342, 343, and 344. US-89 enters the city from the south, running through the city as Washington Boulevard, which serves as the main street of Ogden. It then continues north to Brigham City. State Route 39 runs east–west through the city as 12th Street, and continues eastward through Ogden Canyon providing access to Pineview Reservoir and the mountain and ski resort town of Huntsville.

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) operates four bus routes directly between Salt Lake City and Ogden, as well as numerous others that serve Weber and northern Davis counties that connect into either the Ogden Intermodal Hub on the west edge of town or to Weber State University. Ogden is also the source of the two routes that serve Brigham City, the northernmost extension of UTA's bus system. It also has a Greyhound bus stop along a line that runs north–south along I-15. The FrontRunner commuter rail runs between Salt Lake City and the Ogden Intermodal Hub in downtown Ogden.

Amtrak service is provided with a bus connection running to/from Salt Lake City, where there are daily California Zephyr trains west to the Oakland, California area and east to Chicago, Illinois. Amtrak trains do not serve Ogden directly. Historically, Ogden Union Station served as a hub for frequent trains going north-west to Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington, and east to Chicago. Amtrak ended the Pioneer in 1997. In the same year, Amtrak ended the Los Angeles to Chicago Desert Wind.

Ogden-Hinckley Airport, Utah's busiest municipal airport, is in the south-west portion of the city. Allegiant Air offered commercial service from Ogden to Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona, Avelo Airlines served Burbank, California, while Utah Airways offers charter service to many of the West's national parks. As of May 2022, both Allegiant and Avelo ceased service, citing rising costs and dropping ticket sales, in addition to expanded availability of air carriers at Salt Lake International airport just 35 minutes south.

Sites of interest • Bigelow-Ben Lomond Hotel • Dee Events Center • Eccles Avenue Historic District • Historic 25th Street • The Ice Sheet Curling: venue used during the 2002 Winter Olympics • Jefferson Avenue Historic District • The Junction: retail and residential complex • Ogden High School • Ogden Nature Center • Ogden Utah Temple • American Can Company of Utah Building Complex • Ott Planetarium • Peery's Egyptian Theatre • Snowbasin Ski Area: alpine skiing venue used during the 2002 Winter Olympics • Union Station • Ogden Forest Service Building • Weber State University.

Sports and recreation The mountains and rivers near Ogden offer many opportunities for outdoor recreation.

An extensive trail system, immediately adjacent to the city's eastern edge, gives residents and visitors immediate access to the foothills of the Wasatch Range. The foothill trails are used for hiking, running, mountain biking, and sometimes snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. Steeper trails climb eastward into the mountains, and many other mountain trails originate within a few miles of the city. A system of paved urban trails runs along the banks of the Ogden and Weber Rivers.

The quartzite cliffs above Ogden's foothills provide a variety of rock climbing routes. An extensive boulder field in the foothills is one of the most popular bouldering sites in the state.

On the mountains east of Ogden are three downhill ski areas: Snowbasin, Powder Mountain, and Nordic Valley. Popular sites for cross-country skiing include Snowbasin and Weber County's North Fork Park.

Kayaking is a popular sport on portions of the Ogden and Weber Rivers. A developed kayak park lies on the Weber River in the western portion of the city. The reservoirs near Ogden are used for a wide variety of water sports.

Ogden is also home to the minor league baseball team Ogden Raptors of the Pioneer League, the Women's Flat Track Derby Association league Junction City Roller Dolls, the minor-league soccer team Ogden City SC of the USL League Two, and the junior hockey team Ogden Mustangs of the United States Premier Hockey League.

Ogden Stadium houses the annual "Hot Rocking 4th", a motorsports event.

There are several golf courses in the city of Ogden.

Weber State University fields several intercollegiate athletic teams that attract spectators from among residents. The university is especially known for its basketball team.

Ogden is a satellite venue of the Sundance Film Festival. A local film festival, now called the Foursite Film Festival, has been held annually since 2004. Other events of interest include a downtown farmer's market, the Ogden Arts Festival, the Harvest Moon Festival, Ogden Winterfest, and the Ogden Marathon.

Ogden has had two shopping malls. Newgate Mall was built in 1981, and Ogden City Mall a year prior. The latter was torn down and redeveloped as The Junction.