Union Station has defined the trajectory of Ogden, Utah, since the station's very beginning. Originally settled by Latter-day Saints in 1851, Ogden's social and economic landscapes fundamentally changed with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Suddenly, Ogdenites were connected to the national economy. Perhaps most impactfully, the railroad brought new people—railroad workers, merchants, and other opportunity seekers—and with them came a new diversity of cultural, social, and religious viewpoints on how Utah should govern itself politically, socially, and economically. Ogden's relationship with the railroad, as manifested in the Ogden Union Station, changed Utah's history by putting the city at the forefront of social and economic activity. Originally a backwater of rural life, Ogden became a leader in Utah's future.
As early as 1847, settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were permanently colonizing the Ogden area, starting with the purchase of mountain man Miles Goodyear's...
