I
arrived at my location to find a frozen over, seemingly abandoned
harbor at the base of the Geneva Steel plant. This one-boat harbor has seen much better days and was once known as a thriving resort, but now in comparison
seems bleak and uninhabited. Cracked ruins of its glory days can be seen while hiking about the grounds. Besides the General store and a snow cone shack, there really isn't much there. The harbor’s history started in 1888 when Capt John Dallin bought 10-acres of land on the shore of Utah Lake and and began immediately to develop the land. Just 5 years later the site had multiple piers, bath houses, a hotel, a spacious open-air pavilion, and a saloon. He chose to name the Resort in honor of his daughter, Geneva and the Geneva Resort officially opened for business. The resort kept growing and attracting attention and around 1900, there were as many as four trains that had routes to the Geneva Resort coming from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Trains came from as far as Ogden and Manti. But not all was fine and dandy. “High Water brought good business and low water made business poor.” (The Daily Herald, 7 September 1975) And then disaster hit in the 1930's when flames destroyed the cabins, hotel and pavilion where once had gathered crowds of “pleasure - seekers.” During the next 20 years, the Geneva Resort was reduced to a “debris- ridden, weed-choked site, bearing few traces of its former appearance.” Over the years, the grounds were sold to develop a steel plant, Geneva Steel. The city of Orem bought back part of the lakeside property and has been working on projects to restore the harbor and surrounding grounds, although nothing approaching grandeur that once graced its shores. The Geneva resort remains a dream of a former era.
seems bleak and uninhabited. Cracked ruins of its glory days can be seen while hiking about the grounds. Besides the General store and a snow cone shack, there really isn't much there. The harbor’s history started in 1888 when Capt John Dallin bought 10-acres of land on the shore of Utah Lake and and began immediately to develop the land. Just 5 years later the site had multiple piers, bath houses, a hotel, a spacious open-air pavilion, and a saloon. He chose to name the Resort in honor of his daughter, Geneva and the Geneva Resort officially opened for business. The resort kept growing and attracting attention and around 1900, there were as many as four trains that had routes to the Geneva Resort coming from the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Trains came from as far as Ogden and Manti. But not all was fine and dandy. “High Water brought good business and low water made business poor.” (The Daily Herald, 7 September 1975) And then disaster hit in the 1930's when flames destroyed the cabins, hotel and pavilion where once had gathered crowds of “pleasure - seekers.” During the next 20 years, the Geneva Resort was reduced to a “debris- ridden, weed-choked site, bearing few traces of its former appearance.” Over the years, the grounds were sold to develop a steel plant, Geneva Steel. The city of Orem bought back part of the lakeside property and has been working on projects to restore the harbor and surrounding grounds, although nothing approaching grandeur that once graced its shores. The Geneva resort remains a dream of a former era.
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