Historical Images of Ogden Highlighted in New Book by Weber State Special Collections

OGDEN, Utah – The Head of Special Collections at Weber State University’s Stewart Library has authored a new book highlighting historical images of Ogden, taken by one prolific photographer at the turn of the 20th century. 

Sarah Langsdon curated the photos and wrote the text for “Images of America: Ogden: The Charles Maccarthy Images.” The book features rare photos taken by Charles Maccarthy from 1890 to the 1940s. Mccarthy moved to Ogden in the 1870s, and was a railroad worker and photographer who took his camera everywhere, often stopping people on the street to ask if he could take their picture. Throughout his lifetime, Maccarthy took thousands of images, all of which he kept. His family preserved these photographs and shared them with Weber State’s Special Collections. 

“I loved going to the family home and spending hours digging through trunks that held cigar boxes full of negatives and prints,” Langsdon said. “Each image transported me back to a different time in Ogden’s history and quite often gave me photographic evidence of events that I never knew happened.”

Besides taking images of his family, Maccarthy photographed parades in Ogden that seemed to happen for every occasion. The events he photographed ranged from the arrival of the circus, to the Fish and Wildlife Federation of Utah, to the impromptu parade to celebrate the end of World War I. Maccarthy even captured the 50th anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad. Langsdon’s book includes 220 of these images, many which have never been seen by the public.   

“I was fascinated by the images that showed all the different parades and events that occurred in Ogden, including images of circus elephants advertising local businesses or Woodrow Wilson coming through Ogden on his whistle stop tour to advocate for the United Nations,” Langsdon said. 

 “Images of America: Ogden: The Charles Maccarthy Images” is organized into chapters that focus on family, city life, events, railroad, Ogden Canyon and images from his vacations. There are photographs of Saltair long before its destruction, which depict rides, roller coasters and swimming on the Great Salt Lake. Readers also get to experience the early days of Lagoon amusement park and the splendor of Ogden Canyon. 

"I am so excited to finally be able to publish this book. I have worked with the family for years to discover these images,” Langsdon said. “It is so wonderful to be able to share them with Ogden as a whole.” 

The book is available online and in local stores. Langsdon has written four other books highlighting Ogden and its citizens as well as life during World War II in Weber County as part of Arcadia publisher’s focus on local history.

For photos, visit this link.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.

Author:

Jordan Wise, Marketing & Communications
801-626-7948 • jordanwise@weber.edu

Contact:

Sarah Langsdon, Head of Special Collections
801-626-6337 • slangsdon@weber.edu