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The state's leading champion of historic preservation is itself making history.

Utah Heritage Foundation turns 50 this year, founded in 1966 as the first nonprofit statewide organization of its kind in the western U.S.

Through a five-decade focus on architecture that defines Utah's past, the group is credited with helping to save, rehabilitate and reuse important residential and commercial buildings and historic districts across the state.

"These are the places that make up the unique character of our towns, cities and neighborhoods," said foundation public-outreach director Alison Flanders.

Gov. Gary Herbert has marked the 50th anniversary with an official declaration of support. The foundation also will stage an anniversary gala Friday at Memorial House in Memory Grove Park.

The nonprofit group is in the midst of a yearlong social media campaign titled "50 in 50," highlighting one year of its history each week.

As the organization begins another 50 years, Executive Director Kirk Huffaker said it has adopted a new mission, one that notes the value of keeping Utah's past alive not only for preservation, "but also to inspire and provoke a more creative present and sustainable future."

It began as a largely volunteer advocacy group, with its members mobilized by the controversial demolition of several historic buildings on South Temple, including the Cosgriff Mansion, as well as the Coalville Tabernacle in Summit County.

That same year also marked the passage of the federal National Historic Preservation Act, which bolstered the U.S. government's role in preservation through grants, state surveys and an expansion of the National Register of Historic Places.

The foundation has since helped save countless iconic structures, including the Salt Lake City & County Building (today's City Hall) and two First Security Bank buildings in Utah's capital; Brigham Young Academy in Provo; Cache County Courthouse in Logan; and the Heber City Tabernacle.

For more than 40 years, the group's docents have conducted free public and school tours of state landmarks such as the Utah Governor's Mansion and other historic homes in select Salt Lake City neighborhoods, as well as in Bountiful, Farmington, Copperton, Magna and Park City.

Its preservation work takes other forms as well.

In 2013, the Ladies' Literary Club donated its historic building at 850 E. South Temple to the foundation in hopes of preserving the century-old edifice. The foundation, in turn, sold the facility this year to a group of young visual artists and entrepreneurs known as Photo Collective Studios, with easements protecting the structure's distinct interior and exterior.

Herbert met Aug. 30 with the foundation's leadership, including founding board member Bob Bliss, and signed a proclamation in its honor, heralding it for "leading the movement" to save Utah's prized historic buildings. The Republican governor praised historic preservation as "a key component of Utah's economy."

He also said it was "imperative that communities throughout the state continue to recognize the value of historic places in retaining unique character and building community pride."

tsemerad@sltrib.com Twitter: @TonySemerad