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It started with a "white elephant."
The five-story, derelict building on Murray-Holladay Road sparked a drive among Holladay residents to take control of land-use decisions in their neighborhoods. The never-finished tower fell in 1994 after languishing for a decade.
Holladay incorporated five years later. At the spot where the one-time catalyst sat, the east-side city has planted a community garden, a historic home and visions of a new fire station.
On Saturday, Holladay will celebrate its 10th year as a municipality, having started Nov. 30, 1999. The fledgling government of a mature community -- settlement of the area dates back to 1847 -- still is grappling with many of the challenges it faced when the city was born.
Plans to harness the Cottonwood Mall as a tax horse have faltered with the economy. In place of the 1962-built, peach-brick mall -- one of the first of its kind in the West -- lies a vacant swath of land.
General Growth Properties, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, has put on hold blueprints that would transform the 57-acre site into European-inspired housing and shopping center.
"It's not a matter of if," Holladay Mayor Dennis Webb says, "it's just when."
Up the road, Holladay finally is laying the groundwork -- an improved intersection at 2300 East, Murray-Holladay Road and Holladay Boulevard -- for the rebirth of a quaint Village Center. The city envisions mom-and-pop shops, an outdoor plaza and pedestrian-friendly streets in its historic commerce area next to City Hall. The city building is a testament to Holladay's desire to preserve its vintage character -- the government reused and renovated the old Holladay Elementary.
Above all, the city aims to preserve its sought-after, tree-rich neighborhoods -- built on the former grounds of vast orchards -- while still bolstering economic growth in its commercial districts.
"We are working together to build on the traditions of the past," Webb says. Incorporation has "given us local control and a sense of our own destiny. Those who live in the city are pioneering its vision."
Population in 2008 » 25,676
Population in 2000 » 14,561
Average family size » 3.2
Median household income » $63,222
Median value of an owner-occupied home » $318,600
Percentage of housing that is renter-occupied » 26.4
Percentage of population that is male » 46.8
Percentage of population that is female » 53.2
Median age » 40.9
Source: U.S. Census
What » Celebrate Holladay's 10th year as a city with breakfast, carnival games, live music, BMX demos and a pie-baking contest.
When » 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday
Where » West side of Holladay City Hall, 4580 S. 2300 East
Learn more » Online at cityofholladay.com/about.cityevents.html
Missy Larsen
Community activist
Larsen and her husband, Sam, moved from Salt Lake City to Holladay in 2003 so their four children could have more of a "suburban lifestyle," surrounded by other kids their age.
She likes that she and her neighbors have connective gates in their backyards, making it easier for kids to play together or take a shortcut to school.
Her kids play night games, rove around on skateboards and engage in crab-apple wars.
"It's this stuff that's not in front of the TV," she says. "They're outside and they're enjoying connecting with the neighbors."
A public-relations consultant, Larsen is working on creating a greater sense of identity for her area of Holladay, north of 4500 South, which was annexed into the city in 2002. She's organizing a "North Holladay" committee and hopes to get neighbors more involved in emergency planning, block parties and service projects.
"It's an effort to get a neighborhood rolling [so] that people really feel like they're part of something they care about," she says. "The more people feel connected to something, they're happier."
Her "No. 1 goal" for Holladay is to strengthen the "sense of community." That, and she wants to see businesses return to the Village Center and Cottonwood Mall site.
Liane Stillman
Holladay's first mayor
Stillman was one who got involved in Holladay's incorporation effort after Salt Lake County gave the community the "white elephant" -- an unwanted gift it couldn't give back.
"That was the issue that really prompted an understanding of how helpless you are in the unincorporated neighborhoods," recalls Stillman, who has lived in Holladay for 30 years. "The neighborhoods -- all of them -- went ballistic over that. ... There wasn't another building in the city [at the time] higher than two stories."
Ultimately, the county paid to have the abandoned building demolished in 1994 and, later, deeded the land to Holladay.
Stillman ran to be Holladay's first mayor -- and won.
"We needed to have some continuity of the promises that we had been making," says Stillman, who now works as Cottonwood Heights' city manager. "You don't realize how really important local government is to people. It's police, fire, courts, roads. Local government touches you every day."
Her hope for Holladay's next 10 years: Complete the Cottonwood Mall makeover.
"That's common among all citizens. It needs to have a new owner or a new tractor out there," she says. "It's got a very slight glow of green weeds."
Jim Kastanis
Founder of the Holladay Interfaith Council
Kastanis, 78, grew up in Bingham Canyon. As a teen, he rode his bicycle from the Salt Lake Valley's west side to work in Holladay's orchards. "I'd pick cherries and peaches and apricots -- all kinds of fruit," he says. "I just loved the community." In 1961, he bought his own Holladay home, complete with an old Italian plum tree. Even though the orchards are gone, he likes that Holladay remains "quaint" and "quiet." A Greek Orthodox, Kastanis organized the Holladay Interfaith Council shortly before Holladay incorporated to foster "unity" in the building of a new city. The council will stage its 10th interfaith service this Thanksgiving. For the future, he hopes that Holladay continues its "controlled growth" and preservation of open space. He also wants to see shopping come back where the Cottonwood Mall once sat.
Pioneer settlers » John Holladay led a company of Mormon pioneers into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. He and others settled in what is now Holladay. The area sprouted a variety of orchards.
Incorporation » Holladay voters overwhelmingly approved incorporation in May 1999. Holladay-Cottonwood formally was created Nov. 30, 1999. The next month the City Council shortened that awkward moniker to Holladay.
Three mayors » Liane Stillman, a leader of incorporation efforts, served as Holladay's first mayor until 2002. Dennis Larkin beat Stillman in a 2001 race but his term was cut short. In 2003, residents voted for a change-of-government and gave Larkin the boot. Dennis Webb, who is running for re-election this fall, was elected mayor under the new government form, which has a city manager and a part-time mayor.
