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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

West High School (Utah)

public high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ14711896
Source-derived summary

West High School is a public high school in Salt Lake City, Utah. A part of the Salt Lake City School District, the school serves students in the western part of the city. Founded in 1890 as Salt Lake High School, it is one of the oldest public high schools in Utah. As of 2026, the school is housed in its historic 1922 building on Salt Lake City's Union Square, however ground was broken for a new building in March 2026.

With an enrollment over 2,500 students, its athletic teams compete in the Utah High School Activities Association's region six of the 5A classification. The school's colors are red and black, with a black panther as the mascot.

History

West High School traces its history back to 1890, when two public high schools were established in Salt Lake City. The East Side High School opened in rooms at a local Lutheran Church on September 22, 1890. The Fourteenth District building, which housed classes for the West Side High School, did not open until December 10 (on account of its construction going longer than anticipated). The two high schools were then combined into Salt Lake City High School during January 1891, which held its classes in the Fourteenth District building.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “West High School (Utah)” is public high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through West, High and School, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA valuable geographic starting point for tracing changing names, boundaries, uses and administrative responsibility. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1890, 2026, 1922, 1891—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1890-01-01. For this dossier, West, High and School is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “public high school in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q14711896. Authority coordinates are 40.775, -111.901. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 2026, 1922 and 1891.

Critical limits

Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “West High School (Utah)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow West High School (Utah) primary sources, West High School (Utah) archive and West research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “West High School (Utah)”?
  2. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
  3. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from West High School (Utah)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.