Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Alta

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Alta

Alta dates to 1865

Most of Alta was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1986. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1955 on, and the census since 1970.

1865founded
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Alta’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Alta began

When was Alta founded?

1865

Alta dates its founding to 1865 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1970.

First census: 93 in 19702020 census: 228161 years
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1872.The full story ↓

What stands out about Alta’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 397 in 1990; 228 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Alta’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Alta’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Alta, census by census

0100200300400198020002020Peak: 397

Peaked at 397 in 1990; 228 people lived here in 2020.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Alta’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Alta came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Alta.

Read it all →

Alta has been important to the development of skiing in Utah. Alta was founded about 1865 to house miners from the Emma mine, the Flagstaff mine, and other silver mines in Little Cottonwood Canyon. Sensationally rich silver ore in the Emma mine enabled its owners to sell the mine at an inflated price to British investors in 1871. The subsequent exhaustion of the Emma ore body led to the recall of the American ambassador to Great Britain, who was a director of the company, and to Congressional hearings in Washington DC on the transaction.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Alta, 1865 to 1990

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1865
    FoundingAlta is established
  3. 1872Post officeThe Alta post office opens
  4. 1879In the archiveALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE
  5. 20th century
  6. 1929Post officeThe Alta post office closes
  7. 1955On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  8. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 397
By decade

Alta, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s1 item
ALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE1879ALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE
Today5 recent
Alta, Utah (777df5a4-23a7-4f4f-aa46-eb785b1a6115)2023Alta, Utah (777df5a4-23a7-4f4f-aa46-eb785b1a6115)2016.07.30 13.58.55 DSC05455 - Flickr - andrey zharkikh20162016.07.30 13.58.55 DSC05455 - Flickr - andrey zharki…2015-09-29 12 50 27 Mountain slopes near the Alta Ski Area in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah20152015-09-29 12 50 27 Mountain slopes near the Alta Ski…Mt. Superior2009Mt. SuperiorAlta2006Alta
On the map

Alta on the map, 1955 to 1998

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Alta. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Alta on the 1955 USGS mapAlta on the 1975 USGS mapAlta on the 1998 USGS map1955Dromedary Peak sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Alta.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

ALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE
Retake this viewALTA CITY AND EMMA MINE, 1879

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Alta’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Alta had its own post office from 1872 to 1929.

Alta
1872–1929
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Albion AlpsAlbion Basin
Gone or out of use
Emma TunnelmineMichigan-Utah MinemineQuincy MinesmineSouth Hecla Minemine
1cemetery inside Alta
Alta City

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Brighton1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Alta’s history

What year was Alta founded?

In 1865, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Alta’s post office opened in 1872, and the census of 1970 counted 93 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.