Park City declares May Historic Preservation Month, honors mining restoration efforts

The massive Silver King Coalition Mine Complex circa 1930s. The project building is the one with three smokestacks in foreground. Photo: Courtesy of Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City officially declared May 2026 as Historic Preservation Month during Thursday’s City Council meeting, while also honoring the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History with the Cindy Matsumoto Historic Preservation Award for its restoration work on the historic Silver King Coalition Mine building.

The annual award recognizes projects that demonstrate exceptional historic preservation efforts within Park City’s Historic District. This year’s award celebrated the Friends’ extensive restoration of the Silver King Coalition Mine headframe building, a landmark structure located near the base of the Bonanza chairlift at Park City Mountain.

“If you’ve been up there before they did any restoration, and you see what it looks like now, it’ll knock your socks off,” said Puggy Holmgren, member of the Park City Historic Preservation Board, during the award presentation.

The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, a committee of the Park City Museum, restored 1,639 interior and exterior window panes on the building and installed security screens to help deter trespassing. The group previously received a city preservation grant in June 2025 to assist with cleaning and preparation work for the window restoration.

The Cindy Matsumoto Historic Preservation Award was established in 2011 and is named after the former Park City councilmember. Award-winning projects are selected for achievements including adaptive reuse, restoration excellence, sustainable preservation, and maintaining historical context. Each winning project is later commemorated through artwork displayed inside City Hall.

Utah artist Rebecca Pletsch completed an oil painting depicting Silver King Coalition Mine, which will be displayed in City Hall.

Donald Roll, co-chair of the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History, thanked city leaders and staff for their support of the massive undertaking.

“We would not have been able to do what we have accomplished for the Silver King without the 100% support of Park City,” Roll told council members. “This is far and away the largest project we’ve ever undertaken.”

Roll specifically recognized support from the mayor, City Council, Historic Preservation Board, planning staff, and funding assistance, including a $200,000 restaurant tax grant that helped advance the project.

The organization also presented the city with a plaque after recently receiving Preservation Utah’s 2026 Community Stewardship Award for Rehabilitation and Restoration for the Silver King project.

History behind Silver King Coalition Mine

The Silver King Coalition Mine building, a 12,400-square-foot industrial structure vacant since 1953, was listed among Preservation Utah’s Most Endangered Sites in 2024. Restoration work completed in October 2025 stabilized the collapsing mine shaft below the building, rebuilt the snow-damaged roof using original corrugated metal panels, and secured the structure as the centerpiece of the newly designated 32-acre Silver King Coalition Mine National Historic District.

The district was officially designated in December 2024 and will anchor the future Park City Historic Mine Route, scheduled to launch in September 2026.
Mining history remains foundational to Park City’s identity. The first shipment of silver ore from the area occurred in 1871, and by the 1890s, Park City had become one of the world’s most profitable mining camps. Silver mining in Park City officially ended in 1982 before the community transitioned into an internationally known ski destination.

Historic Preservation Month celebrations

As part of Historic Preservation Month celebrations, Historic Preservation Board members invited residents to a community event Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the McPolin Barn. The event will include tours of the barn, food and drinks, opportunities for residents to record memories and local stories, and music from “DJ Silver King,” former Historic Preservation Board president Randy Scott.

The Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History will also host a free public lecture, “Preserving Park City’s Mining History,” at the Park City Library on Wednesday, May 13 at 5 p.m. Mining historian and project manager Brian Buck will discuss the group’s decade of restoration work preserving historic mining structures throughout Park City.

Since 2016, the Friends have helped stabilize and restore 14 historic mining structures across the community, including the Daly West headframe near Deer Valley and the Alliance Mine Watchman’s Cabin in Empire Canyon.