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Sandy Journal

Sandy Museum celebrates 29 years

Dec 02, 2016 02:23PM ● By Kelly Cannon

Residents and special guests mingle during the Sandy Museum open house. The museum celebrated 29 years of preserving history. (Kelly Cannon/City Journals)

By Kelly Cannon | [email protected]


The Sandy Museum celebrated 29 years of preserving history during a special extended-hours open house on Oct. 26. The museum, located at 8744 Center St., holds a collection of rare historical items donated from residents. 

The building itself also contains a wealth of history. According to Sherry Slaugh, the director of the Sandy Museum, the building that houses the museum started out as a ZCMI co-op. 

“There were 27 co-ops and there are three left standing. This is one of three. Then it was a men’s social club called the Knights of Pythias. Then it was Jenkins Mortuary and they kept the bodies in the basement,” Slaugh said. “Then it was the fire station for over 40 years. It was an all-volunteer fire department. Then it’s been the museum for 29 years.”

 The museum is full of items, ranging from children’s toys to the pen that was used to sign Sandy into an official city. Slaugh said most of the items were donated by residents. 

“People are just very generous. We have people who say they don’t want their heirlooms to end up on eBay or KSL,” Slaugh said. “They bring them in so everybody could enjoy them.”

The museum celebrated its anniversary by inviting members of the public, as well as Mayor Tom Dolan and members of the city council. 

“We’re just so thrilled that we have the coolest museum around. It’s very eclectic. We decided to give ourselves a party every year. We invite people through media and through social networks. We put out fliers and we just invite people to come,” Slaugh said. “We’re open later in the evenings so people who can’t attend during our regular hours can come in and see their museum.”

One of the rarest items in the collection is a rare Swedish “nyckelharpa,” a musical instrument similar to a fiddle. 

“A man left it at a local boarding house who could not afford his rent,” Slaugh said. “He said when he got enough money to pay for his rent, he’d come back and pick it up and never returned.”

Other items in the museum include a military display with uniforms from every war from World War I through Vietnam. It also has a bayonet taken off of a Japanese rifle. 

“We have the old spinning wheels. We have a beautiful organ that is upstairs from the old Marriot Hotel here in Sandy. It’s very ornate. There are just so many things,” Slaugh said. “One of my favorite things is a little pair of brown leather baby shoes. I have no idea who they belong to. Sometimes people just leave things on our door. We are very fortunate.”