“Ogden” Will Never Be Our Identity!
By Jeff Holt and Conner Bailey - 25 September 2026
Dear Editor:
So much for that survey and so much for listening to the residents of the Valley. The survey basically confirmed that 90% of the people in the Valley hate the name Ogden for anything related to their own identities.
The Valley actually contains five historic identities: People who 1) live in Huntsville Town, 2) live in Huntsville, but not in the Town, 3) live in Eden, 4) live in Nordic Valley and 5) live in Liberty. Some may even refer to themselves as living in North Fork or Middlefork. People from the Town and who live on the east and south side of the Valley will be from “Huntsville” too! People from Eden will be from Eden, and people from Nordic and Liberty will always be from Nordic and Liberty. THAT is their identity. One thing is certain; not one person in the Valley ever wants to be thought of as being from “Ogden” anything.
Huntsville Town has a Town Center. When the holidays come, those from the Town gather and celebrate together. When the Center development in Eden is done, the people in Eden themselves will have a Town Center. The same with Nordic Center and maybe someday, Liberty.
Now to the solution. Keep the name of the new “administrative and taxing entity” as the Odgen Valley. Nobody cares. Just don’t try to change them, erase them or “unify” them. Don’t go further than a basic set of functions (police, fire, planning and zoning), at least for now.
Take comfort in this: the US Postal Service still has only two offices/codes in the Valley. If you live in Huntsville Town or in the Huntsville neighborhood of the new “administrative and taxing entity,” and people ask you where you live, well…. you live in Huntsville, because you have a Huntsville address. If you live in Eden or Nordic Valley or Liberty neighborhoods of the new “administrative and taxing entity,” you write your home address as Liberty or Eden and the mail gets delivered correctly.
Other places around the country do this double accommodation all the time. If you live in Holladay or Mill Creek in Salt Lake City (actually Salt Lake County), you can put Holladay or Mill Creek on your letter and with the right postal code on the letter, you can get your mail delivered correctly. In New York City, there are five “boroughs” or neighborhoods in New York City; Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Each has a unique area and identity (and some would say speech dialect/accent). They gather and celebrate together, but no one would try to erase their historic neighborhoods and try to force upon them the same identity.
As long as the elected officers and staff of the new “administrative and taxing entity” don’t try to do more damage and work to “unify” the Valley’s neighborhoods into one great big generic Ogden thing, this new government will probably turn out fine.
Jeff Holt – Huntsville Town
Conner Bailey – Huntsville neighborhood
By Jeff Holt and Conner Bailey - 25 September 2026
Dear Editor:
So much for that survey and so much for listening to the residents of the Valley. The survey basically confirmed that 90% of the people in the Valley hate the name Ogden for anything related to their own identities.
The Valley actually contains five historic identities: People who 1) live in Huntsville Town, 2) live in Huntsville, but not in the Town, 3) live in Eden, 4) live in Nordic Valley and 5) live in Liberty. Some may even refer to themselves as living in North Fork or Middlefork. People from the Town and who live on the east and south side of the Valley will be from “Huntsville” too! People from Eden will be from Eden, and people from Nordic and Liberty will always be from Nordic and Liberty. THAT is their identity. One thing is certain; not one person in the Valley ever wants to be thought of as being from “Ogden” anything.
Huntsville Town has a Town Center. When the holidays come, those from the Town gather and celebrate together. When the Center development in Eden is done, the people in Eden themselves will have a Town Center. The same with Nordic Center and maybe someday, Liberty.
Now to the solution. Keep the name of the new “administrative and taxing entity” as the Odgen Valley. Nobody cares. Just don’t try to change them, erase them or “unify” them. Don’t go further than a basic set of functions (police, fire, planning and zoning), at least for now.
Take comfort in this: the US Postal Service still has only two offices/codes in the Valley. If you live in Huntsville Town or in the Huntsville neighborhood of the new “administrative and taxing entity,” and people ask you where you live, well…. you live in Huntsville, because you have a Huntsville address. If you live in Eden or Nordic Valley or Liberty neighborhoods of the new “administrative and taxing entity,” you write your home address as Liberty or Eden and the mail gets delivered correctly.
Other places around the country do this double accommodation all the time. If you live in Holladay or Mill Creek in Salt Lake City (actually Salt Lake County), you can put Holladay or Mill Creek on your letter and with the right postal code on the letter, you can get your mail delivered correctly. In New York City, there are five “boroughs” or neighborhoods in New York City; Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island. Each has a unique area and identity (and some would say speech dialect/accent). They gather and celebrate together, but no one would try to erase their historic neighborhoods and try to force upon them the same identity.
As long as the elected officers and staff of the new “administrative and taxing entity” don’t try to do more damage and work to “unify” the Valley’s neighborhoods into one great big generic Ogden thing, this new government will probably turn out fine.
Jeff Holt – Huntsville Town
Conner Bailey – Huntsville neighborhood