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Whatever happened to ... Saratoga resort on Utah Lake? This booming city has quite the story. Check out this article to see what once was. By Tom Wharton The Salt Lake Tribune April 9, 2015 11:03 am This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted. Editor's note In this regular series, The Salt Lake Tribune explores the once-favorite places of Utahns, from restaurants to recreation to retail. If you have a spot you'd like us to explore, email whateverhappenedto@sltrib.com with your ideas. Saratoga Springs Looking at the modern-day site of the old Saratoga resort on the edge of Utah Lake offers glimpses of a simpler time, when thousands enjoyed swimming in hot-spring pools, twirling on midway rides, boating and dancing. The old green picnic pavilion, now lovingly restored, graces a park shaded by cottonwood trees, accessible only by members of a homeowners association. The boat launching area and docks, though improved, recall a time when baptisms were held in Utah Lake. The site of the historic pools is now occupied by townhouses and a park. Wardley Development, which planned what is now the bustling community of Saratoga Springs, pipes the hot springs into two hot tubs fed by a hot man-made waterfall, and into an outdoor pool. Heated by the springs, the pool is open year-round under the gaze of Mount Timpanogos to the east. The site has been a resort or swimming area of one sort or the other since Mormon miner and farmer John Beck began developing it in 1884. Beck, who was known for his generosity, named the original resort after a New York hot springs area of the same name. Other resorts also dotted the lake. Peter Staks, who planned the new community, said developers decided to keep the name in the mid-1990s. At that time, a story in The Salt Lake Tribune said only 17 people lived in what was then a farming area west of Lehi. There was no town on Utah road maps, but all marked the Saratoga Springs resort with a dot, so it was decided to keep the name for the city, Staks said. It now boasts a population of close to 25,000. For several generations, Wasatch Front residents trekked on old two-lane roads, via train and even horse-drawn hayrides from Lehi to swim and recreate at Saratoga. According to historian Richard S. Van Wagoner, a Sept. 14, 1891, advertisement in the Lehi Banner noted that "for 25 cents, one could bathe in two large plunge baths and six hot tub baths" and claimed that "these springs possess wonderful medicinal prop less