Since The Avenues is a neighborhood within Salt Lake City, rather than an independent city, there is not a separate school district for The Avenues area. Click here if you are interested in learning about the Salt Lake School District.

As the oldest neighborhood in Salt Lake City, The Avenues naturally has a more colorful past. It was the first section of Salt Lake City to deviate from the original ten-acre (40,000 m²) block grid pattern, and, up until 1884, residents in the northeastern Avenues had to haul their own water for everyday use. Eventually protests prompted the city to install pipelines along 6th Avenue, but those living in the higher Avenues would remain without water until as late as 1908.

In spite of water problems, though, the Avenues still proved to be an attractive residential neighborhood during this time. Transportation was a major draw for settlement in the Avenues, as the Salt Lake Railway Company offered mule and horse-drawn trolley rides from the neighborhood by 1872 (the trolleys later became, as most things, electric in 1889). Additionally, the old Primary Children’s Hospital was located in The Avenues. As time went on and the city grew, however, the rise of other, more affluent neighborhoods like Federal Heights made the Avenues a less popular place to live.

By the 1960s the neighborhood had suffered from a marked deterioration. Landlords at the time often found it economically advantageous to let properties go neglected, and the once-thriving neighborhood became somewhat dilapidated. Residents formed the Greater Avenues Community Council (GACC) in response to these problems, to help revitalize and restore livability to this historic area. Today, The Aves has been revitalized and is once again considered by many to be one of Salt Lake’s most desirable neighborhoods.