Salt Lake City

Early History

First there were the mountains. Much later came the people—as much as 12,000 years ago. Still later, about a thousand years ago, came other people—the Shoshones, Utes, Southern Paiutes, and Goshutes.

In 1776, when the British colonies were declaring their independence on the east coast, the first known group of white men came. Led by Franciscan friars Dominguez and Escalante, they sought a route through present-day Utah to California. They also sought to bring Christianity to the Native Americans.

Mountain men came some 50 years later. Jim Bridger, Miles Goodyear, Etienne Provost, and Jedediah Smith searched Utah’s canyons for beaver-pelt riches.

Pioneers

In the 1840s, a group of refugees came seeking a home in the isolated West. They were the advance party of the Mormons—members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who had been forced out of their homes back east. They founded Salt Lake on July 24, 1847—now known as Pioneer Day. The group overlooked the valley from the mouth of Emigration Canyon and their prophet Brigham Young declared, “This is the right place.” Soon after, the pioneers set about tilling the soil and planting crops. Within a few days, plans were sketched for “Great Salt Lake City.” In 1853, construction began on the Salt Lake LDS (Mormon) Temple with granite quarried from nearby canyons. Forty years later, the structure, which sits at the center of the city, was completed. City blocks that are arranged on a grid pattern extend from the 10-acre Temple Square. Salt Lake addresses have two coordinates—north/south and east/west. Therefore, a business located at 200 South and 600 East sits two blocks south of Temple Square and six blocks east. The wide streets are a result of a pioneer plan to build streets wide enough to turn around a team of oxen and a covered wagon. If you see a town in the Western United States with unusually wide streets, chances are it was originally settled by Mormon pioneers.

Expansion

The famous California Gold Rush of 1849-50 brought many settlers to the area who chose not to continue to the West Coast. Nineteen years later, the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit near Ogden, Utah, joined the Union Pacific railroad from the west and the Central Pacific railroad from the east (an event depicted on Utah’s commemorative quarter). This brought in more settlers bound for Salt Lake City. In 1896, when Utah became the 45th state admitted to the Union, the total population approached a quarter of a million people.

Between 1860 and 1930, hundreds of copper, silver, gold, and lead mines were opened in the nearby canyons. The Kennecott Bingham Canyon mine, located in the Oquirrh mountain range west of the city, is the largest open pit copper mine in the world.

Some of the mine owners built beautiful, graceful mansions along the city’s South Temple Street. At the same time, the state capitol and many of the city’s historic buildings were also constructed. Electric trolleys, housed at Trolley Square (now a shopping mall), were installed to transport people who lived in the Avenues, Capitol Hill, Liberty Park, and the Sugar House areas downtown.

Between 1900 and 1930, the population of the city nearly tripled. City parks were built and sewer and street lighting systems were installed. It was in 1902 that the Commercial Club was organized to unite the businesses in Salt Lake. The Commercial Club later became the Salt Lake Chamber. The Great Depression halted the area’s growth but the boom started again after World War II. Many war industries and military installations revitalized the economy. Also, war workers and soldiers spent their money in the city’s restaurants, ballrooms, shops, and theaters.

1960s Through Today

Much like the rest of the country, there was a mass movement in the 1960s from the downtown area to the suburbs. The ZCMI Center shopping mall was constructed to counteract the movement, but it wasn’t until the 1970s that the downtown area began to fully expand. Classic older buildings were renovated, new businesses and another shopping mall were constructed, and city planners implemented many beautification projects.

The 1980s brought more growth to the city with developments like the expansion of the Salt Palace, the Salt Lake International Center, the Triad Center, and Research Park at the University of Utah.

The 1990s brought an expanded airport, a downtown courts complex, and transportation improvements to the Salt Lake area—such as the light rail TRAX and the I-15 freeway project.

The first decade of the new millennium has thus far brought an expanded city skyline with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Conference Center, the $200 million Grand America Hotel, and construction of the Salt Lake City Marriott—City Center. November of 2001 saw the grand opening of The Gateway Mall at the historic Union Pacific Depot downtown. In February 2003, a new $80 million library was opened to the public. Since 2003, Zions Securities, PRI, and Taubman Development have been refining plans on an extensive 20 acre mixed-use renovation to two malls downtown—including a new designs, stores, housing, office, underground parking and other amenities. The LDS Church also announced the purchase of the Triad Center near The Gateway to create a new college campus. Other major initiatives include:

• Rio Grande Plaza—a 124 room Hilton Extended Stay, with street level retail and offices.
• Hilton Garden Inn—a new hotel with 94,263 square feet and 132 rooms.
• Marriott Springhill Towne Suites—86 suite-style rooms.
• Salt Palace Convention Center—a major renovation and addition of 145,000 square feet of exhibit space and 64,000 square feet of meeting space to the existing center.
• Intermodal Transportation Hub—a $20 million transportation center to serve as the central depot for Amtrak, Light Rail, Bus, and Commuter Rail as well as 50,000 square feet of retail mixed use.
• Metro Condominiums—117 Luxury Condos downtown.
• Frank Moss Federal Courthouse—a $100 million expansion and renovation of the federal court building on Main Street
• LDS Church Archives Building—a $50 million building to house a Church History Library and Archival Vault.
• Hamilton Partners Tower—a $100 million 22 story office tower with over 350,000 square feet of class A office space and 17,000 square feet of street front retail.
• Gateway Office Towers—a $40 million 330,000 square foot, two phase addition to the Gateway Center office space.

Accolades

Salt Lake City and Utah are recognized on a regular basis as a great place to live and work. In 2005 Inc. Magazine ranked Utah as third in the nation as one of the hottest regions with the highest number of Inc. 500 companies per capita. Inc. magazine has also ranked Salt Lake City as the second-best large metro area for starting and growing a business. Outside Magazine’s August 2005 issue named Salt Lake City one of the Top 10 “New American Dream Towns.” The Salt Lake City/Ogden area was ranked as the best place to live in North America in the sixth edition of Places Rated Almanac. Forbes magazine ranked the Salt Lake City/Ogden area 20th as the best place in America to do business or advance your career. Employment Review® magazine and BestJobsUSA.com selected Salt Lake City as one of the top 20 “Best Places to Live & Work in America.” Entrepreneur magazine named the Salt Lake/Ogden area as the second best large city in which to locate a business. The Center for Women’s Business Research has reported Utah to be the fastest growing state in the nation for women-owned businesses. Utah also has the nation’s highest rate of adult volunteers in the nation, according to a 2004 survey released by the Points of Light National Volunteer Center Network. Salt Lake City has been named one of the top 25 “Wired Cities” in America by Yahoo! Magazine. Fortune magazine listed Salt Lake third in its rankings of best cities in America for business. Financial World rated Utah as the best fiscally-managed state in the nation. The POLICOM Corporation listed Utah as the sixth strongest economic state in the nation. The U.S. Conference of Mayors named Salt Lake City one of the top six Most Livable U.S. Cities. Morgan Quinto Press named Utah as the fourth most livable state. And Cranium board games ranked the Salt Lake-Ogden area as the nation’s ninth most “fun place.”

With these accolades past and present, Salt Lake’s future continues to look bright.