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Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the
capital
Capital may refer to:
Common uses
* Capital city, a municipality of primary status
** List of national capital cities
* Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences
* Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used fo ...
and
most populous city of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
, United States. It is the
seat
A seat is a place to sit. The term may encompass additional features, such as back, armrest, head restraint but also headquarters in a wider sense.
Types of seat
The following are examples of different kinds of seat:
* Armchair, a chair ...
of
Salt Lake County
Salt Lake County is located in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 1,185,238, making it the most populous county in Utah. Its county seat and largest city is Salt Lake City, the state capital. The cou ...
, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, the city is the core of the
Salt Lake City metropolitan area
The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is the metropolitan area centered on the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau currently define the Salt Lake City, Utah Metropolitan Statistical ...
, which had a population of 1,257,936 at the 2020 census. Salt Lake City is further situated within a larger metropolis known as the
Salt Lake City–Ogden–Provo Combined Statistical Area, a corridor of contiguous urban and suburban development stretched along a segment of the
Wasatch Front
The Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Provo in the south to Logan in the nort ...
, comprising a population of 2,746,164 (as of 2021 estimates), making it the 22nd largest in the nation. It is also the central core of the larger of only two major urban areas located within the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...
(the other being
Reno, Nevada
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...
).
Salt Lake City was founded July 24, 1847, by early pioneer settlers led by
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as chu ...
, who were seeking to escape persecution they had experienced while living farther east. The
Mormon pioneers
The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the ...
, as they would come to be known, entered a semi-arid valley and immediately began planning and building an extensive irrigation network which could feed the population and foster future growth. Salt Lake City's street grid system is based on a standard compass grid plan, with the southeast corner of
Temple Square
Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...
(the area containing the
Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth templ ...
in downtown Salt Lake City) serving as the origin of the
Salt Lake meridian
The Salt Lake meridian, established in 1855, in longitude 111° 54′ 00″ west from Greenwich, has its initial point at southeast corner of Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah, extends north and south through the state, and, with the base line ...
. Owing to its proximity to the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particu ...
, the city was originally named Great Salt Lake City. In 1868, the word "Great" was dropped from the city's name.
Immigration of international members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
(LDS Church),
mining booms, and the construction of the
first transcontinental railroad
North America's first transcontinental railroad (known originally as the "Pacific Railroad" and later as the " Overland Route") was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail netwo ...
initially brought economic growth, and the city was nicknamed "The Crossroads of the West". It was traversed by the
Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 191 ...
, the first transcontinental highway, in 1913. Two major cross-country freeways,
I-15
I15 may refer to:
* Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America
* Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft
* I15 (band)
"Soulja Girl" is the second single from American rapper Soulja Boy's studio album '' ...
and
I-80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
, now intersect in the city. The city also has a
belt route, I-215.
Salt Lake City has developed a strong tourist industry based primarily on
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...
,
outdoor recreation
Outdoor recreation or outdoor activity refers to recreation done outside, most commonly in natural settings. The activities that encompass outdoor recreation vary depending on the physical environment they are being carried out in. These activitie ...
, and
religious tourism
Religious tourism, spiritual tourism, sacred tourism, or faith tourism, is a type of tourism with two main subtypes: pilgrimage, meaning travel for religious or spiritual purposes, and the viewing of religious monuments and artefacts, a branch of ...
. It hosted the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internationa ...
and is a candidate city for the
2030 Winter Olympics
The 2030 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXVI Olympic Winter Games, is an upcoming international multi-sport event. The host city was initially set to be elected at the 140th IOC Session in Mumbai in 2023, but IOC officials declared in ...
. It is known for its
politically liberal
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
culture, which stands in contrast with the rest of the state's highly conservative leanings. It is home to a significant
LGBT community
The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and so ...
and hosts the annual
Utah Pride Festival
The Utah Pride Festival is a festival held in downtown Salt Lake City in June celebrating Utah's diversity and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. The event is a program of the Utah Pride Center, and includes the state's seco ...
. It is the
industrial banking center of the United States. Salt Lake City and the surrounding area are also the location of several institutions of higher education including the state's flagship research school, the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
. Sustained
drought
A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...
in Utah has more recently strained Salt Lake City's
water security
Water security is the focused goal of water policy and water management. A society with a high level of water security makes the most of water's benefits for humans and ecosystems and limits the risk of destructive impacts associated with water. T ...
and caused the Great Salt Lake level drop to record low levels, and has impacted the local and state economy.
History
Before settlement by members of the LDS Church, the
Shoshone
The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions:
* Eastern Shoshone: Wyoming
* Northern Shoshone: southern Idaho
* Western Shoshone: Nevada, northern Utah
* Goshute: western Utah, easte ...
, Weber Ute, and
Paiute
Paiute (; also Piute) refers to three non-contiguous groups of indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. Although their languages are related within the Numic group of Uto-Aztecan languages, these three groups do not form a single set. The term "Paiu ...
had dwelt in the Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years. At the time of Salt Lake City's founding, the valley was within the territory of the
Northwestern Shoshone. One local Shoshone tribe, the Western
Goshute
The Goshutes are a tribe of Western Shoshone Native Americans. There are two federally recognized Goshute tribes today:
* Confederated Tribes of the Goshute Reservation, located in Nevada and Utah
* Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians of Utah o ...
tribe, had names for the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
,
City Creek, and Red Butte Canyon (Pi'o-gwût, So'ho-gwût, and Mo'ni-wai-ni). The Goshutes (or, Gosiutes) also lived in the vicinity of Salt Lake and the valleys to the west. The land was treated by the United States as public domain; no aboriginal title by the Northwestern Shoshone was ever ceded or relinquished by treaty with the United States. The first explorer of European descent in the Salt Lake area was likely
Jim Bridger
James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...
in 1825, although others had been in Utah earlier, including some who traveled as far north as the nearby
Utah Valley
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...
(the 1776 Dominguez-Escalante expedition were undoubtedly aware of Salt Lake Valley's existence). U.S. Army officer
John C. Frémont
John Charles Frémont or Fremont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was an American explorer, military officer, and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from California and was the first Republican nominee for president of the United States in 1856 ...
surveyed the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particu ...
and the
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total ...
in 1843 and 1845. The
Donner Party
The Donner Party, sometimes called the Donner–Reed Party, was a group of American pioneers who migrated to California in a wagon train from the Midwest. Delayed by a multitude of mishaps, they spent the winter of 1846–1847 snowbound in th ...
, a group of ill-fated pioneers, had traveled through the Great Salt Lake Valley in August 1846.
The settling of Salt Lake City dates to the arrival of the Latter-day Saints in July 1847. They had traveled beyond the boundaries of the United States into Mexican Territory seeking a secluded area to safely practice their religion away from the violence and the persecution they experienced in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
. Upon arrival at the Salt Lake Valley,
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the church
Brigham Young
Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as chu ...
is recorded as stating, "This is the right place, drive on." Brigham Young is said to have seen the area in a
vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
before the wagon train's arrival. They found the broad valley empty of any human settlement.
![Salt lake city main street c1890 ug](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Salt_lake_city_main_street_c1890_ug.jpg)
The city was not platted till after the federal surveyor abandoned his post in 1857.
In 1855 Congress directed the President of the United States to appoint a surveyor general for Utah Territory, and to cause that the lands of that territory should be surveyed preparatory to bringing them on the market. Because of numerous conflicts between the surveyor and the territorial government the first surveyor general abandoned his post in 1857, not to return till 1869.
There was a Native American population in the valley, but an outbreak of measles during the winter of 1847 killed many.
The Shoshone saved the pioneers when they taught them to eat the bulb of the native
sego lily
''Calochortus nuttallii'', also known as the sego lily, is a bulbous perennial plant that is endemic to the Western United States. It is the state flower of Utah.
Distribution and habitat
The plant is native to a number of western states, be ...
, which has long been part of the ordinary diet of the Shoshone, ''sego'' being derived from the Shoshone word ''seego''. The sego lily was commemorated by the Sego Lily Dam, a flood-prevention infrastructure project in the shape of a giant sego lily, built in
Sugar House Park
Sugar House Park, also known as Sugarhouse Park, is located between I-80, 2100 South, 1300 East, and 1700 East in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The park is at the heart of the Sugar House neighborhood. ...
in 2017.
Four days after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young designated the building site for the Salt Lake Temple. The Salt Lake Temple, constructed on the block later called Temple Square, took 40 years to complete. Construction started in 1853, and the temple was dedicated on April 6, 1893. The temple has become an icon for the city and serves as its centerpiece. The southeast corner of Temple Square is the point of reference for the
Salt Lake meridian
The Salt Lake meridian, established in 1855, in longitude 111° 54′ 00″ west from Greenwich, has its initial point at southeast corner of Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, Utah, extends north and south through the state, and, with the base line ...
, and for all addresses in the Salt Lake Valley.
The pioneers organized a state called
State of Deseret
The State of Deseret (modern pronunciation , contemporaneously ) was a proposed state of the United States, proposed in 1849 by settlers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in Salt Lake City. The provisional stat ...
, and petitioned for its recognition in 1849. The
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
rebuffed the settlers in 1850 and established the
Utah Territory
The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th state ...
, vastly reducing its size, and designated Fillmore as its capital city. Great Salt Lake City replaced
Fillmore as the territorial capital in 1856, and the name later was shortened to Salt Lake City. The city's population continued to swell with an influx of converts to the LDS Church and
Gold Rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New ...
gold seekers, making it one of the most populous cities in the
American Old West
The American frontier, also known as the Old West or the Wild West, encompasses the geography, history, folklore, and culture associated with the forward wave of American expansion in mainland North America that began with European colonial ...
.
The first group of settlers brought African slaves with them, making Utah the only place in the western United States to have African slavery. Three slaves, Green Flake, Hark Lay, and Oscar Crosby, came west with the first group of settlers in 1847. The settlers also began to purchase Indian slaves in the well-established Indian slave trade,
as well as enslaving Indian prisoners of war.
In 1850, 26 slaves were counted in Salt Lake County.
In 1852, the territorial legislature passed the
Act in Relation to Service and the
Act for the relief of Indian Slaves and Prisoners formally legalizing slavery in the territory. Slavery was abolished in the territory during the Civil War.
Explorer, ethnologist, and author
Richard Francis Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton (; 19 March 1821 – 20 October 1890) was a British explorer, writer, orientalist scholar,and soldier. He was famed for his travels and explorations in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as his extraordinary kn ...
traveled by coach in the summer of 1860 to document life in Great Salt Lake City. He was granted unprecedented access during his three-week visit, including audiences with Brigham Young and other contemporaries of Joseph Smith. The records of his visit include sketches of early city buildings, a description of local geography and agriculture, commentary on its politics and social order, essays, speeches, and sermons from Young, Isaac Morley, George Washington Bradley and other leaders, and snippets of everyday life such as newspaper clippings and the menu from a high-society ball.
Disputes with the federal government ensued over the church's practice of
polygamy
Crimes
Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is marr ...
. A climax occurred in 1857 when President
James Buchanan
James Buchanan Jr. ( ; April 23, 1791June 1, 1868) was an American lawyer, diplomat and politician who served as the 15th president of the United States from 1857 to 1861. He previously served as secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and repr ...
declared the area in rebellion after Brigham Young refused to step down as governor, beginning the
Utah War
The Utah War (1857–1858), also known as the Utah Expedition, Utah Campaign, Buchanan's Blunder, the Mormon War, or the Mormon Rebellion was an armed confrontation between Mormon settlers in the Utah Territory and the armed forces of the US go ...
. A division of the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, ...
, commanded by
Albert Sidney Johnston
Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) served as a general in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his 34-year military career, figh ...
, later a general in the army of the Confederate States of America, marched through the city and found it had been evacuated. They continued their march through the deserted city to vacant land at the southwest corner of the valley. There they set up
Camp Floyd
Camp may refer to:
Outdoor accommodation and recreation
* Campsite or campground, a recreational outdoor sleeping and eating site
* a temporary settlement for nomads
* Camp, a term used in New England, Northern Ontario and New Brunswick to descri ...
( south of the city). Another military installation,
Fort Douglas
Camp Douglas was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah, to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along the Central Overland Route. I ...
, was established in 1862 to maintain
Union allegiance during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...
. Many area leaders were incarcerated at the
territorial prison in
Sugar House in the 1880s for violation of anti-polygamy laws. The church began its eventual abandonment of polygamy in 1890, releasing
"The Manifesto", which officially suggested members obey the law of the land (which was equivalent to forbidding new polygamous marriages inside the US and its territories, but not in church member settlements in Canada and Mexico). This paved the way for statehood in 1896, when Salt Lake City became the state capital.
The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed in 1869 at
Promontory Summit
Promontory is an area of high ground in Box Elder County, Utah, United States, 32 mi (51 km) west of Brigham City and 66 mi (106 km) northwest of Salt Lake City. Rising to an elevation of 4,902 feet (1,494 m) above sea ...
on the north side of the Great Salt Lake. A railroad was connected to the city from the Transcontinental Railroad in 1870, making travel less burdensome. Mass migration of different groups followed. Ethnic Chinese (who had laid most of the Central Pacific railway) established a flourishing Chinatown in Salt Lake City nicknamed "Plum Alley", which housed around 1,800 Chinese during the early 20th century. The Chinese businesses and residences were demolished in 1952 although a historical marker has been erected near the parking ramp which has replaced Plum Alley. Immigrants also found economic opportunities in the booming
mining industries. Remnants of a once-thriving Japantown – namely a Buddhist temple and Japanese Christian chapel – remain in downtown Salt Lake City. European ethnic groups and East Coast missionary groups constructed
St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in 1874,
B'nai Israel Temple in 1890, the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
* Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1909 and the
Greek Orthodox
The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...
Holy Trinity Cathedral in 1923. This time period also saw the creation of Salt Lake City's now defunct
red-light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
that employed 300
courtesans
Courtesan, in modern usage, is a euphemism for a "kept" mistress or prostitute, particularly one with wealthy, powerful, or influential clients. The term historically referred to a courtier, a person who attended the court of a monarch or othe ...
at its height before being closed in 1911.
![Temple Square 1912 panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Temple_Square_1912_panorama.jpg)
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, an extensive
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
system was constructed throughout the city, with the first streetcar running in 1872 and electrification of the system in 1889. As in the rest of the country, the automobile usurped the streetcar, and the last trolley was approved for conversion in 1941, yet ran until 1945, due to
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Trolley buses ran until 1946.
Light rail transit returned to the city when UTA's
TRAX opened in 1999. The
S Line
S, or s, is the nineteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ess'' (pronounced ), plural ''esses''.
Histor ...
(formerly known as Sugar House Streetcar) opened for service in December 2013 on an old
D&RGW right-of-way.
The city's population began to stagnate during the 20th century as population growth shifted to suburban areas north and south of the city. Few of these areas were annexed to the city, while nearby towns incorporated and expanded. As a result, the population of the surrounding metropolitan area greatly outnumbers Salt Lake City. A major concern of recent government officials has been combating inner-city commercial decay. The city lost population from the 1960s through the 1980s, but experienced some recovery in the 1990s. Presently, the city has gained an estimated 5 percent of its population since the year 2000.
The city has experienced significant demographic shifts in recent years.
Hispanics
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
now account for approximately 22% of residents and the city has a significant LGBT community. There is also a large
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
population (mainly
Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
ns and
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
ns; they compose roughly 2% of the population of the
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total ...
area.
Salt Lake City was selected in 1995 to host the 2002 Winter Olympics. The games were plagued with controversy. A
bid scandal surfaced in 1998 alleging bribes had been offered to secure the bid. During the games, other scandals erupted over
contested judging scores and illegal drug use. Despite the controversies, the games were heralded as a financial success, being one of the few in recent history to turn a profit. In preparation major construction projects were initiated. Local
freeway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
s were expanded and repaired, and a light rail system was constructed. Olympic venues are now used for local, national, and international sporting events and Olympic athlete training. Tourism has increased since the Olympic games,
but business did not pick up immediately following. Salt Lake City is currently bidding to host the
2030
The 2030s (pronounced "twenty-thirties"; shortened to the '30s) is the next decade in the Gregorian calendar that will begin on 1 January 2030, and will end on 31 December 2039.
Plans and goals
* NASA plans to execute a crewed mission to Mars ...
or
2034 Winter Olympics.
Salt Lake City hosted the 16th Winter
Deaflympic games in 2007, taking place in the venues in Salt Lake City and
Park City, and
Rotary International
Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. Its stated mission is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through hefellowship of business, prof ...
chose the city as the host site of their 2007 convention, which was the single largest gathering in Salt Lake City since the 2002 Winter Olympics. The U.S. Volleyball Association convention in 2005 drew 39,500 attendees.
In 2020, the city experienced a
5.7 magnitude earthquake,
protests against the killing of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal, and a damaging
windstorm with hurricane-force winds, amidst the wider national
George Floyd protests
The George Floyd protests were a series of protests and civil unrest against police brutality and racism that began in Minneapolis on May 26, 2020, and largely took place during 2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of internat ...
, the global
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, and
protests against pandemic measures.
Geography
![Salt Lake City 2013-06-08](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Salt_Lake_City_2013-06-08.jpg)
Salt Lake City has an area of and an average elevation of
above sea level
Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance ( height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''.
Th ...
. The lowest point within the boundaries of the city is near the
Jordan River
The Jordan River or River Jordan ( ar, نَهْر الْأُرْدُنّ, ''Nahr al-ʾUrdunn'', he, נְהַר הַיַּרְדֵּן, ''Nəhar hayYardēn''; syc, ܢܗܪܐ ܕܝܘܪܕܢܢ ''Nahrāʾ Yurdnan''), also known as ''Nahr Al-Shariea ...
and the Great Salt Lake, and the highest is Grandview Peak, at .
The city is in the northeast corner of the
Salt Lake Valley
Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Sandy, South Jordan, West Jordan, and West Valley City; its total ...
surrounded by the Great Salt Lake to the northwest, the steep
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range ( ) or Wasatch Mountains is a mountain range in the western United States that runs about from the Utah-Idaho border south to central Utah. It is the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the G ...
to the east, and
Oquirrh Mountains
The Oquirrh Mountains is a mountain range that runs north-south for approximately 30 miles (50 km) to form the west side of Utah's Salt Lake Valley, separating it from Tooele Valley. The range runs from northwestern Utah County–centr ...
to the west. Its encircling mountains contain several narrow canyons, including
City Creek,
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanent ...
,
Millcreek, and
Parley's which border the eastern city limits.
The burgeoning population of Salt Lake City and the surrounding metropolitan area, combined with its geographical situation, has led to
air quality
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
becoming a concern. The
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...
is subject to strong temperature inversions during the winter, which trap pollutants and decrease the air quality. The Utah Division of Air Quality monitors air quality and issues alerts for voluntary and mandatory actions when pollution exceeds federal safety standards. Protests have been held at the
Utah State Capitol
The Utah State Capitol is the house of government for the U.S. state of Utah. The building houses the chambers and offices of the Utah State Legislature, the offices of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, the State Auditor a ...
and
Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation in the
Utah State Legislature
The Utah State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Utah. It is a bicameral body, comprising the Utah House of Representatives, with 75 state representatives, and the Utah Senate, with 29 state senators. There are no term li ...
to make public transportation free during January and July, when air quality is usually at its worst. The population of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area is projected to double by 2040, putting further pressure on the region's air quality.
The Great Salt Lake is separated from Salt Lake City by extensive marshlands and mudflats. The metabolic activities of bacteria in the lake result in a phenomenon known as "lake stink", a scent reminiscent of foul poultry eggs, two to three times per year for a few hours. The Jordan River flows through the city and is a drainage of
Utah Lake
Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo- Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt ...
that empties into the Great Salt Lake.
The highest mountaintop visible from Salt Lake City is
Twin Peaks
''Twin Peaks'' is an American mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cancellation in 1991. The show returned in 2017 ...
, which reaches .
Twin Peaks is southeast of Salt Lake City in the Wasatch Range. The
Wasatch Fault
The Wasatch Fault is an active fault located primarily on the western edge of the Wasatch Mountains in the U.S. states of Utah and Idaho. The fault is about long, stretching from southern Idaho, through northern Utah, before terminating in cen ...
is found along the western base of the Wasatch and is considered at high risk of producing an earthquake as large as 7.5. Catastrophic damage is predicted in the event of an earthquake with major damage resulting from the
liquefaction
In materials science, liquefaction is a process that generates a liquid from a solid or a gas or that generates a non-liquid phase which behaves in accordance with fluid dynamics.
It occurs both naturally and artificially. As an example of th ...
of the clay- and sand-based soil and the possible permanent flooding of portions of the city by the Great Salt Lake. On March 18, 2020, a 5.7 magnitude
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...
, the largest in the Salt Lake City area in modern times, hit
Magna, just southwest of Salt Lake City, causing some minor damage throughout the valley.
The second-highest mountain range is the Oquirrhs, reaching a maximum height of 10,620 feet (3,237 m) at Flat Top. The east–west-oriented
Traverse Mountains
The Traverse Mountains, or sometimes Traverse Range, are an anomalous, geologically complex, east-trending range that separates Salt Lake Valley and Utah Valley in Salt Lake and Utah counties in the U.S. State of Utah.
Point of the Mountain is ...
to the south extend to 6,000' (1830m), nearly connecting the Wasatch and Oquirrh Mountains. The mountains near Salt Lake City are easily visible from the city and have sharp vertical relief caused by ancient earthquakes, with a maximum difference of 7,099 feet (2164 m) being achieved with the rise of Twin Peaks from the Salt Lake Valley floor.
[
The Salt Lake Valley floor is the ancient lakebed of ]Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville was the largest Late Pleistocene paleolake in the Great Basin of western North America. It was a pluvial lake that formed in response to an increase in precipitation and a decrease in evaporation as a result of cooler temperature ...
, which existed at the end of the last ice age. Several Lake Bonneville shorelines can be distinctly seen as terraces on the foothills or benches of nearby mountains.
Layout
The city, as well as the county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, is laid out on a grid plan
In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid.
Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogon ...
. Most major streets run very north–south and east–west. The grid's origin is the southeast corner of Temple Square, the block containing the Salt Lake Temple; the north–south axis is Main Street; and the east–west axis is South Temple Street. Addresses are coordinates
In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...
within the system (similar to latitude
In geography, latitude is a coordinate that specifies the north– south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from –90° at the south pole to 90° at the north ...
and longitude
Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east– west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek let ...
). Odd and even address numbering depends on the quadrant of the grid in which an address is located. The rule is: When traveling away from the grid center (Temple Square) or its axes (Main Street, South Temple Street), odd numbers will be on the left side of the street.
The streets are relatively wide due to the direction of Brigham Young, who wanted them wide enough to permit an ox-pulled wagon team to turn around without "resorting to profanity". These wide streets and grid pattern are typical of other Mormon towns of the pioneer era throughout the West.
Though the nomenclature may initially confuse new arrivals and visitors, most consider the grid system an aid to navigation. Some streets have names, such as State Street, which would otherwise be known as 100 East. Other streets have honorary names, such as the western portion of 300 South, named "Adam Galvez Street" (for a local Marine corporal killed in action) or others honoring Rosa Parks
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...
, Martin Luther King Jr.
Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
, César Chávez
Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merg ...
, Harvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk (May 22, 1930 – November 27, 1978) was an American politician and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California, as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Milk was born and raised in ...
, and John Stockton
John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as one of the greatest point guards, players and passers of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) with the Utah Jazz, a ...
. These honorary names appear only on street signs and cannot be used in postal addresses.
In the Avenues neighborhood, north–south streets are given letters of the alphabet, and east–west streets are numbered in blocks, smaller than those in the rest of the city.
Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, planned the layout in the " Plat of the City of Zion" (intended as a template for Mormon towns wherever they might be built). In his plan, the city was to be developed into 135 lots. However, the blocks in Salt Lake City became irregular during the late 19th century when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
lost authority over growth and before the adoption of zoning ordinances in the 1920s. The original blocks allowed for large garden plots, and many were supplied with irrigation water from ditches that ran approximately where modern curbs and gutters would be laid. The original water supply was from City Creek. Subsequent development of water resources was from successively more southern streams flowing from the mountains east of the city. Some old irrigation ditches are still visible in the eastern suburbs, or are still marked on maps, years after they were gone. There are still some canals that deliver water as required by water rights. Many lots, in Salt Lake City and surrounding areas, have irrigation water rights attached to them. Local water systems, in particular Salt Lake City Public Utilities, have a tendency to acquire or trade for these water rights. These can then be traded for culinary water rights to water imported into the valley. At its peak, irrigation in the valley comprised over one hundred distinct canal systems, many originating at the Jordan Narrows at the south end of the valley. Water and water rights were important in the 19th and early 20th centuries. As heavy agricultural usage changed into a more urban and suburban pattern, canal water companies were gradually replaced by culinary water systems.
Cityscape
Downtown Salt Lake City has been a hub of commerce for the Intermountain West
The Intermountain West, or Intermountain Region, is a geographic and geological region of the Western United States. It is located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains on the east and the Cascade Range and Sierra Nevada on the wes ...
and its architecture reflects this history. Main Street, which was the primary commercial avenue for the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, anchors the historic core of the downtown area that begins at the Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth templ ...
and concludes at the City and County Building. Halfway between those two structures, the Walker Center
Walker Center (formerly Walker Bank Building) is a skyscraper in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
Description
The building was opened on December 9, 1912, taking a little over a year to be built. At the time of its completion, it stood as ...
, at the corner of Main and 200 South, was built in 1912 and was the tallest building between Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
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, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
and San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
upon its completion. Other extant pre-war structures include the Kearns Building
The Kearns Building is a historic office building in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Description
The 10-story building was designed by Los Angeles architects John Parkins ...
, Hotel Monaco, the First Security Building, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building
The Joseph Smith Memorial Building, originally called the Hotel Utah, is a social center located on the corner of Main Street and South Temple in Salt Lake City. It is named in honor of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. I ...
(formerly Hotel Utah), the Boston and Newhouse Buildings, the Utah State Capitol
The Utah State Capitol is the house of government for the U.S. state of Utah. The building houses the chambers and offices of the Utah State Legislature, the offices of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, the State Auditor a ...
, and the Clift Building
The Clift Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, is an 8-story commercial office building designed by James L. Chesebro and constructed by the Larsen-Sampson Company in 1919. Chesebro included a theater accessed from the Main Street exposure. The build ...
. Salt Lake City has two historic passenger rail depots, the Denver and Rio Grande Western Depot and the Union Pacific Depot, the latter of which now anchors the Gateway district. Salt Lake City lost many significant structures to forces such as urban renewal
Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...
in the 20th century, including the Dooly Building
The Dooly Building was an office building designed by architect Louis Sullivan in Salt Lake City, Utah, at 109 West Second South Street. It was one of four buildings Sullivan designed in the western United States. Built in 1892, it was demolished ...
, designed by Louis Sullivan
Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924) was an American architect, and has been called a "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism". He was an influential architect of the Chicago School, a mentor to Frank Lloy ...
, the Hotel Newhouse, and the Salt Lake Theatre.
After a period of stagnation in the era of urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
, and with the construction of TRAX in the late 1990s and the City Creek Center
The City Creek Center (CCC) is a mixed-use development with an upscale open-air shopping center, office and residential buildings, fountain, and simulated creek near Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is an underta ...
in the early 2010s, downtown Salt Lake City is experiencing a period of revival. Empty lots and older structures are in the process of being redeveloped into apartment and office towers and the city has begun to close Main Street to automobile traffic on summer weekends to encourage pedestrian activity and business. More than 5,000 new residential units are planned or under construction for the downtown area as of April 2021 and many new breweries and restaurants have opened in the last decade. Regent Street, which in the early 20th century was the city's red-light district
A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...
, has recently been redeveloped with the notable additions of the 2,468-seat Eccles Theater
The George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Theater (commonly shortened to the Eccles Theater) is located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was opened in 2016. It hosts touring Broadway shows, concerts, and other entertainment events. The primary "Delta
D ...
and 111 Main, an adjacent 24-story office building.
A distinctive feature of Salt Lake City's cityscape is its very large block sizes, which are 660 feet square and separated by streets 132 feet wide, making them the largest in the United States. This and the resulting development patterns gives the city and its buildings a unique sense of scale but also a distinct challenge to urban walkability
Walkability is a term for planning concepts best understood by the mixed-use of amenities in high-density neighborhoods where people can access said amenities by foot. It is based on the idea that urban spaces should be more than just transport ...
, with many streets boasting six lanes for automobile traffic. On the other hand, the extra-wide streets have made the addition of dedicated transit lanes and light rail more feasible and many streets are now being redesigned with features such as protected bike lanes, linear parks, and even spaces for urban development within the medians. The city also encourages new projects to incorporate mid-block walkways and other scale-mitigation strategies into planning to promote pedestrian engagement.
Neighborhoods
Salt Lake City has many distinct neighborhoods. There is a general east–west socioeconomic divide. The eastern neighborhoods of the city, such as the Avenues, 9th & 9th, Yalecrest, Federal Heights, and Sugar House tend to be more affluent. These districts are popular with professionals, families, and students due to their proximity to Downtown, the University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, commercial precincts, and the Wasatch foothills. The western neighborhoods of the city, such as Poplar Grove, Rose Park, and Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
*Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
* Glendale, Queensland, ...
tend to be more working-class and ethnically diverse and are popular with immigrants and young people.
This divide is a result of the railroad being built in the western half as well as panoramic views from inclined ground in the eastern portion. Housing is more economically diverse on the west side, which results in demographic
Demography () is the statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups defined by criteria such as ed ...
differences. Interstate 15
Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexican border in San Diego County and stretches north to Alberta, Cana ...
was also built in a north–south line, further dividing east and west sides of the city.
Sugar House, in southeastern Salt Lake City, has a reputation as an older neighborhood with small shops in the center. Sugar House is an area which has been the focus of redevelopment efforts such as the UTA S-Line Streetcar. In late 2015 there were approximately 900 apartment units either recently built or under construction in the Sugar House area, with an additional 492 units proposed.
Northeast of Downtown is The Avenues, a neighborhood outside of the regular grid system on smaller blocks. The area between 6th Avenue to South Temple Street is a Historical District that is nearly entirely residential, and contains many historical Victorian era homes. Recently the Avenues is becoming known for restaurants and shops opening in old retail space mixed within the community. The Avenues are situated on the upward-sloping bench in the foothills of the Wasatch Range, with the earlier built homes in the lower elevation. The Avenues, along with Federal Heights, just to the east and north of the University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, and the Foothill
Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...
area, south of the university, contain gated communities, large, multimillion-dollar houses, and panoramic views of the valley. Many consider this some of the most desirable real estate in the valley.
In addition to larger centers like Sugar House and Downtown, Salt Lake City contains several smaller neighborhoods, each named after the closest major intersection. Two examples are the 9th and 9th (at the intersection of 900 East and 900 South Streets) and 15th & 15th (at the intersection of 1500 East and 1500 South Streets) neighborhoods. These areas are home to foot-traffic friendly, amenities-based businesses such as art galleries, clothing retail, salons, restaurants and coffee shops. During the summer of 2007, 9th and 9th saw sidewalk and street improvements as well as an art installation by Troy Pillow of Seattle, Washington inspired by the 9 Muses of Greek myth, thanks in part to a monetary grant from Salt Lake City.
Many of the homes in the valley date from pre–World War II times, and only a select few areas, such as Federal Heights and the East Bench, as well as the far west side, including parts of Rose Park and Glendale, have seen new home construction since the 1970s.
Climate
Salt Lake City has a cold semi-arid climate
A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...
(''BSk''), though it borders on a mediterranean climate
A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...
(''Csa'') and a humid continental climate
A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...
(''Dsa'') as summers are dry and hot and winters are cold and wet, but rarely frigid. Late summer and early fall monsoonal activity can keep precipitation fairly consistent throughout the year aside from early to mid summer when rain is minimal. The temperature of the Salt Lake City area is mediated by its unique geography, generally keeping highs and lows from reaching extremes.
The primary source of precipitation in Salt Lake City is massive storms that move in from the Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
along the jet stream
Jet streams are fast flowing, narrow, meandering air currents in the atmospheres of some planets, including Earth. On Earth, the main jet streams are located near the altitude of the tropopause and are westerly winds (flowing west to east) ...
from October to May. In mid-to-late summer, when the jet stream retreats far to the north, precipitation mainly comes from afternoon thunderstorm
A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...
s caused by monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...
moisture moving up from the Gulf of California
The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja C ...
. Although rainfall can be heavy, these storms are usually scattered in coverage and rarely severe. However, downtown was hit by an F2 tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...
on August 11, 1999, killing 1 person, injuring 60, and causing $170 million in damage. The remnants of tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...
s from the East Pacific can rarely reach the city during Fall. The remnants of Hurricane Olivia helped bring the record monthly precipitation of in September 1982. 1983 was the wettest year on record, with , while 1979 was the driest, when were recorded. Spring snowmelt
In hydrology, snowmelt is surface runoff produced from melting snow. It can also be used to describe the period or season during which such runoff is produced. Water produced by snowmelt is an important part of the annual water cycle in many p ...
from the surrounding mountains can cause localized stream flooding during late spring and early summer, the worst examples being in 1952 and especially 1983, when City Creek burst its banks, forcing city engineers to convert several downtown streets into waterways.
Snow falls on average from November 6 to April 18, producing a total average of , although measurable snow has fallen as early as September 17 and as late as May 28. The snowiest season was 1951–52, with , while the least snowy season was in 1933–34. The snowiest month on record was January 1993, in which were recorded.
The nearby Great Salt Lake is a significant contributor to precipitation in the city. The lake effect can enhance rain from summer thunderstorms and produces lake-effect snow
Lake-effect snow is produced during cooler atmospheric conditions when a cold air mass moves across long expanses of warmer lake water. The lower layer of air, heated up by the lake water, picks up water vapor from the lake and rises up throug ...
approximately 6 to 8 times per year, some of which can produce prodigious snowfall amounts. It is estimated about 10% of the annual precipitation in the city can be attributed to the lake effect.
Salt Lake City features large variations in temperatures between seasons. During summer, there are an average of 56 days per year with temperatures of at least , 23 days of at least , and 5 days of . However, average daytime July humidity is only 22%. Winters are quite cold but rarely frigid. While an average of 127 days drop to or below freezing, and 26 days with high temperatures that fail to rise above freezing, the city only averages 6.3 days at or below . The record high temperature is , which occurred first on July 26, 1960, July 13, 2002, June 16, 2021, July 17, 2022, and most recently September 7, 2022, while the record low is , which occurred on February 9, 1933.[
During mid-winter, strong areas of high pressure often stagnate over the ]Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California. It is noted fo ...
, leading to strong temperature inversion
In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion of the air temperature lapse rate, in which case it is called a temperature inversion. Nor ...
s. This causes air stagnation and thick smog
Smog, or smoke fog, is a type of intense air pollution. The word "smog" was coined in the early 20th century, and is a portmanteau of the words '' smoke'' and ''fog'' to refer to smoky fog due to its opacity, and odor. The word was then int ...
in the valley from several days to weeks at a time and can result in the nation's worst air-pollution levels. This same effect will also occasionally play a role in the summer months, causing tropospheric ozone
Ground-level ozone (O3), also known as surface-level ozone and tropospheric ozone, is a trace gas in the troposphere (the lowest level of the Earth's atmosphere), with an average concentration of 20–30 parts per billion by volume (ppbv), with c ...
to peak in July & August, but in 2015 it started at the beginning of June. In 2016 Salt Lake's air quality was ranked 6th worst in the nation by the American Lung Association. It received an F grade for both ozone and particulate matter. Particulate pollution is considered especially dangerous, as the tiny pollutants can lodge deep in lung tissue. Both ozone and particulate pollution are associated with increased rates of strokes, heart attacks, respiratory disease, cancer and premature death. Outdoor air particulates have been associated with low and very low birth weight, premature birth, congenital defects, and death.
Severe drought and water diversions have shrunk the Great Salt Lake by two-thirds and reduced it to its lowest recorded levels, resulting in hundreds of square miles of dry lake bed and exposing millions of people living in the fast-growing metropolitan region to dust storms laced with arsenic and other toxic chemicals. Around 65% of the diverted water goes to agriculture, but demand for water is soaring as Utah's population grows.
Parks
The largest park in Salt Lake City is This Is the Place Heritage Park
This is the Place Heritage Park is a List of Utah State Parks, Utah State Park that is located on the east side of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, at the foot of the Wasatch Range and near the mouth of Emigration Canyon, Utah, Emigration Ca ...
, a part of the Utah State Parks system. At 217.5 acres, This is the Place Heritage Park re-creates typical 19th century pioneer life and contains over 50 restored or replicated historical buildings. This is the Place Monument
The This is the Place Monument is a historical monument at the This is the Place Heritage Park, located on the east side of Salt Lake City, Utah, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. It is named in honor of Brigham Young's famous statement in 1 ...
also is located within the park, marking the end of the Mormon trail.
Sugar House Park
Sugar House Park, also known as Sugarhouse Park, is located between I-80, 2100 South, 1300 East, and 1700 East in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The park is at the heart of the Sugar House neighborhood. ...
is the second largest park in Salt Lake City at and is a part of the Salt Lake County park system. The park is known for its large, rolling hills surrounding a pond with fountains. It was also the site of an annual Fourth of July fireworks display until 2018.
Red Butte Garden and Arboretum
Red Butte Garden and Arboretum consists of a botanical garden, arboretum, and amphitheatre operated by the University of Utah, in the foothills of the Wasatch Range in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It is open year-round to the public. Re ...
, in the foothills
Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topogr ...
of Salt Lake City, features many different exhibits and also hosts many musical concerts. It is operated by the University of Utah.
City parks
Salt Lake City has a system of 85 municipal parks. Some of the most notable, other than those mentioned above, are:
* Liberty Park
Liberty Park is a elevated public park at the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City, overlooking the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in Lower Manhattan. The park, which opened on June 29, 2016, is located above the World Trad ...
() is one of the city's oldest parks, having been established in 1881, and features a small lake with two islands and the Tracy Aviary. The park is home to a large number of birds, both wild and in the aviary.
* City Creek Park ()
* Pioneer Park ()
* Lindsey Gardens ()
* Gilgal Garden ()
* Jordan Park () is home to the International Peace Gardens.
* Bonneville Shoreline Trail is a popular hiking and biking nature trail which spans through the foothills of the Wasatch Front.
Demographics
US Census Bureau estimates for 2019 listed 200,567 people in Salt Lake City. The racial makeup of the county was 65.8% non-Hispanic White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 2.6% Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
, 1.5% Native American, 5.4% Asian, 1.6% Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...
, and 3.3% from two or more races. 21.8% of the population were Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or Latino of any race.
At the 2010 census, Salt Lake City's population was 75.1% White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
, 2.6% African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 1.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 4.4% Asian, 2.0% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 10.7% from other races and 3.7% of mixed descent. 22.3% of the total population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. The city's population has historically been predominantly white. Between 1860 and 1950 whites represented about 99% of the city's population but this somewhat changed in the decades that followed.
, 37.0% of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher. 18.5% of the population was foreign born and another 1.1% was born in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, U.S. insular territories, or born abroad to American parent(s). 27.0% spoke a language other than English at home.
There were 186,440 people (up from 181,743 in 2000), 75,177 households, and 57,543 families in the city. This amounts to 6.75% of Utah's population, 18.11% of Salt Lake County's population, and 16.58% of the new Salt Lake metropolitan population. The area within the city limits covers 14.2% of Salt Lake County. Salt Lake City was more densely populated than the surrounding metro area with a population density
Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...
of 1,688.77/sqmi (1,049.36/km). There were 80,724 housing units at an average density of 731.2/sqmi (454.35/km).
The Salt Lake City- Ogden metropolitan area, which included Salt Lake, Davis
Davis may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Davis (Antarctica)
* Davis Island (Palmer Archipelago)
* Davis Valley, Queen Elizabeth Land
Canada
* Davis, Saskatchewan, an unincorporated community
* Davis Strait, between Nunavut and Gre ...
, and Weber
Weber (, or ; German: ) is a surname of German origin, derived from the noun meaning " weaver". In some cases, following migration to English-speaking countries, it has been anglicised to the English surname 'Webber' or even 'Weaver'.
Notable pe ...
counties, had a population of 1,333,914 in 2000, a 24.4% increase over the 1990 figure of 1,072,227. Since the 2000 Census, the Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal Statistical System of the United States, U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the Americans, Ame ...
has added Summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for a m ...
and Tooele
Tooele ( ) is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 35,742 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Tooele County. Located approximately 30 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City, Tooele is known for Tooele Ar ...
counties to the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, but removed Davis and Weber counties and designated them as the separate Ogden- Clearfield metropolitan area. The Salt Lake City-Ogden-Clearfield combined statistical area, together with the Provo-Orem
Orem is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States, in the northern part of the state. It is adjacent to Provo, Lindon, and Vineyard and is approximately south of Salt Lake City.
Orem is one of the principal cities of the Provo-Orem, Utah M ...
metropolitan area, which lies to the south, had a combined population of 2,094,035 as of July 1, 2008.
There were 75,177 households, out of which 27.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.1% were married couples living together, 10.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.3% were other types of households. Of the 75,177 households, 3,904 were reported to be unmarried partner households: 3,047 heterosexual, 458 same-sex male, and 399 same-sex female. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48, and the average family size was 3.24.
The city's age distribution (as of 2000):
*23.6% under 18
*15.2% from 18 to 24
*33.4% from 25 to 44
*16.7% from 45 to 64
*11.0% 65 or older
The median age was 30 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.2 males. The median income for a household
A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is i ...
in the city was $36,944, and the median income for a family was $45,140. Males had a median income of $31,511 versus $26,403 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the city was $20,752. 15.3% of the population and 10.4% of families were below the poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
. Out of the total population, 18.7% of those under the age of 18 and 8.5% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Large family sizes and low housing vacancy rates, which have inflated housing costs along the Wasatch Front
The Wasatch Front is a metropolitan region in the north-central part of the U.S. state of Utah. It consists of a chain of contiguous cities and towns stretched along the Wasatch Range from approximately Provo in the south to Logan in the nort ...
, have led to one out of every six residents living below the poverty line.
According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey of 2017, the highest disparity in income in Utah is in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake City's GINI Index score was 0.4929, compared with the state's overall score of 0.423. The west-side areas of Salt Lake have the lowest-incomes while areas like the upper Avenues, have much higher incomes. Other Utah cities with relatively high scores include Provo, 0.4734; and Ogden, 0.4632.
Less than 50% of Salt Lake City's residents are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
. This is a much lower proportion than in Utah's more rural municipalities; altogether, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
members make up about 62% of Utah's population.
The Rose Park and Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''.
It may refer to:
Places Australia
*Glendale, New South Wales
** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre
* Glendale, Queensland, ...
sections are predominantly Spanish-speaking with Hispanic and Latino Americans accounting for 60% of public school-children. The Centro Civico Mexicano acts as a community gathering point for the Wasatch Front's estimated 300,000 Latinos, Mexican President Vicente Fox
Vicente Fox Quesada (; born 2 July 1942) is a Mexican businessman and politician who served as the 62nd president of Mexico from 1 December 2000 to 30 November 2006. After campaigning as a right-wing populist, Fox was elected president on the ...
began his 2006 US tour in Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City is home to a Bosnian American
Bosnian Americans are Americans whose ancestry can be traced to Bosnia and Herzegovina. The vast majority of Bosnian Americans immigrated to the United States during and after the Bosnian War which lasted from 1992–95. Nevertheless, many Bosnia ...
community of more than 8,000, most of whom arrived during the Bosnian War
The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...
in the 1990s. The large Pacific Islander population, mainly Samoa
Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...
n and Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
n, is also centered in the Rose Park, Glendale, and Poplar Grove sectors. Most of Salt Lake City's ethnic Pacific Islanders are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
, though various Samoan and Tongan-speaking congregations are situated throughout the Salt Lake area including Samoan Congregational, Tongan Wesleyan Methodist, and Roman Catholic. Just outside Salt Lake City limits, newer immigrant communities include Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...
is, and refugees of Karen origin from Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
(former Burma). Salt Lake City also has the third largest Sri Lankan community in the United States.
Salt Lake City has been considered one of the top 51 "gay-friendly places to live" in the U.S. The city is home to a large, business savvy, organized, and politically supported gay community. Leaders of the Episcopal Church's Diocese of Utah, as well as leaders of Utah's largest Jewish congregation, the Salt Lake Kol Ami, along with three elected representatives of the city identify themselves as gay. These developments have attracted controversy from socially conservative officials representing other regions of the state. A 2015 Williams Institute comparison of 50 Most Populous Metro Areas ranked by Gallup Daily tracking and the US Census, ranked SLC 7th in Metro areas, up from 39th in 1990.
In 2007, Salt Lake City was ranked by ''Forbes'' as the most vain city in America, based on the number of plastic surgeons per 100,000 and their spending habits on cosmetics, which exceed cities of similar size. ''Forbes'' also found the city to be the 8th most stressful. In contrast to the 2007 ranking by ''Forbes'', a 2010 study conducted by Portfolio.com and bizjournals concluded Salt Lake City was the ''least'' stressful city in the United States. In 2014, CNN deemed Salt Lake City to be the least stressed-out city in the United States, citing the low cost of living and abundance of jobs.
A 2008 study by the magazines ''Men's Health'' and ''Women's Health'' found Salt Lake City to be the healthiest city for women by looking at 38 different factors, including cancer rates, air quality, and the number of gym memberships.
Economy
Historically known as the "Crossroads of the West" for its railroads, when nearby steel, mining and railroad operations provided a strong source of income with Silver King Coalition Mines, Geneva Steel
Geneva Steel was a steel mill located in Vineyard, Utah, United States, founded during World War II to enhance national steel output. It operated from December 1944 to November 2001. Its unique name came from a resort that once operated nearby ...
, Bingham Canyon Mine
The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest m ...
, and oil refineries
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refined into useful products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, asphalt base, fuel oils, heating oil, kerosene, li ...
, Salt Lake City's modern economy is service-oriented. Today the city's major sectors are government, trade, transportation, utilities, and professional and business services. The daytime population of Salt Lake City proper swells to over 315,000 people, not including tourists or students.
Local, state, and federal governments have a large presence in the city, and trade, transportation, and utilities provide significant employment, with the major employer being the Delta hub at Salt Lake City International Airport
Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-min ...
. Equally significant are the professional and business services, while health services and health educational services are significant areas of employment, including the largest health care provider in the Intermountain West, Intermountain Healthcare. Other major employers include the University of Utah, Sinclair Oil Corporation
Sinclair Oil Corporation was an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916, the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation combined, amalgamated, the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corp ...
, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
.
Besides its central offices, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...
owns and operates a for-profit division, Deseret Management Corporation
The Deseret Management Corporation (DMC) () is a global operating company, managing for-profit entities affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was established in 1966 by church president David O. McKay to ...
and its subsidiaries, which are headquartered in the city.
Salt Lake City is home to two Fortune 1000 companies, Zions Bancorporation and Questar Corporation
Questar Corporation is a company based in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It manufactures precision optical devices for consumer, industrial, aerospace, and military markets. Its telescopes produced for the consumer market are sold under the brand name "Q ...
. Other notable firms headquartered in the city include AlphaGraphics
AlphaGraphics is a franchised chain of more than 270 independently owned and operated marketing service providers with full-service print shops.
AlphaGraphics business centers are franchised by AlphaGraphics, Inc., part of the MBE Worldwide ...
, Alsco
Alsco (American Linen Supply Company) is an American company, it is a linen and uniform-rental business service provider to restaurants, health care organizations, the automotive industry and industrial facilities. Having around 180 locations, wit ...
, Sinclair Oil Corporation
Sinclair Oil Corporation was an American petroleum corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair on May 1, 1916, the Sinclair Oil and Refining Corporation combined, amalgamated, the assets of 11 small petroleum companies. Originally a New York corp ...
, Smith's Food and Drug (owned by national grocer Kroger
The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States.
Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...
), MonaVie, Myriad Genetics
Myriad Genetics, Inc. is an American genetic testing and precision medicine company based in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Myriad employs a number of proprietary technologies that permit doctors and patients to understand the genetic ba ...
, Creminelli Fine Meats and Vehix.com. Notable firms based in nearby cities within the metropolitan area include Arctic Circle Restaurants
Arctic Circle Restaurants is an American chain of burger and shake restaurants based in Midvale, Utah, United States. There were 71 restaurants in seven states as of September 2022 (in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, and Wyomin ...
, FranklinCovey
Franklin Covey Co., trading as FranklinCovey and based in Salt Lake City, Utah, is a coaching company which provides training and assessment services in the areas of leadership, individual effectiveness, and business execution for organizations a ...
, and Overstock.com. Metropolitan Salt Lake was also once the headquarters of American Stores
American Stores Company was an American public corporation and a holding company which ran chains of supermarkets and drugstores in the United States from 1917 through 1998. The company was incorporated in 1917 when The Acme Tea Company merged ...
, the Skaggs Companies
Skaggs Companies was the predecessor to many famous United States retailing chains, including Safeway, Albertsons, Osco Drug, and Longs Drugs. The company owned several drugstore chains, but all of them were sold. Skaggs Cos. became American S ...
, and ZCMI, one of the first department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appe ...
s; it is now owned by Macy's, Inc.
Macy's, Inc. (originally Federated Department Stores, Inc.) is an American conglomerate holding company. Upon its establishment, Federated held ownership of the regional department store chains Abraham & Straus, Lazarus, Filene's, and Shillito' ...
Former ZCMI stores now operate under the Macy's label. High-tech firms with a large presence in the suburbs include Adobe
Adobe ( ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for '' mudbrick''. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of ...
, eBay
eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
, Unisys
Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, ...
, Siebel
Siebel was a German aircraft manufacturer founded in 1937 in Halle an der Saale.Gunston p.424
History
It originated in the Klemm-Flugzeugwerke Halle that had been founded in 1934 as a branch of Leichtflugzeugbau Klemm in Böblingen. Its name ...
, Micron
The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American spelling), also commonly known as a micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Un ...
, L-3 Communications, Telarus
Telarus is a U.S.-based sales agency that holds contracts with commercial network, cloud, and cybersecurity providers, and consolidates the sales volume of a network of independent sales agents known as 'Technology Advisors'. As a '' Technology So ...
, and 3M. Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, Ho ...
has its second-largest presence in Salt Lake City. It is categorized as a "Gamma−" global city, according to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network
The Globalization and World Cities Research Network (GaWC) is a think tank that studies the relationships between world cities in the context of globalization. It is based in the geography department of Loughborough University in Leicestershir ...
.
Other economic activities include tourism, conventions, and major suburban call centers. Tourism has increased since the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, and many hotels and restaurants were built for the events. The convention industry has expanded since construction of the Salt Palace
The Calvin L. Rampton Salt Palace Convention Center, more commonly known as the Salt Palace, is a convention center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Named after Utah's 11th governor, Calvin L. Rampton, the name "Salt Palace" was previously used by two ...
convention center in the late 1990s, which hosts trade shows and conventions, including the Novell BrainShare
Novell BrainShare was a technical computer conference sponsored by Novell during the years 1985 through 2014. It was held annually in Salt Lake City, Utah, most often in March of each year, and typically lasted for much of a week. During its earl ...
conference. In 2020, Salt Lake City entered the bidding process to host the 2030 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games
The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaired ...
.
Law and government
The Salt Lake City and County Building
The Salt Lake City and County Building, usually called the "City-County Building", is the seat of government for Salt Lake City, Utah. The historic landmark formerly housed offices for Salt Lake County government as well, hence the name.
History ...
has been the seat of city government since 1894. It also served as Utah's first statehouse from 1896 until the current Utah State Capitol
The Utah State Capitol is the house of government for the U.S. state of Utah. The building houses the chambers and offices of the Utah State Legislature, the offices of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, the State Auditor a ...
was dedicated on October 9, 1916.
Since 1979, Salt Lake City has had a non-partisan
Nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with, and a lack of bias towards, a political party.
While an Oxford English Dictionary definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in most cases, nonpartisan refers s ...
mayor-council form of government. The mayor and the seven councillors are elected to staggered four-year terms. Council seats are defined by geographic population boundaries. Each councilor represents approximately 26,000 citizens. Officials are not subject to term limits.
Municipal elections throughout Utah are non-partisan. The most recent election was held on November 5, 2019. Councilwoman Erin Mendenhall was elected mayor, Daniel E. Dugan won against incumbent Charlie Luke, while Andrew Johnston and Ana Valdemoros retained their seats on the council. Darin Mano was appointed by the council to serve the rest of Mendenhall's term. Members of the city council also serve as the governing board of the city's Redevelopment Agency.
Elections are held in odd-numbered years. Candidates take office in January of the following year.
The separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular s ...
was the most heated topic in the days of the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
and People's Party of Utah, when many candidates were also would-be LDS Church bishops
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. This tension is still reflected today with the ''Bridging the Religious Divide'' campaign. This campaign was initiated when some city residents complained the Utah political establishment was unfair in its dealings with non-LDS residents by giving the LDS Church preferential treatment, while LDS residents perceived a growing anti-Mormon
Anti-Mormonism is discrimination, persecution, hostility or prejudice directed against the Latter Day Saint movement, particularly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The term is often used to describe people or literat ...
bias in city politics.
The city's political demographics are considerably more liberal than the rest of Utah. While Utah as a whole is a strongly conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
state, Salt Lake City is considered a Democratic bastion. Since 1976, all of the city's mayors have been Democrats.
The city is home to several non-governmental think-tanks and advocacy groups such as the conservative Sutherland Institute, the progressive Alliance for a Better Utah, the gay-rights group Equality Utah, and the quality-growth advocates Envision Utah. Salt Lake hosted many foreign dignitaries during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and in 2006 the president of Mexico began his U.S. tour in the city and Israel's ambassador to the United States opened a cultural center. President George W. Bush visited in 2005 and again in 2006 for national veterans' conventions; both visits were protested by then-Mayor Rocky Anderson
Ross Carl "Rocky" Anderson (born September 9, 1951), from the United States, is an attorney, writer, activist, civil and human rights advocate. He served two terms as the 33rd Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 2000 to 2008. He is now running f ...
. Other political leaders such as Howard Dean
Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 2009 ...
and Harry Reid
Harry Mason Reid Jr. (; December 2, 1939 – December 28, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Nevada from 1987 to 2017. He led the Senate Democratic Caucus from 2005 to 2017 and was the Sena ...
gave speeches in the city in 2005.
In July 2013, a new Public Safety Building housing police, fire, and emergency dispatch employees opened. It was billed as the largest net zero energy building in the nation at opening, and is expected to be certified LEED
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
Platinum.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department operates out of 14 fire stations.
Education
In 1847, LDS pioneer Jane Dillworth held the first classes in her tent for the children of the first LDS families. In the last part of the 19th century, there was a lot controversy over how children in the area should be educated. LDS and non-LDS members could not agree on the level of religious influence in schools. Today, many LDS youths in grades 9 through 12 attend some form of religious instruction in addition to the public-school sessions, referred to as seminary
A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy ...
. Students are released from public schools at various times of the day to attend seminary. LDS seminaries are often on church-owned property adjacent to the public school and within walking distance.
Due to high birth rates and large classrooms, Utah spends less per student than any other state, yet also spends more per capita (of total state population) than any state with the exception of Alaska. Money is always a challenge, and many businesses donate to support schools. Several districts have set up foundations to raise money. Recently, money was approved for the reconstruction of more than half of the elementary schools and one of the middle schools in the Salt Lake City School District
The Salt Lake City School District (SLCSD) is the oldest public school district in Utah. Boundaries for the district are identical to the city limits for Salt Lake City. Employing about 1,300 teachers who instruct about 25,000 students K-12, the d ...
, which serves most of the area within the city limits. There are twenty-three K-6 elementary schools, five 7–8 middle schools, three 9–12 high schools (Highland, East, and West, with the former South High being converted to the South City campus of the Salt Lake Community College), and an alternative high school (Horizonte) within the school district. In addition, Highland has recently been selected as the site for the charter school Salt Lake School for the Performing Arts (SPA). Many Catholic schools are in the city, including Judge Memorial Catholic High School. Rowland Hall-St. Mark's School, established in 1867 by Episcopal Bishop Daniel Tuttle, is the area's premier independent school.
The Salt Lake City Public Library
The Salt Lake City Public Library system's main branch building is an architecturally unique structure in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is located at 210 East, 400 South, across from the Salt Lake City and County Building and Washington Square.
Hi ...
system consists of the main library downtown, and five branches in various neighborhoods. The main library, designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie ( he, משה ספדיה; born July 14, 1938) is an architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and author, with Israeli, Canadian, and American citizenship. He is known for incorporating principles of socially responsible des ...
, opened in 2003. In 2006, the Salt Lake City Public Library was named "Library of the Year" by the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...
.
Postsecondary educational options in Salt Lake City include the University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, Westminster College, Salt Lake Community College, Eagle Gate College
Eagle Gate College is a Private college, private For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit college in the U.S. state of Utah that specializes in health career education. The college is accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of H ...
, Violin Making School of America (now named Peter Prier & Sons Violins), and Ensign College
Ensign College (formerly LDS Business College) is a private college in Salt Lake City, Utah. The college is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and operates under its Church Educational System. It also includes ...
(formally LDS Business College). Utah State University
Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah ...
, Neumont College of Computer Science and Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...
also operate education centers in the city. There are also many trade and technical schools such as Healing Mountain Massage School and the Utah College of Massage Therapy. The University of Utah is noted for its research and medical programs. It was one of the original four universities to be connected to ARPANET
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
, the predecessor to the Internet, in 1969, and was the site of the first artificial heart
An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, exper ...
transplant in 1982.
Culture
Museums and the arts
Salt Lake City is home to several museums. Near Temple Square is the Church History Museum
The Church History Museum, formerly the Museum of Church History and Art, is the premier museum operated by the Church History Department of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is located in Salt Lake City, Utah, a ...
. Operated by the LDS Church, the museum contains collections of artifacts, documents, art, photographs, tools, clothing and furniture from the history of the LDS Church #REDIRECT History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints #REDIRECT History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints {{R from other capitalisation ... {{R from other capitalisation ...
, which spans nearly two centuries. West of Temple Square, at
The Gateway, is the
Clark Planetarium
The Clark Planetarium is a planetarium and science museum situated within The Gateway at the intersection of 400 West and 100 South in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The Clark Planetarium opened in April 2003, replacing the his ...
, which houses an
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme ...
theater, and
Discovery Gateway
Discovery Gateway, formerly The Children's Museum of Utah (TCMU), is an interactive, hands-on children's museum located in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Comprising over of exhibit space, Discovery Gateway is located at 444 West ...
, a children's museum. The University of Utah campus is home to the
Utah Museum of Fine Arts
The Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA) is the region's primary resource for culture and visual arts. It is located in the Marcia and John Price Museum Building in Salt Lake City, Utah on the University of Utah campus near Rice-Eccles Stadium. Works ...
as well as the Natural History Museum of Utah. Other museums in the area include the Utah State Historical Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers Memorial Museum, Fort Douglas, Utah, Fort Douglas Military Museum, the Social Hall Heritage Museum, and The Leonardo, a new art, science and technology museum housed in the previous Salt Lake City Library building.
Salt Lake City is home to several classic movie theaters including the Tower Theatre (Salt Lake City, Utah), Tower Theatre and the Broadway Theater, both of which host the Salt Lake Film Society members and shows. The Utah Film Center hosts free film screenings, many with post film Q and A's with filmmakers or subject experts every Tuesday night at the Salt Lake Public Library and monthly at the Rose Wagner Theater.
On December 5, 2007, the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance announced a two-block section of downtown south of the planned City Creek Center is planned to become a new arts hub. This will include renovations to two theaters in the area and a new theater with a seating capacity of 2,400 and increased space for galleries and artists. The opening of the new facilities was anticipated to coincide with the opening of the City Creek Center in 2011, but they have yet to be completed. The $81.5 million theater site was announced, and attempts to secure funding began. The theater plans have come under criticism, however, especially from nearby smaller theaters which host Off-Broadway tours and claim such a theater cannot be supported and will hurt their business.
Performing arts
![Slc abravanel hall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Slc_abravanel_hall.jpg)
Salt Lake City provides venues for both professional and amateur theatre. The city attracts traveling Broadway and Off-Broadway performances in the historic Capitol Theatre. Local professional acting companies include the Pioneer Theatre Company, Salt Lake Acting Company, and Plan-B Theatre Company, which is the only theatre company in Utah fully devoted to developing new plays by Utah playwrights. The Off-Broadway Theatre, in Salt Lake's historic Clift Building, features comedy plays and Utah's longest-running improv comedy troupe, Laughing Stock.
Salt Lake City is home to The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, founded in 1847 as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. The choir's weekly program, called ''Music and the Spoken Word'', is the world's longest-running continuous network broadcast. Salt Lake City is the home to the Utah Symphony Orchestra, which was founded in 1940 and grew to become a major US orchestra during the tenure of its former music director, Maurice Abravanel, who led the orchestra from 1947 through 1979. Its music director is Thierry Fischer. The orchestra's original home was the Salt Lake Tabernacle, but since 1979 has performed at Abravanel Hall in the western downtown area. In 2002, Utah Symphony merged with Utah Opera, which was founded in 1978 by Glade Peterson and under its Artistic Director Christopher McBeth annually presents four opera productions in the Capitol Theatre. Salt Lake City area is home to the renowned children's choir from The Madeleine Choir School, and the Salt Lake Children's Choir (established in 1979).
The University of Utah is home to two highly ranked dance departments, the Ballet Department and the University of Utah Department of Modern Dance, Department of Modern Dance. Professional dance companies in Salt Lake City include Ballet West, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company (which celebrated its 45th anniversary season in 2008/2009) and Repertory Dance Theatre. The Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center is host to both RWDC and RDT.
Music
The city has an eclectic music scene that includes hip hop, blues, rock and roll, rockabilly, punk, deathcore, horrorcore and indie groups. Popular groups or persons who started in the Wasatch Front area, or were raised in and influenced by it, include Iceburn, Eagle Twin, The Almost, The Brobecks, Meg and Dia, Royal Bliss, Shedaisy, The Summer Obsession, Theater of Ice, The Used and Chelsea Grin (band), Chelsea Grin. Salt Lake has an underground metal scene with bands such as Gaza (band), Gaza and Bird Eater (band), Bird Eater. During the summer, Salt Lake City hosts the Twilight Concert series, a low-cost summer concert series. The series has been a part of the Salt Lake City music scene since the late 1980s. In 2010, crowds peaked at 40,000 attendees in downtown's Pioneer Park.
Festivals
Salt Lake City has a thriving festival culture. Various festivals happen throughout the year, celebrating the diversity of the valley's communities. From culture, food, religion and spirituality, to dance, music, spoken word, and film, almost any type of festival can be found. Many of the festivals have been ongoing for decades.
![Rainbow flag at Utah Pride](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Rainbow_flag_at_Utah_Pride.JPG)
The Utah Pride Festival is an annual LGBTQ festival, held in June. Started in 1983, it has grown to a three-day festival with attendance exceeding 50,000. It is sponsored by the Utah Pride Center. It is the second largest festival behind Days of '47 and is one of the nation's largest festivals. The festival includes hundreds of vendors, food, music stars, a 5k run, a dyke and trans march, and an interfaith service by the Utah Pride Interfaith Coalition.
The Utah Arts Festival has been held annually since 1977 with an average attendance of 80,000. About 130 booths are available for visual artists, and five performance venues for musicians.
The Dark Arts Festival is an annual 3-day festival dedicated to the goth and industrial subcultures. The festival started in 1993, and is hosted at the local goth club Area 51. The festival contracts bands to play during the event. 2015's lineup included Tragic Black, The Gothsicles, Adrian H & the Wounds, and Hocico.
![Hocico on Stage at the 2015 Dark Arts Festival](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Hocico_on_Stage_at_the_2015_Dark_Arts_Festival.jpg)
The Utah Arts Alliance hosts an annual Urban Arts Festival, usually drawing over 20,000, and featuring artists displaying and selling paintings, sculpture, photography, and jewelry. Live music is provided, mixing rock, hip hop, R&B, funk, and jazz, and workshops for interests such as skateboarding and gardening take place. The festival also hosts the Voice of the City film festival which allows local filmmakers to show their version of Salt Lake.
The Jewish Arts Festival, hosted by the IJ and Jeanné Wagner JCC of Salt Lake City, showcases Jewish culture through workshops, theater, food, film, art, and contemporary music from the local and global Jewish communities.
The Sugar House neighborhood holds an annual arts festival on July 4, with local artists, performances, music, food, and vendors. The festival coincides with the fireworks show at
Sugar House Park
Sugar House Park, also known as Sugarhouse Park, is located between I-80, 2100 South, 1300 East, and 1700 East in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The park is at the heart of the Sugar House neighborhood. ...
in the evening.
Salt Lake City also hosts portions of the Sundance Film Festival. The festival, which is held each year, brings many cultural icons, movie stars, celebrities, and thousands of film buffs to see the largest independent film festival in the United States. The headquarters of the event is in nearby
Park City. There are several other annual festivals, including FilmQuest, Salty Horror Con & Film, Damn These Heels, and the Voice of the city. FilmQuest began in 2014 and features selected genres such as fantasy and science fiction. Salty Horror, which began in 2010, is a competition-based horror film festival. The Utah Film Center presents two annual film festivals Damn These Heels, which began in 1994 focuses on independent, documentary, and foreign feature-length films surrounding LGBTQ issues, ideas, and art. The second festival of the Utah Film center is the Tumbleweeds film festival for kids. This festival began in 2010, allows families to experience international films and media workshops. Tumbleweeds works to increasing kids awareness of different cultures, encourages independent voices, nurtures media making skills and strengthens critical review. Voice of the City film festival is part of the Urban Arts Festival and allows local filmmakers to show their version of Salt Lake.
The 2015 Great Salt Lake Fringe Festival was the first performance festival in Salt Lake City. The 4-day festival included various performances involving music, dance, theatre, spoken word, circus arts, magic, and puppetry.
The Living Traditions Festival is a 3-day multicultural arts festival hosted by the Salt Lake City Arts Council, started in 1985. The festival celebrates traditional dance, music, crafts and food from the various contemporary ethnic communities of Salt Lake City.
Earth Jam is an annual festival celebrated in Salt Lake's Liberty Park to celebrate Earth Day through music. The free festival focuses on music, and hosts speakers, vendors, food, performing art, a Goddess pageant, and children's garden.
The Live Green SLC! Festival aims to showcase sustainable products, ideas, and solutions from renewable technologies for the everyday household. The festival promotes education, sustainability, and accessibility to green and organic products and services.
Craft Lake City DIY (Do-It-Yourself) festival is an artisan festival that promotes the use of science and technology to help local artists produce their crafts such as silk screens, jewelry, and other mediums. The festival promotes education through workshops, galleries, and demonstrations which includes various vendors and food.
The 9th and 9th Street Festival is an annual neighborhood festival celebration of art, music, and crafts, held at 900 East/900 South Streets.
![Carmelite Festival 2015 live band with the Carmelite Monastery of Salt Lake City seen in back](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fc/Carmelite_Festival_2015_live_band_with_the_Carmelite_Monastery_of_Salt_Lake_City_seen_in_back.jpg)
The Catholic Nuns of Carmelite Monastery hold an annual fair each autumn in Holladay, Utah, Holladay, a suburb of Salt Lake City. The festival includes music, food, a live auction, Golf for the Nuns tournament, a prize giveaway, and a 5k Run for the Nuns road race.
The Sri Sri Ganesh Hindu Temple of Utah, in Salt Lake City, has an annual Ganesh Festival called Ganesh Chathurthi. The 10-day festival is devoted to rites of worship of the Hindu God Ganesh. In 2014 the festival was hosted at the Krishna Temple of Salt Lake since the Ganesh temple's exterior was under construction, which made the inner temple inaccessible.
India Fest is hosted by the Krishna Temples of Salt Lake City and Spanish Fork, Utah. The festival includes food, dances, drama and a pageant of the Ramayana. Since 2011 the Krishna Temple of Salt Lake City has held an annual Festival of Colors, similar to the famous festival at the Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, Spanish Fork.
The Great Salt Lake City Yoga Festival was in its fifth year (as of 2015). 2015 saw the first Downtown Yoga festival in Salt Lake City. Both festivals are intended to inspire yogis in the community by teaching about yoga, healthy living, raw food, and traditional yoga music.
The local Pagan community has celebrated an annual Salt Lake City Pagan Pride Day since 2001. The festival features rituals, workshops, dancers, bards, vendors, and requires only a can of food donation for admission.
![Steampunk tarot readings at the 2015 Salt City Steamfest](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Steampunk_tarot_readings_at_the_2015_Salt_City_Steamfest.jpg)
Members of the steampunk subculture have an annual two-day festival, Steamfest. It hosts vendors, panels, and cosplayers dressed in the fashion of various punk cultures, mostly around steam, deco, and diesel punk.
Rose Park hosts an annual spring festival, to display the community's diversity. It includes dancers, music, a 5k run, silent auction and food.
![Attendees at the 2014 Greek Festival in Salt Lake City, Utah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Attendees_at_the_2014_Greek_Festival_in_Salt_Lake_City%2C_Utah.jpg)
The Greek Festival, held at the downtown Greek Orthodox Church cathedral during the weekend after Labor Day, celebrates Utah's Greek heritage. The 3-day event includes Greek music, dance groups, cathedral tours, booths and a large buffet. Attendance ranges from 35,000 to 50,000. It celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2015.
Two Italian-themed annual fests are held in Salt Lake City. The Italian cultural street festival Ferragosto (in August) celebrates Italian food and culture from Italian communities in Salt Lake City. Festa Italian is a 2-day festival in September that highlights regions of Italy with music, food, and entertainment. The proceeds go to local charities.
Other cultural festivals in Salt Lake City include the Peruvian Festival, the Utah Brazilian Festival, the Polynesian Cultural Festival, the Nihon Matsuri Japanese Festival, and the Buddhist Obon Japanese Festival.
Conventions
Salt Lake City is host to a number of conventions that come to the Crossroads of the West. With several large venues, including the Salt Palace and Vivint Smart Home Arena in downtown, Salt Lake is capable of accommodating conventions upwards of 100,000 people.
![Crowds in the Salt Palace Convention Center at the 2014 Salt Lake Comic Con in Salt Lake City, Utah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Crowds_in_the_Salt_Palace_Convention_Center_at_the_2014_Salt_Lake_Comic_Con_in_Salt_Lake_City%2C_Utah.jpg)
Salt Lake Comic Con, which started in 2013, had over 100,000 attendance within its first few years. Because of this, Salt Lake Comic Con started having a second event, FanX (Fan Experience) to give those who were not able to come to the fall Comic Con, a spring-time opportunity. The convention broke inaugural records in 2013, hosting the largest crowd of any inaugural comic convention. The second event, FanX of 2014, and the fall event of 2014 both broke attendance records for the event, surpassing 120,000 people. The convention was sued by San Diego Comic Con, but won the right to use the trademark of comic con in its name. In 2014, Stan Lee called the Salt Lake Comic Con "the greatest comic con in the world". On September 25, 2015, the Con broke the world record for the most costumed comic book cosplay characters in one location. At 1784 people, this beat the previous record.
Crystal Mountain Pony Con, an annual My Little Pony convention, features cosplayers, vendors, and panels. 2015 saw more than 800 bronies in attendance.
Salt Lake hosts an annual International Tattoo Convention in the spring, featuring mostly nationally and internationally noted tattoo artists.
Fantasy Con hosted its first convention, the first of its kind, in Salt Lake City in 2014. After a successful run, the convention reorganized to better serve the needs of the fantasy community. Intended to be annual, it did not host one for 2015, and further plans have not been announced.
Salt Lake City saw its first Gaming Convention in 2015. It included contests, cosplay, panels, and focused on console, computer, card, and tabletop gaming.
Events
![2002 Winter Olympics flame](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/2002_Winter_Olympics_flame.jpg)
Although the LDS church holds a large influence, the city is culturally and religiously diverse and the site of many cultural activities.
A major state holiday is Pioneer Day (Utah), Pioneer Day, July 24, the anniversary of the Mormon pioneers' entry into the Salt Lake Valley. It is celebrated with a week's worth of activities, including a children parade, a horse parade, the featured Days of '47 Parade (one of the nation's largest parades), a rodeo, and a fireworks show at Liberty Park. Fireworks can be legally sold and set off around July 24.
First Night on New Year's Eve, a celebration emphasizing family-friendly entertainment and activities held at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah, culminates with a fireworks display at midnight.
Beginning in 2004, Salt Lake City has been the host of the international Salt Lake City Marathon. In 2006, Real Madrid and many of the nation's best cyclists had engagements.
Salt Lake City has begun to host its own events in the last few years, most notably the Friday Night Flicks, free movies in the city's parks, and the Mayor's health and fitness awareness program, Salt Lake City Gets Fit.
Salt Lake City hosted the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internationa ...
. At that time, Salt Lake City was the most populated area to hold a Winter Olympic Games. The event put Salt Lake City in the international spotlight and is regarded by many as one of the most successful Winter Olympics ever.
In February 2002, Turin, Torino, Italy was granted an Olympic Sister City relationship with Salt Lake City, which became a Friendship City relationship in October 2003. On January 13, 2007, an agreement was signed, where Salt Lake City and Torino officially became Olympic Sister Cities.
On the third Friday of every month, the Salt Lake Gallery Stroll presents a free evening of visual art; many galleries and other art-related businesses stay open late, allowing enthusiasts to tour various exhibits after hours. Sidewalk artists, street performers and musicians also sometimes participate in these monthly events.
Media
![Triad center slc utah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Triad_center_slc_utah.jpg)
Salt Lake City has many diverse Mass media, media outlets. Most of the major television and radio stations are based in or near the city. The Salt Lake City metropolitan area is ranked as the 28th largest radio and 33rd largest television market in the United States.
Print media include two major daily newspapers, ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' and the ''Deseret News'' (previously the ''Deseret Morning News''). Other more specialized publications include ''Now Salt Lake'', ''Salt Lake City Weekly'' (a weekly independent publication), ''Nuestro Mundo'' of the Spanish-speaking community,'' QSaltLake'' and ''The Pillar'' for the LGBT community. Other Spanish-language newspapers include ''El Estandar'', ''Amigo Hispano'' (online only), and ''El Observador de Utah'', which offers free residential delivery. There are a number of local magazines, such as ''Wasatch Journal'' (a quarterly magazine covering Utah's arts, culture, and outdoors), ''Utah Homes & Garden'', ''Salt Lake Magazine'' (a bimonthly lifestyle magazine), ''CATALYST Magazine'' (a monthly environmental, health, arts and politics magazine), ''SLUG Magazine'', an alternative underground music magazine. ''Utah Stories'' is a magazine that covers local issues, primarily focused on the Salt Lake Valley.
KTVX 4 signed on the air as Utah's first television station in 1947 under the experimental callsign W6SIX, becoming the Mountain Time Zone's oldest and third-oldest west of Mississippi River, the Mississippi. It is Salt Lake City's American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate. KSL-TV 5, the local NBC affiliate, has downtown studios at "Broadcast House" in the Triad Center office complex. KSL is operated by Bonneville International, a company owned by the
Deseret Management Corporation
The Deseret Management Corporation (DMC) () is a global operating company, managing for-profit entities affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was established in 1966 by church president David O. McKay to ...
. KUTV 2 is Salt Lake City's CBS affiliate. KSTU 13 is the area's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox affiliate, owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. KUCW 30 is the The CW, CW affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group, and is part of a Duopoly (broadcasting), duopoly with KTVX. KJZZ-TV 14 is an independent station owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and is part of a triopoly with KUTV and St. George, Utah, St. George-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYU 12.
Because television and radio stations serve a larger area (usually the entire state of Utah, as well as parts of western Wyoming, southern Idaho, parts of Montana, and eastern Nevada), ratings returns tend to be higher than those in similar-sized cities. Some Salt Lake radio stations are carried on broadcast translator networks throughout the state.
Salt Lake City has become a case of market saturation on the FM radio, FM dial; one cannot go through more than about two frequencies on an FM radio tuner before encountering another broadcasting station. Several companies, most notably Millcreek Broadcasting and Simmons Media Group, Simmons Media, have constructed antenna (radio), broadcast towers on Humpy Peak in the Uinta Mountains to the east. These towers allow frequencies allocated to nearby mountain communities to be boosted by smaller, low-powered FM transmitters along the Wasatch Front.
Main sights
![Temple Square October 05 (8) c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Temple_Square_October_05_%288%29_c.JPG)
Salt Lake City is the headquarters of the LDS Church and has many LDS-related sites open to visitors. The most popular is
Temple Square
Temple Square is a complex, owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), in the center of Salt Lake City, Utah. The usage of the name has gradually changed to include several other church facilities that are immediately ...
, which includes the
Salt Lake Temple
The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth templ ...
(not open to the general public) and visitor centers open to the public, free of charge. Temple Square includes the historic Salt Lake Tabernacle, home of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, now called The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. The LDS Conference Center is north of Temple Square. The Family History Library, the world's largest genealogical library, is west of Temple Square. It is run by the LDS Church and is open to the public and free of charge. The Eagle Gate Monument is east of Temple Square.
In 2004, the Salt Lake City main library received an Institute Honor Award for Architecture by the American Institute of Architects and features a distinctive architectural style. The building's roof serves as a viewpoint for the Salt Lake Valley. The Utah State Capitol Building offers marble floors and a dome similar to the building that houses the US Congress. Other notable historical buildings include the Thomas Kearns Mansion (now the Utah Governor's Mansion, Governor's Mansion),
City and County Building (built 1894), the Kearns Building on Main Street, St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral (built 1874), and the Roman Catholic
Cathedral of the Madeleine (built 1909).
![Utah State Capitol Building](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Utah_State_Capitol_Building.JPG)
The Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Cauldron Park, Olympic Cauldron Park at Rice-Eccles Stadium features the Olympic Flame, Olympic Cauldron from the games, a visitor's center, and the Hoberman Arch. The Olympic Legacy Plaza, at The Gateway, features a dancing fountain set to music and the names of 30,000 Olympic volunteers carved in stone. The Utah Olympic Park, near Park City, features the Olympic ski jumps, as well as bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton (sport), skeleton runs. Today, the Olympic Park is used for year-round training and competitions. Visitors can watch the various events and even ride a bobsled. The Utah Olympic Oval, in nearby Kearns, Utah, Kearns, was home to the speed skating events and is now open to the public. Other popular Olympic venues include Soldier Hollow, the site of cross-country skiing events, southeast of Salt Lake near Heber City, Utah, Heber City.
Salt Lake City is near several world-class ski and summer resorts, including Snowbird, Utah, Snowbird, Alta Ski Area, Alta, Brighton Ski Resort, Brighton, Solitude Mountain Resort, Solitude, Park City Mountain Resort, and Deer Valley. The resorts cater to millions of visitors each year and offer year-round activities.
Salt Lake City is home to a few major shopping centers. Trolley Square is an indoor and outdoor mall with independent art boutiques, restaurants, and national retailers. The buildings housing the shops are renovated tram, trolley barns with cobblestone streets. The Gateway, an outdoor shopping mall, has many national restaurants, clothing retailers, a movie theater, the
Clark Planetarium
The Clark Planetarium is a planetarium and science museum situated within The Gateway at the intersection of 400 West and 100 South in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The Clark Planetarium opened in April 2003, replacing the his ...
, the Discovery Gateway (formerly The Children's Museum of Utah), a music venue called The Depot, and the Olympic Legacy Plaza. City Creek Center is the city's newest major shopping center and features high-end retailers not found anywhere else in Utah.
![Salt Lake City 4892084585](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Salt_Lake_City_4892084585.jpg)
On October 3, 2006, the LDS Church, which owned the ZCMI Center Mall and Crossroads Mall, both on Main Street, announced plans to demolish the malls, a skyscraper, and several other buildings to make way for the $1.5 billion City Creek Center redevelopment. It combined new office and residential buildings (one of which is the city's third-tallest building) around an outdoor shopping center featuring a stream, fountain, and other outdoor amenities; it opened on March 22, 2012.
Sugar House is a neighborhood with a small town main street shopping area and numerous old parks, which is served by the S Line (formerly known as Sugar House Streetcar).
Other attractions near Salt Lake City include Hogle Zoo, Timpanogos Cave National Monument, Golden Spike National Historic Site (where the world's first transcontinental railroad was joined), Lagoon Amusement Park, the
Great Salt Lake
The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particu ...
, the Bonneville Salt Flats, Gardner Historic Village, one of the nation's largest dinosaur museums at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah, Lehi, and the world's largest man-made excavation at
Bingham Canyon Mine
The Bingham Canyon Mine, more commonly known as Kennecott Copper Mine among locals, is an open-pit mining operation extracting a large porphyry copper deposit southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah, in the Oquirrh Mountains. The mine is the largest m ...
.
Sports and recreation
Winter sports, such as skiing and snowboarding, are popular activities in the Wasatch Mountains east of Salt Lake City. Eight ski resorts lie within of the city. Alta, Brighton, Solitude, and Snowbird ski resort, Snowbird all lie directly to the southeast in the Wasatch Mountains, while nearby Park City contains three more resorts. The popularity of the ski resorts has increased by a third since the
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internationa ...
. Summer activities such as hiking, camping, rock climbing, mountain biking, and other related outdoor activities are popular in the mountains. The many small reservoirs and rivers in the Wasatch Mountains are popular for boating, fishing, and other water-related activities.
Salt Lake City has hosted two of the most important and most watched games in basketball. The 1979 NCAA Division I Basketball Championship Game took place at the Jon M. Huntsman Center, Special Events Center on the campus of the University of Utah, where Magic Johnson met Larry Bird for the first time in their legendary rivalry. Johnson's 1978–79 Michigan State Spartans men's basketball team, Michigan State team defeated Bird's previously unbeaten 1978–79 Indiana State Sycamores men's basketball team, Indiana State team in the most watched college basketball game in history.
Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals took place at the Vivint Arena, Delta Center, where Michael Jordan played his final game as a member of the Chicago Bulls. Jordan's 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season, Bulls defeated the 1997-98 Utah Jazz season, Utah Jazz to win their sixth championship in the most watched game in the history of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
Professional sports
![Energy solutions arena](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Energy_solutions_arena.jpg)
Salt Lake City is home to the Utah Jazz of the NBA, who moved from New Orleans in 1979 and play their home games in Vivint Arena (formerly known as the Delta Center and later known as EnergySolutions Arena). They are the only team from one of the four Major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, top-level professional sports leagues in the state. The franchise has enjoyed steady success, at one point making the playoffs in 22 out of 25 seasons, led by Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame duo Karl Malone and
John Stockton
John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as one of the greatest point guards, players and passers of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) with the Utah Jazz, a ...
. The duo won two NBA Western Conference, Western Conference championships together, but the franchise has yet to win an NBA championship. Salt Lake City was home to a professional basketball team, the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association (ABA), between 1970 and 1975. They won one championship in the city (in 1971) and enjoyed some of the strongest support of any ABA team, but they folded just months before the ABA–NBA merger, thus preventing them from being absorbed by the NBA. Their success may have had a hand in the decision by the struggling Jazz to relocate to Salt Lake City in 1979. Salt Lake City was home to an original Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team, the Utah Starzz, in 1997. The team relocated and became the San Antonio Silver Stars.
[ in 2003.]
Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer was founded in 2004, initially playing at Rice-Eccles Stadium at the University of Utah before the soccer-specific stadium, soccer-specific America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium) was completed in 2008 in neighboring Sandy, Utah, Sandy. The team won their first MLS championship by defeating the Los Angeles Galaxy at the 2009 MLS Cup. RSL advanced to the finals of the CONCACAF Champions League in 2011 but lost 3–2 on aggregate, and also advanced to the 2013 MLS Cup Final. In 2019, the club expanded to include the Utah Royals FC, a professional women's team in the National Women's Soccer League, though the club ceased operations in December 2020,
transferring its player-related assets to Kansas City NWSL. The city has also played host to several international soccer games.
Utah Warriors (rugby union), Utah Warriors is a professional Major League Rugby team that launched its first season in 2018, with Zions Bank Stadium as its home venue.
![Spring Mobile Park Apr09](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2c/Spring_Mobile_Park_Apr09.jpg)
Arena football expanded into the city in 2006 with the Utah Blaze of the Arena Football League (1987–2008), Arena Football League. They recorded the highest average attendance in the league in their first season. After the original AFL folded in 2009, the future of the Blaze was unclear. However, a new league branded as the Arena Football League (2010–), Arena Football League began play in 2010. The Blaze franchise was restored and is playing in the new league. The Salt Lake Stallions of the AAF were also based in the city.
There are also two minor league teams in the city. The Pacific Coast League's Salt Lake Bees, the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels, play at Smith's Ballpark and were established in 1994 as the Buzz. Their name was changed to the Stingers in 2002, and then to the Bees, a historical Salt Lake City baseball team name, in 2006. The Utah Grizzlies ice hockey team of the ECHL were established in 2005, replacing the Utah Grizzlies (1995–2005), previous Grizzlies team that existed from when they relocated from Denver in 1995 to 2005 in the International Hockey League (IHL), and later, the American Hockey League (AHL). They play at the Maverik Center in neighboring West Valley City.
Amateur sports
The University of Utah and Brigham Young University (BYU) both maintain large followings in the city, and the BYU–Utah rivalry, rivalry between the two colleges has a long and storied history. Despite the fact that Utah is a secular university, the rivalry is sometimes referred to as the Holy War (BYU–Utah), Holy War because of BYU's status as an LDS Church-owned university. Until the 2011–12 season, they both played in the Mountain West Conference (MWC) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's Division I (NCAA), Division I and have played each other 100 times in football since 1896 (continuously since 1922).
While Salt Lake City does not have a professional American football, football team, the college football teams of both universities are popular in the city and the state as a whole. The 2004 Utah Utes football team, University of Utah was the first school from a non-automatic qualifying conference to win two Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl games (and was the first from outside the BCS affiliated conferences to be invited to one) since the system was introduced in 1998. 1984 BYU Cougars football team, BYU defeated the 1984 Michigan Wolverines football team, University of Michigan in the 1984 Holiday Bowl to win the state's only College football national championships in NCAA Division I FBS, college football national championship. The University of Utah was a part of the controversy surrounding the fairness of the BCS. Despite undefeated seasons in both 2004 Utah Utes football team, 2004 and 2008 Utah Utes football team, 2008, Utah was not invited to participate in the national championship in either season because it was a member of the MWC, a BCS non-automatic qualifying conference.
College basketball also has an important presence in the city. The Utah Utes men's basketball, Utah Utes men's basketball team plays its home games at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on its campus in Salt Lake City. The team won the 1944 NCAA basketball tournament and made the final of the 1998 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 1998 NCAA basketball tournament. The school has also hosted the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament many times, both at the Huntsman Center and Vivint Arena, including the Final Four of the famous 1979 NCAA Division I basketball tournament, 1979 tournament, when it was known as the Special Events Center.
The Utah Avalanche, formed in January 2011, were a development rugby league team for the now defunct American National Rugby League. In June 2012, Salt Lake City hosted the IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy, a major international rugby union tournament for under-20 national teams from "second-tier" nations.
Utah became the first state outside Minnesota where bandy exists when Olympic Bandy Club was formed in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake is also home to two roller derby leagues: the Salt City Derby Girls and Wasatch Roller Derby, both of which field travel teams.
Transportation
Roads
![Utah State Capitol seen from State Street](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Utah_State_Capitol_seen_from_State_Street.jpg)
Salt Lake City lies at the convergence of two cross-country freeways;
I-15
I15 may refer to:
* Interstate 15, a north–south Interstate Highway in the United States of America
* Polikarpov I-15, a Soviet fighter aircraft
* I15 (band)
"Soulja Girl" is the second single from American rapper Soulja Boy's studio album '' ...
running north–south, and
I-80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
, which connects downtown with Salt Lake City International Airport to the west and exits to the east through Parley's Canyon. Interstate 215 (Utah), I-215 forms a 270-degree loop around the city. Utah State Route 201, SR-201 extends to the western Salt Lake City suburbs. The Legacy Parkway (SR-67), a controversial and oft-delayed freeway, opened September 2008, heading north from I-215 into Davis County, Utah, Davis County along the east shore of the Great Salt Lake. Travel to and from Davis County is complicated by geography as roads have to squeeze through the narrow opening between the Great Salt Lake to the west and the Wasatch Mountains to the east. Only four roads run between the two counties to carry the load of rush hour traffic from Davis County.
Salt Lake City's surface street system is laid out on a simple grid pattern. Road names are numbered with a north, south, east, or west designation, with the grid originating at the southeast corner of Temple Square downtown. One of the visions of Brigham Young and the early settlers was to create wide, spacious streets, which characterizes downtown. The grid pattern remains fairly intact in the city, except on the East Bench, where geography makes it impossible. The entire Salt Lake Valley is laid out on the same numbered grid system, although it becomes increasingly irregular further into the suburbs. Many streets carry both a name and a grid coordinate. Usually both can be used as an address. U.S. Route 89 in Utah, US-89 enters the city from the northwest, becomes 900 West Street through the northern part of the city, and then exits Salt Lake City as State Street (100 East).
Public transportation
![Buses at Central Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/63/Buses_at_Central_Station.jpg)
Salt Lake City's public transport, mass transit service is operated by the Utah Transit Authority (UTA) and includes a bus system, light rail, and a commuter rail line. Intercity services are provided by Amtrak and various intercity bus lines. These services are all interconnected at the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub (Salt Lake Central Station), west of the city center. The Brookings Institution in 2011 rated Salt Lake City's mass transit system as the nation's third-best at connecting people to jobs, providing access to 59% of the jobs in the valley.
Transit bus service
UTA's bus system extends throughout the Wasatch Front from Brigham City, Utah, Brigham City in the north to Santaquin, Utah, Santaquin in the south and as far west as Grantsville, Utah, Grantsville, as well as east to Park City. UTA also operates routes to the ski resorts in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyon, Little Cottonwood Canyons, as well as Sundance Resort, Sundance in Provo Canyon, during the ski season (typically November to April). Approximately 60,000 people ride the bus daily, although ridership has reportedly declined since TRAX was constructed.
Light rail
![Green line Trax at Gallivan Plaza](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Green_line_Trax_at_Gallivan_Plaza.jpg)
The light rail system, called
TRAX, has three lines.
* The Blue Line (TRAX), Blue Line, which opened in 1999 and was expanded in 2008, travels from the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub (Salt Lake Central Station), south to Draper, Utah, Draper.
* The Red Line (TRAX), Red Line, which originally opened in 2001 and was expanded in 2011, runs from the University of Utah, southwest through Salt Lake to Daybreak (community), Daybreak in South Jordan, Utah, South Jordan.
* The Green Line (TRAX), Green Line, opened in 2011 and runs from the
Salt Lake City International Airport
Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-min ...
to West Valley City (via Downtown Salt Lake City), with the extension to the airport having opened in April 2013.
The system has 50 stations, 23 of which are within the city limits.
Daily ridership averaged 60,600 as of the fourth quarter of 2012,
making TRAX the List of United States Light Rail systems by ridership, ninth most-ridden light rail system in the country.
Commuter rail
![Frontrunner north temple station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Frontrunner_north_temple_station.jpg)
The commuter rail system, ''FrontRunner'', opened April 26, 2008, extends from the Intermodal Hub north through Davis County to Pleasant View, Utah, Pleasant View on the northern border of Weber County. Daily ridership on the line averages 7,800, as of the fourth quarter of 2012.
[ An expansion called "FrontRunner South", which extended FrontRunner to Provo in central Utah County, Utah, Utah County, was completed in December 2012 as part of UTA's FrontLines 2015 project.][ These extensions were made possible by a sales tax hike for road improvements, light rail, and commuter rail approved by voters on November 7, 2006. In addition, a $500 million letter of intent was signed by the Federal Transit Administration for all four of the planned TRAX extensions in addition to the FrontRunner extension to Provo. In March 2018, UTA announced FrontRunner would no longer run from Ogden to Pleasant View beginning in mid-August.
]
Intercity bus and rail services
Amtrak, the national passenger rail system, provides service to Salt Lake City operating its ''California Zephyr'' daily between Union Station (Chicago), Chicago and Emeryville, California. Greyhound Lines serves Salt Lake City as well. Their nine daily buses provide service to Denver, Reno, Las Vegas, and Portland, Oregon. Both of these stations are at the Salt Lake City Intermodal Hub.
Air transportation
Salt Lake City International Airport
Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-min ...
is west of downtown, and falls entirely within the boundary of Salt Lake City. Delta Air Lines operates a hub at the airport, serving over 100 non-stop destinations in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, as well as Paris, London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. SkyWest Airlines operates its largest hub at the airport as Delta Connection, and serves 243 cities as Delta Connection and United Express. The airport is served by four UTA bus routes, and a UTA-operated light rail line (TRAX) opened services on April 14, 2013. A total of 22,029,488 passengers flew through Salt Lake City International Airport in 2007, representing a 2.19% increase over 2006. The airport ranks as the 21st busiest airport in the United States in total passengers, is consistently rated first in the country in on-time arrivals and departures, and has the second-lowest number of cancellations. The airport is undergoing a $3.6 billion redesign that is expected to be completed in 2024, resulting in a complete reworking of the terminals and parking areas.
There are two general aviation airports nearby, although they lie outside Salt Lake City:
* South Valley Regional Airport in West Jordan, Utah, West Jordan
* Skypark Airport in Woods Cross, Utah, Woods Cross.
Cycling
Salt Lake City is considered a bicycle-friendly city. In 2010, Salt Lake City was designated as a Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists, placing the city in the top 18 bicycling cities in the U.S. with a population of at least 100,000. Many streets in the city have bike lanes, and the city has since published a bicycle map. However, off-road biking in the valley has suffered significantly as access to trails and paths has declined with the increase of housing developments and land privatization. In 2012, the Salt Lake Transportation Division launched ''BikeSLC.com'', which consolidates the city's information about bicycle routes, bicycle safety, and promotions. The website includes a form for business owners to request bicycle parking racks to be installed on public property free of charge close to their businesses, a service that has a months-long waiting list.
Salt Lake City was the first US city to use the "Green Shared Lane", or "super sharrow", a wide green band down the middle of a travel lane where adding a dedicated bike lane is unfeasible. Other cities such as Long Beach, Oakland, and Edina, Minnesota have introduced similar designs. These four cities are participating in a study by the Federal Highway Administration to measure the effect of the design on automobile speed and passing distance when overtaking bicycles, crashes between automobiles and bicycles, and whether it encourages more bicycle ridership, along with other metrics.
On September 25, 2010, UTA in partnership with Salt Lake City, the Utah Department of Transportation, the Wasatch Front Regional Council, and the Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Committee, opened a Bicycle Transit Center (BTC) at the Intermodal Hub. The BTC is anticipated to serve multi-modal commuters from TRAX and ''FrontRunner'', as well as providing a secure bicycle parking space for bicycle tourists who want to tour the city on foot or transit.
In April 2013, Salt Lake City launched a bike share program known as GREENbike. The program allows users to pay $5 per day to access bicycles, with the option of purchasing a weekly or annual pass. The program launched with ten stations in the downtown core. By October 2014, the number of stations had expanded to 20. In addition to the bike-sharing program, eighty businesses in the city participate in the Bicycle Benefits program, which provides discounts to customers who arrive by bicycle. The city is also home to the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective.
As a result of this increasing support, Salt Lake City's on-road bikeway network has grown to encompass 200 lane miles. In July 2014, the city began construction of a segregated cycle facilities, protected bicycle lane on a segment of 300 South between 300 West and 600 East. The project received significant opposition from business owners and residents along the route because of concerns about the 30% reduction in car parking spaces and disruptions resulting from construction. The construction proceeded in stages, with the last stage completed in October 2014. The performance of the protected bicycle lane (specifically, its role in encouraging more bicycle ridership) will influence future plans for making the city more bicycle-friendly.
One example of the city's cycling and walking routes is the loop around City Creek Canyon on Bonneville Boulevard. The city has designated the road as one lane only (one-way) for motor vehicles, turning the other lane over to two-way cyclists and pedestrians. From the last Monday in May to the last weekend in September, City Creek Canyon Road itself is closed to motor vehicles on odd-numbered days, while bicycles are prohibited on even-numbered days and holidays. Bicycles are allowed every day for the rest of the year.
Sister cities
Salt Lake City's Sister city, sister cities are:
*Chernivtsi, Ukraine
*Izhevsk, Russia
*Keelung, Taiwan
*Matsumoto, Nagano, Matsumoto, Japan
*Turin, Italy
Friendship cities
Salt Lake City has friendly relations with:[
*Trujillo, Peru, Trujillo, Peru
]
See also
* List of people from Salt Lake City
* List of tallest buildings in Salt Lake City
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Salt Lake City, Utah
* Trolley Square shooting
* USS Salt Lake City, USS ''Salt Lake City''—Ships of the United States Navy named "''Salt Lake City''"
Explanatory notes
References
Further reading
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* Timothy, Dallen J., and Daniel H. Olsen. "Tourism, Salt Lake City and the Cultural Heritage of Mormonism." in ''Tourism and Religion'' (Channel View Publications, 2018) pp. 250–269.
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External links
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* The Official Site of Utah Office of Tourism
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Official Salt Lake City Convention and Visitors Bureau
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{{Authority control
Salt Lake City,
1847 establishments in Utah
Cities in Salt Lake City metropolitan area
Cities in Salt Lake County, Utah
Cities in Utah
County seats in Utah
Holy cities
Planned cities in the United States
Populated lakeshore places in the United States
Populated places established in 1847
Wasatch Front