Trolley Square is a partially enclosed

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

located in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

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 it ...

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 primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It is considered to be a trendy high-end center. The center is near downtown Salt Lake City and the

UTA TRAX TRAX is a light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, in the United States, serving Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs throughout Salt Lake County. The official name of Transit Express is rarely, if ever, used. The system is operated ...

light-rail system.

History

Description

Trolley Square is composed of barns that were built in 1908 to house Salt Lake City's

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 are ...

s. The streetcar system was dismantled in 1945, and the barns were converted into a two-story shopping center in 1972. The center is noted for its unusual architecture consisting of winding hallways, brick and wooden floors, fountains, old-trees, and

wrought-iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

balconies. Prominent tenants includ
Weller Book Works

Pottery Barn Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. The company is headq ...

Cabin Fever Cabin fever is the distressing claustrophobic irritability or restlessness experienced when a person, or group, is stuck at an isolated location or in confined quarters for an extended time. A person may be referred to as stir-crazy, derived from ...

(a popular card store),

Williams Sonoma Williams Sonoma is an American retailer of cookware, appliances, and home furnishings. It is owned by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. and was founded by Charles E. (Chuck) Williams in 1956. History In 1947, Chuck Williams settled in Sonoma, Californ ...

Old Spaghetti Factory The Old Spaghetti Factory is an Italian-American-style chain restaurant in the United States and Canada. The U.S. restaurants are owned by OSF International, based in Portland, Oregon, while the Canadian restaurants are owned by The Old Spaghett ...

, The Desert Edge Brewery at the Pub
The Spectacle
and local boutiques. The mall historically was home to a four-screen

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

and an

amusement arcade An amusement arcade (often referred to as a video arcade, amusements or simply arcade) is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers (such as cl ...

. The Trolley Square

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

is a 97-foot water tower that is a prominent feature of the

skyline A skyline is the outline or shape viewed near the horizon. It can be created by a city’s overall structure, or by human intervention in a rural setting, or in nature that is formed where the sky meets buildings or the land. City skylines ...

, and is able to be spotted from miles away at night. The tower originally held 50,000 gallons of water, and was used to supply the sprinkler system for the trolley barns. In 1972, it was converted into a landmark, and covered in red and blue neon lights. For many years, the tower was a

weather beacon A weather beacon is a beacon that indicates the local weather forecast in a code of colored or flashing lights. Often, a short poem or jingle accompanies the code to make it easier to remember. The beacon is usually on the roof of a tall buil ...

, giving the local

weather forecast Weather forecasting is the application of science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere for a given location and time. People have attempted to predict the weather informally for millennia and formally since the 19th centu ...

based on the colors of lights, with solid blue being

fair weather Fairweather or Fair Weather may refer to:. Music * Fairweather (band), an American indie rock band * Fair Weather (band), a British pop group from 1970 to 1971 * ''Fair Weather'' (album), a 2000 album by Alison Brown * "Fair Weather", a track ...

, flashing blue being

overcast Overcast or overcast weather, as defined by the World Meteorological Organization, is the meteorological condition of clouds obscuring at least 95% of the sky. However, the total cloud cover must not be entirely due to obscuring phenomena near t ...

, solid red being

rain Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...

, and flashing red being

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

. The Trolley Square water tower was renovated in fall 2014, after years of disuse. During the renovation, the neon lights were removed - and were subsequently replaced with

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

light strips which allowed for a wider spectrum of

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

availability. While the tower coloration is seemingly no longer used to display the weather forecast, different colors are now used decoratively during different

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

holidays A holiday is a day set aside by Norm (social), custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate ...

, or events. Another prominent feature of Trolley Square is the

sky bridge A skyway, skybridge, skywalk, or sky walkway is an elevated type of pedway connecting two or more buildings in an urban area, or connecting elevated points within mountainous recreational zones. Urban skyways very often take the form of enclos ...

that connects the main building to a small parking lot located across the street. The bridge was made from a salvaged ore conveyor bridge formerly in use at the

International Smelting and Refining Company The International Smelting and Refining Company was a subsidiary of Anaconda Copper that operated primarily out of the International Smelter near Tooele, Utah. The International Smelter began operation in 1910 as a copper producer handling ores ...

facility in

Tooele, Utah 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 Arm ...

. The bridge goes over 600 South, and it features neon lights shaped in the form of a trolley.

2007 shooting

The

Trolley Square shooting The Trolley Square shooting was a mass shooting that occurred on the evening of February 12, 2007, at Trolley Square Mall in Salt Lake City, Utah. A gunman identified as Sulejman Talović killed five bystanders and wounded four others before be ...

was a

mass shooting There is a lack of consensus on how to define a mass shooting. Most terms define a minimum of three or four victims of gun violence (not including the shooter or in an inner city) in a short period of time, although an Australian study from 20 ...

that occurred on the evening of February 12, 2007 at the mall. A lone gunman, identified as Sulejman Talović, killed five bystanders and wounded four others before being shot dead by several members of the Salt Lake City Police Department. Authorities were not able to determine a motive.

Location Influence

Trolley Square is a prominent and well-known

landmark A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances. In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...

in the

area. As such, many surrounding businesses and locales borrow or incorporate the name "trolley." For example, Trolley Corners is a small office building located on the block directly to the east of Trolley Square, as is a small collection of houses that have been converted into businesses - known as trolley cottages. The nearest

UTA Trax TRAX is a light rail system in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah, in the United States, serving Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs throughout Salt Lake County. The official name of Transit Express is rarely, if ever, used. The system is operated ...

station is named "Trolley station".

Major businesses

* Alice Lane Home Collection * Ballet West Academy *

* Coffee Connection * CorePower Yoga * Cosset Bath and Body * Desert Edge Pub and Brewery * Alliance Theater * Flight Boutique * Google Fiber Space * Himalayan Artswear * Jensen Technical Services * Lanny Barnard Gallery * Millennium Dance Company *

Orangetheory Fitness Orangetheory Fitness (OTF) is an American boutique fitness studio franchise based in Boca Raton, Florida. The first studio was established in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 2010 by founder, Ellen Latham.Valverde, M. (2014, February 19). Orangetheo ...

* Payne Anthony Creative Jewelers *

Pottery Barn Kids Pottery Barn is an American upscale home furnishing store chain and e-commerce company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. The company is head ...

* Precious Eyebrow Designers *

Rodizio Grill Rodizio Grill is a Brazilian steakhouse restaurant or ''churrascaria'' that was established in the United States. It was founded in 1995, the first to be established in the United States, by founder and president Ivan Utrera, a native Brazilian ...

* Styld' Blow Dry Bar * SPARK *

Tabula Rasa ''Tabula rasa'' (; "blank slate") is the theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content, and therefore all knowledge comes from experience or perception. Epistemological proponents of ''tabula rasa'' disagree with the doctri ...

* The Machine Age *

The Old Spaghetti Factory The Old Spaghetti Factory is an Italian-American-style chain restaurant in the United States and Canada. The U.S. restaurants are owned by OSF International, based in Portland, Oregon, while the Canadian restaurants are owned by The Old Spaghett ...

The Spectacle ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

* Trolley Square Barbers * We Olive - The Olive Oil Experience & Wine Bar * Weller Book Works *

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...

Sale and development

Trolley Square is owned by SK Hart Management, who purchased it in May 2013.

References

External links

*
The history of Trolley Square from the Salt Lake Tribune

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070930122208/http://www.scanlankemperbard.com/news/press_release.php?id=20&PHPSESSID=b6f8c0c4b2f34afc29ee5b00b653d9c2 ScanlanKemperBard's Trolley Square purchase press release] {{Shopping malls in Utah 1972 establishments in Utah Buildings and structures in Salt Lake City Shopping malls established in 1972 Shopping malls in Utah Tourist attractions in Salt Lake City