Downtown Salt Lake City is the oldest district in Salt Lake City, Utah. The grid from which the entire city is laid out originates at Temple Square, the location of the Salt Lake City Temple.

Location

Downtown Salt Lake City is usually defined as the area approximately between North Temple and 900 South Streets north to south and about 500 East and 600 West Streets east to west. Downtown encompasses the areas of Temple Square, the Gateway District, Main Street, the core business district, South Temple, and others.

History

Much of downtown Salt Lake City's early history is intertwined with that of Salt Lake itself at the time. Downtown began to form when Brigham Young chose the spot where the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was to be located.

Main Street

Originally, due to the LDS faith's (commonly known as Mormonism) tendency towards socialism in its early years, no provision was made for a business district. Over the years, the city's core took shape as businesses located themselves around Main Street . The first businesses to locate themselves on Main Street were those founded by James A. Livingston and Charles A. Kincade in 1850 in the area south of the Council House that was being built on the corner of Main and South Temple Streets.

Early on, many of the Main Street businesses were saloons, earning the street the nickname "Whiskey Street".

Originally the business district extended along the west side of Main between South Temple and 100 South. By the 1880s the area had expanded to both sides of the street and down to 200 South, and increased about a block a decade, until in 1900 it reached 400 South. Today the southern limit is usually considered 900 South.

Commercial Street

From 1870 to the 1930s Commercial Street (renamed Regent Street in the 1920s) was Salt Lake's notorious red light district. Prostitution was begrudgingly tolerated as long as it was confined to Commercial Street, thus kept out of the public eye.

In the late 1880s the trade was unofficially licensed. Police would "arrest" all of the prostitutes and their madams each month and "fine" them $50 each. After a physical examination they would be released and allowed to ply their trade without any further fear of molestation.

Many notable Salt Lakers owned buildings on Commercial Street, including the Brigham Young Trust Company, whose board included many prominent members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Brigham Young, Jr. , then a church apostle and vice president of the bank, temporarily resigned over the matter, until the building was later sold.

20th century

After World War II many people could afford to move out of downtown into the suburbs. By 1971 60% of the homes in downtown Salt Lake City were in major disrepair.

Starting in the 1960s revitalization efforts began, spearheaded by the LDS Church, who had always considered downtown their home. During the '60s they built the ZCMI Center Mall on a full city block of land that had previously housed the ZCMI department store, preserving the historic storefront. The Church also leased land to a developer to build Crossroads Mall . The land for the mall originally housed the Amusen Jewelry building (1869), at the time Salt Lake City's oldest building. A study commissioned by the city found it to be Salt Lake City's most architecturally significant building, and efforts to preserve it were underway. However, before the building could be saved, it was torn down to make way for the mall.

Also built during this era was the LDS Church Office Building, completed in 1973, which at that time was Salt Lake's tallest building at 28 floors. However, this was surpassed in 1999 by the American Stores Tower (now known as the Wells Fargo Center). Although it has less floors, it is taller than the Church Office Building by two feet, although the Church Office Building appears taller because it is located on higher ground.

In the 1980s a group of Saudi businessmen had a vision of turning Salt Lake City into major business hub. Forming a US holdings company, "Triad Utah", they planned to build two large skyscrapers, as well as smaller out buildings. The company ran out of money, and the skyscrapers never materialized, leaving the current Triad Center with only buildings 3, 4 and 5.

External link

• Salt Lake City Downtown Alliance