Salt Lake City, Utah
United States of America
Salt Lake City, city in Utah, state capital, and seat of Salt Lake County. Located
in the north central part of the state, it is 24 km (15 mi) east of its namesake,
the Great Salt Lake, and lies along the western slope of the Wasatch Range. The
entire Salt Lake Valley was once part of the basin of ancient Lake Bonneville. Today,
the Jordan River passes through the city. Salt Lake City is the international headquarters
of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon
Church. It is the largest and most important city in a large region of the interior
West and serves as the industrial, financial, religious, and commercial center of
Salt Lake City has a dry climate, with only 411 mm (16.2 in) of precipitation per
year. However, the mountains in the Wasatch Range are well watered, and the runoff
is used to water the valley. The average July daytime-nighttime temperature range
in the city is 33° to 18°C (92° to 64°F), and the average January range is 2° to
-7°C (36° to 19°F).
Salt Lake City and Its Metropolitan Area
Salt Lake City lies high above sea level in a mountain valley flanked by the Wasatch
Range to the east and the Oquirrh Mountains to the southwest. Salt Lake City proper
is relatively small, only 282.5 sq km (109.1 sq mi) in land area. However, the Salt
Lake City-Ogden metropolitan area includes all of Salt Lake County, Weber County,
which includes the city of Ogden, and Davis County. The metropolitan area includes
4,189.3 sq km (1,617.5 sq mi). The city is also at the heart of a larger metropolitan
corridor called the Wasatch Front. This is a strip of land running north and south
along the western slope of the Wasatch Range. It stretches about 160 km (about 100
mi) from Spanish Fork on the south to Brigham City on the north, and includes the
major Utah cities of Springville, Provo, Orem, American Fork, Lehi, Sandy City,
Taylorsville, West Valley City, Bountiful, Farmington, Kaysville, and Layton.
Downtown Salt Lake City is noted for its broad streets and spacious blocks, a legacy
of the Mormon settlers who laid out the city in 1847. The city was built on a grid
system based on the four streets bordering Temple Square, the focus of the downtown
area. Inside the square is the Mormon Temple, which took 40 years to build—from
1853 to 1893. Other important buildings are the Salt Lake City and County Building,
the Mormon Tabernacle, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Conference
Center, the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Madeleine, the Salt Palace Convention
Center, and the Delta Center auditorium.
Ten blocks west of Temple Square lies the Utah State Fair Grounds, and the Utah
state capitol stands four blocks to the northeast. South of Temple Square is the
city’s central business district. The main campus of the University of Utah is situated
about 3 km (2 mi) east of the city center.
Population and Culture
The city’s population declined from 163,033 in 1980 to 159,936 in 1990 as residents
moved to the suburbs. Since then the population has increased, and by 2000 it was
181,743. According to the 2000 census, whites are 79.2 percent of the population,
Asians 3.6 percent, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders 1.9 percent, blacks
1.9 percent, and Native Americans 1.3 percent. People of mixed heritage or not reporting
their ethnic origins are 12.1 percent of the population. Hispanics, who may be of
any race, are 18.8 percent of the people. The metropolitan area had 1,333,914 people
in 2000, compared to 1,072,227 in 1990.
Salt Lake City has been at the forefront of education in Utah since 1850, when the
University of Deseret was founded. Renamed the University of Utah, it now ranks
as Utah’s largest institution of higher education. Westminster College was founded
in 1875 as a mission school of the Presbyterian Church and remained under Presbyterian
control until 1974, when it became a secular institution. The Salt Lake Community
College is the state’s largest two-year institution. It was founded in 1948 as the
Salt Lake Area Vocational School.
Prominent cultural and historical institutions in Salt Lake City include the Utah
Museum of Fine Arts and the Utah Museum of Natural History, both associated with
the University of Utah. Important Mormon institutions include the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Museum of Church History and Art and the adjacent Family
History Library, which is famous as a center for genealogical research. Other popular
destinations in the city include Beehive House, the former home of Mormon leader
Brigham Young; the Pioneer Memorial Museum, which houses pioneer artifacts such
as 19th-century furniture; the Utah State Historical Society, located in the historic
Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Station; and This Is The Place Heritage Park, which
includes Old Deseret Village, a re-created village illustrating daily life in pioneer
Utah. Salt Lake City is home to a number of performing arts groups, including the
world-famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the Utah Symphony, and the Utah Opera. Cultural
events include Pioneer Day on July 24, which celebrates the arrival of the Mormons
to the Great Salt Lake Valley; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Semi-Annual
Conference, held in April and October; and the Utah State Fair in September.
Around the city, the Wasatch Range provides excellent opportunities for hiking and
downhill and cross-country skiing. Seven major ski areas—Alta, Snowbird, Solitude,
Brighton, Park City, Deer Valley, and The Canyons—are less than an hour’s drive
from downtown. The Delta Center is the home of the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball
Association (NBA). To the east of the city, Hogle Zoological Gardens has many animals
and birds and a children’s zoo. The city has several fine parks, including Memory
Grove, which honors Utah’s war dead along City Creek Canyon just north of downtown;
Liberty Park, the city’s oldest, which includes the Brigham Young Grist Mill and
a folk art museum; and Jordan River State Park, where more than 20 countries are
represented in the International Peace Gardens. Red Butte Garden and Arboretum,
a part of the University of Utah, is one of the city’s most popular parks. Located
in the mountains just east of the university, it includes more than 60 hectares
(150 acres) of gardens and natural areas.
Salt Lake City has a diversified economy. The mining of materials, including copper,
silver, lead, zinc, coal, and iron ore, is important to the city’s industrial base.
Southwest of the city is Bingham Canyon, which includes the Kennecott Copper Mine,
one of the largest open-pit mines in the world. Church, government, finance, education,
research, high-technology industries, transportation, recreation, and tourism account
for most of the city’s employment. Among the city’s largest employers are the federal
and state governments, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the University
of Utah, Kennecott Corporation, and Delta Airlines.
The city’s Salt Lake City International Airport is a regional air passenger center.
Amtrak provides the city’s passenger rail service, while Interstate Highways 15
and 80 intersect in the city. In recent years, a booming economy along the Wasatch
Front has brought tremendous growth that has strained the area’s aging interstate
highway system. For many years, efforts by the Utah Transit Authority to develop
a rail transportation system for Salt Lake City were controversial. However, public
support for an efficient transportation system increased in 1995 after the city
was designated to host the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. As a result, in 1999 the Utah
Transit Authority completed a 24-km (15-mi) light-rail transit line, known as TRAX,
that runs from downtown Salt Lake City south through the center of Salt Lake Valley.
The system was so successful that a 4-km (2.5-mi) east-west line connecting downtown
Salt Lake City with the University of Utah was undertaken and completed in 2001.
Other preparations for the Olympics included rebuilding parts of Interstate Highways
15 and 80, redesigning or upgrading other critical transportation routes, and adding
a runway to the city’s airport.
Salt Lake City is governed by a mayor and a seven-member council, which is presided
over by a chair. Voters elect each of these officials to four-year terms. Salt Lake
County is governed by a county mayor elected to a four-year term and a nine-member
county council. Council members—six elected from districts and three elected at-large—serve
terms ranging from two to six years. The Utah Transit Authority, located in Salt
Lake City, oversees public transportation in the city and surrounding areas.
The Wasatch Front suffers the worst air pollution problems in the state. In the
Salt Lake City area during the winter, atmospheric inversions can trap pollutants
such as ozone and carbon monoxide near ground level, producing a dense smoglike
cover. In the late 1990s nearly 100,000 metric tons of toxic chemicals were released
into the state’s air each year, the fifth highest total in the nation.
The city has a low housing vacancy rate, due to the rapid job growth, and housing
costs have been rising. This, coupled with the fact that one-sixth of city residents
have incomes below the poverty threshold, means that affordable housing has become
scarce. Homelessness has also been a concern, with the city’s homeless shelters
usually being full to overflowing.
Native Americans lived in the Great Salt Lake Valley for thousands of years before
white settlement. The Shoshone, Ute, and Paiute peoples were among those Native
Americans living in the area when the Mormons entered the area in July 1847. Since
the founding of their church in New York in 1830, the Mormons had been moving west
because of persecution. Finally they moved to the Far West to find an isolated land.
Upon arrival in the Great Salt Lake Valley, Brigham Young declared, “This is the
right place.” Young laid out the community in 4-hectare (10-acre) plots around Temple
Square, which became the center of the Mormon faith.
In 1849 the Mormons organized a new state, which they named Deseret. The Congress
of the United States, however, did not grant statehood, and instead created Utah
Territory in 1850 with its capital at Great Salt Lake City (the name was shortened
to Salt Lake City in 1868). The population soared with a steady influx of Mormon
converts. Salt Lake City incorporated in 1851 and was designated the capital when
Utah became a state in 1896.
The Mormons’ practice of polygamy (having multiple wives) and their alleged disregard
of federal authority led to conflicts with the federal government. In 1857 a dispute
called the Utah War began because the U.S. government believed that the Mormons
were undermining federal laws. Federal troops marched through the city but found
that it had been evacuated. There was no fighting, and they moved on to set up a
post, Camp Floyd, about 65 km (about 40 mi) to the southwest. Fort Douglas was built
on the eastern edge of the city in 1862.
The city’s economy was strengthened with the completion of the first transcontinental
railroad in 1869 and a railroad connection from Salt Lake City to the transcontinental
railroad in 1870. Mining increased with the arrival of the railroad, and the city’s
population more than doubled in the 1880s. After the nationwide depression of 1893,
the population resumed its rapid growth, passing 50,000 by 1900 and 140,000 by 1930.
In 1890 the church leadership issued a manifesto advising church members to abstain
from polygamy. The manifesto helped pave the way for Utah to become a state in 1896.
Increased demand for metals during World War II (1939-1945) created a new mining
boom, and a period of industrial expansion followed the war. In the mid-20th century
the population of the city remained stable while the metropolitan population soared.
The completion of several downtown projects since the 1970s, including the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church Office Building, ZCMI and Crossroads
malls, Triad Center, Maurice Abravanel Hall, Delta Center, the Salt Palace Convention
Center, and the Gateway Center, has helped to maintain a viable city center. In
2002 Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympic Games.