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Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, cultural and ecclesiastical as well as political capital of Utah, lies in a spectacular setting at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, with the Great Salt Lake visible to the northwest and the Great Salt Lake Desert to the west. Scenic I-80 parallels the lake's southern shoreline and crosses the desert into Nevada.
Like many earlier American settlers, the Mormons traveled across the country in search of a place where they could practice their religion without persecution. On seeing the Salt Lake Valley for the first time, Brigham Young proclaimed to his followers, "This is the place."
Occupied in 1847 by the Mormons under Brigham Young, the city first became the capital of the Mormon settlement and then of the state. Its finest buildings are ecclesiastical, and some of its most interesting houses were occupied by Brigham Young and his family. The city was laid out in a grid pattern fanning out from what is now known as Temple Square, with streets designed to be "wide enough for a team of four oxen and a covered wagon to turn around."
In the late 1840s the area's harvest was nearly destroyed by a horde of crickets. A large flock of sea gulls came to the rescue, devouring the crickets and salvaging the farmers' crops. In appreciation, the sea gull was awarded the designation of Utah's state bird.
South Temple Street has a large concentration of 19th- and early 20th-century architecture, including the Gothic-style Cathedral of the Madeleine and the Thomas Kearns Mansion at 603 E. South Temple St. The 1901 Kearns house is architectural evidence of Salt Lake City's mining wealth at the turn of the 20th century and is now the governor's mansion.
One of the most interesting structures in Salt Lake City is the Eagle Gate. Erected in 1859 as the entrance to Brigham Young's private farm, it spans State Street in front of the Beehive House. The giant four-legged arch is surmounted by a 4,000-pound statue of an eagle with a wingspread of 20 feet. The gate has been remodeled several times; the original copper-plated eagle, which has a wingspread of 16 feet, is in the Pioneer Memorial Museum.
The Brigham Young Monument on the corner of State and South Temple streets is a tribute to the second president of the Mormon Church and the first territorial governor of Utah. On the monument's north face is a bronze plaque listing the names and equipment of the pioneers who arrived on July 24, 1847.
Central to the city's cultural life is the Salt Palace, the civic auditorium at 90 S. West Temple St. The complex includes Abravanel Hall, the home of the Utah Symphony, and the Salt Lake Art Center. Self-guiding tours of the Salt Palace and related buildings are available, as are guided tours of Abravanel Hall.
On Main Street between 300 and 400 South streets is the Exchange Place Historic District, which once served as the city's non-Mormon commercial center. The district, which in its heyday ranked among the West's major financial areas, includes nine neoclassic buildings built around 1900.
The First Presbyterian Church at South Temple and C streets is noted for its stained-glass windows and red sandstone exterior. The Greek Holy Trinity Cathedral, at 279 South and 300 West streets, was designed after St. Sophia's in Istanbul, Turkey.
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